Ocean Spray Launches Plastic Packaging Recycling Program

(Photo Credit: Ocean Spray on Facebook)

Ocean Spray Cranberries launched a free recycling program this week that allows consumers to recycle the company’s flexible plastic packaging for dried cranberries.

The new program, created in partnership with waste management company TerraCycle, invites participants to send flexible plastic packaging from Ocean Spray Craisins dried cranberry products to TerraCycle. From there, the packaging gets cleaned and melted into hard plastic that the partners say can be remolded into products like park benches and picnic tables.

“As an added incentive, for each shipment of Ocean Spray Craisins dried cranberries packaging sent to TerraCycle through the Ocean Spray Recycling Program, participants earn points that can be donated to a nonprofit, school, or charitable organization of their choice,” the partners noted.

The recycling program supports Ocean Spray’s broader goal of improving packaging sustainability by 2025 by helping divert waste from landfills and extend the life of materials, according to the company. A dedicated team is working on making sure that all of their packaging is recyclable, reusable, compostable or biodegradable, according to Ocean Spray.

Additional initiatives include sourcing paper and cardboard packaging with recycled content sources, or from certified sustainably managed forests — or both. The company says that a redesign of their 25-pound dried cranberry boxes reduced forest fiber use by 22%, lowered truckload emissions by 13%, cut plastic film packaging use by 34%, and saved wooden pallets use by 5%.

Ocean Spray said that “96% of our existing packaging by weight is already recyclable, including most of our plastic, paper, and metal products.” They are a member of How2Recycle, the Sustainable Packaging Coalition, and the Sustainability Consortium.

The agricultural cooperative, which is owned by more than 700 cranberry farmers in the United States, Canada, and Chile, is also working with TerraCycle’s Loop platform, where Ocean Spray products will be sold in reusable packaging.