GreenBlue to Power How2Recycle Forward: The Dynamic, Data-Driven Future of On-Pack Labeling
CHICAGO (Sept. 30, 2024) — Onstage at SPC Advance today, GreenBlue Executive Director Paul Nowak announced the launch of the How2Recycle Forward campaign. The campaign marks the evolution of the program behind the nation’s most recognizable disposal label through efforts to refresh the How2Recycle label design, strengthen the data informing How2Recycle labels, optimize the program’s operations, and increase consumer education around recycling and disposal.
Amid changes to the recycling landscape such as Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) legislation, shifting material recyclability, and “label laws,” the How2Recycle Forward campaign seeks to ensure that How2Recycle and our more than 800 members can improve and achieve the potential within the recycling system. The campaign also seeks to address the global waste crisis through consumer education that sparks behavior change and ensures that waste enters the right streams. For How2Recycle, these circumstances have made one thing clear: A dynamic recycling landscape demands an adaptable label program to meet the moment.
To meet this watershed moment in recycling’s history, How2Recycle is excited to launch the campaign, “How2Recycle Forward: The Dynamic, Data-Driven Future of On-Pack Labeling.”
With more than 800 How2Recycle members across the packaging value chain and label recognition from 8 in 10 Americans, GreenBlue is excited to power the How2Recycle Forward campaign and scale the solutions our recycling system needs. The campaign marks a new chapter in How2Recycle’s history—one defined by adaptability, credibility, and responsibility.
The campaign comprises four key initiatives:
- Preparing and rolling out How2Recycle Pro, a refreshed design of the Legacy How2Recycle Label designed to be to more clear, compliant, and actionable
- Building a robust data ecosystem to inform the label, its assessments, and our designations
- Optimizing our programmatic operations with first-in-class operational partners
- Increasing consumer awareness and education to spark mass behavior change
With these initiatives, How2Recycle is adapting to the landscape changes—future-proofing the label so that labels are accurate and compliant no matter when or where they’re issued. We’re elevating the importance of third-party data certification to increase credibility and foster trust in recycling. And, ultimately, we’re empowering members to give consumers the information they need—at scale—in order to get waste into the right streams and out of our environment.
“The How2Recycle Forward campaign isn’t just about a label—it’s not even just about recycling. It’s about changing our relationship to disposal to drive better environmental outcomes,” said Paul Nowak, executive director of GreenBlue. “The How2Recycle program has the base, the reach, and the drive we need to create a more circular economy and a cleaner environment for generations to come.”
Why How2Recycle? And why now? How2Recycle is the leading label across the U.S and Canada. In just 12 years, we’ve grown the program from its humble beginnings: a working group in the Sustainable Packaging Coalition, taking inspiration from the OPRL label in the United Kingdom and using the FTC’s Green Guides to inform the label. Since then, How2Recycle has become the most recognizable on-pack disposal instruction across the U.S. and Canada, issued labels for tens of thousands of packaging products, and transformed the standardization and recognition of on-pack disposal instructions. Now, 51% of American consumers are encouraged or influenced by the How2Recycle label while making a purchase decision.
How2Recycle Forward Initiatives
Refreshing the How2Recycle Label Design
We’re refreshing the label the same way we built it: by convening experts in design, packaging, and consumer research, taking inspiration from programs like the OPRL, and using policy and data (like the FTC’s Green Guides and new legislation) to inform the refreshed How2Recycle Pro label design. To lead the charge, we’ve commissioned SPC’s Packaging Design Collaborative and embarked on several rounds of consumer and corporate research to determine the best, most comprehensible label designs. In the refreshed design that will eventually be available to members, we’ll build on the brand equity of the existing label and move toward a more clear, actionable, and compliant label to ensure that labels are accurate when- or wherever they’re issued.
Strengthening the Data Ecosystem Behind the Label
Better data breeds better assessments, better labeling, and a better recycling system. As part of the How2Recycle Forward campaign, we’re strengthening the data ecosystem behind the label, using data from leading, third-party certified sources to inform our assessments and designations. Drawing on data from partners like the Association of Plastics Recyclers, the Carton Council, Recycled Materials Association (ReMA, formerly ISRI), and The Recycling Partnership, we’re bolstering the data backing our label to improve accuracy and credibility in the recycling system.
Optimizing Operations to Scale the Label
When How2Recycle was formed, we prioritized scale—getting as many labels on-pack as swiftly possible without sacrificing their integrity. After more than a decade of growth, hundreds of members, and thousands of SKUs to keep track of, we’re partnering with first-in-class companies like Specright, Aura, and SGS Marks to build out work flows and harmonize data points. Together, we’ll build more efficient systems to scale the high standards of How2Recycle’s assessment and labeling work. When we do, we’ll get more labels on-pack, get more materials into the right streams, and keep more waste out of our environment.
Increasing Consumer Awareness and Education
To capitalize on the tremendous equity of the How2Recycle label and build understanding around disposal instructions, How2Recycle will also embark on exploration around a national consumer education initiative. Historically our industry has asked the label to do too much of the lift on educating consumers. Now, as EPR legislation compels companies to support consumer education, we’re preparing to invite our base of 800 members to participate in a consumer education initiative, the goal of which is: to empower consumers with the information they need to make the right disposal decision. Interested partners can reach out to marketing@greenblue.org.
About How2Recycle
Launched in 2012, the How2Recycle program issues the most recognizable on-pack disposal instruction across the U.S. and Canada. With more than 800 members and labels issued for hundreds of thousands of packaging products, How2Recycle is the leading on-pack label.
To determine a material’s recyclability, How2Recycle uses national data, assessing: applicable law, access to collection, sortation, technical reprocessability, and end markets.
How2Recycle is a project of the environmental nonprofit, GreenBlue. The How2Recycle mission is to simplify the recycling process and take the guesswork out of disposal to get more materials into the recycling bin.
Marketing and Communications Contact:
For more information on the How2Recycle Forward campaign, please reach out to: marketing@greenblue.org