Compostic Helping Californians Cut Down Plastic Waste

In June of 2022, California signed into law The Plastic Pollution Prevention and Packaging Producer Responsibility Act (also called SB 54). A sweeping environmental bill, its most talked-about provisions are around single-use plastics; according to the law, all single-use packaging plastics sold in the state must be compostable or recyclable by 2032. Compostic, a new line of compostable plastic products from New Zealand-based entrepreneur Jon Reed which is now available in all 96 California Whole Foods locations, will help Californians reach these goals.

As reported in The Fresno Business Journal by staff writer Frank Lopez, Reed started Compostic in 2017 with “a mission to replace plastic bags.” Single-use plastics like those bags are a huge issue. According to a 2022 from Greenpeace, Americans threw away 51 million tons of wrappers, containers, bottles and shopping bags in 2021 – adding up to 309 pounds of plastic per person. Only about 5% of that was recycled – the rest ended up in landfills, oceans, or scattered as tiny particles in the atmosphere.

“The movement away from plastic bags and toward sustainable alternatives [is] being led by consumers, not by businesses” Reed said to the Business-Journal. Reed told the Business Journal that he was “shocked by how receptive consumers in the US were of Compostic’s products.”

Perhaps that’s why Compostic is already available in 1,000 stores in the USA and looking to add 2,000 to 3,000 more in the next year.

Reed said that Americans used over 15 million miles of clingwrap each year, which could be used to wrap around the planet 150 times. Compostic has sold over 6,000 miles of its clingwrap in the last 6 months. He hopes to do even more.

Original article by Frank Lopez, The Business Journal (Fresno), April 7, 2023.