Founded in Boulder, Colorado in 1990, new NERC Advisory Member Eco-Products® has grown from a distributor of recycled content products to a 
manufacturer of green serviceware products. The company’s GreenStripe® cup, launched in 2007, replaced traditional petroleum-based plastic with corn plastic (PLA).
In the years since, Eco-Products has expanded its business model in a number of ways. Its growing roster of serviceware products—cups, containers, plates and bowls, utensils, and other items—are made from either plant-based renewable sources or post-consumer recycled content. Additionally, the company’s plant-based products are BPI-certified compostable.
“As a leader in environmentally preferable foodservice packaging, we offer ethically sourced products made from renewable materials that meet stringent global standards for compostability or recyclability. That means each item can be returned to the earth or made into something new,” Eco-Products President Ian Jacobson said.
A video, Creating Zero Waste Success in Colorado - Field Testing Compostable Packaging, demonstrates these accomplishments.
Eco-Products was recently awarded the GreenScreen Certified Silver designation for its line of compostable plates and containers made from sugarcane. The products use a proprietary chemistry to achieve grease resistance without the use of PFAS or other known regrettable substitutes. Eco-Products is the first manufacturer to earn the GreenScreen designation for a foodservice ware product line.
“We are incredibly proud to be the first manufacturer to offer an innovative foodservice product with a preferred chemistry,” Jacobson said.
The company’s 2021 Sustainability Report details how its focus on Zero Waste infrastructure has helped the commercial composing industry, both through its own efforts and its partnerships with the US Composting Council and the Compost Manufacturing Alliance (CMA). Through its alliance with CMA, for example, Eco-Products field tested its products for degradation in compost piles in various types of composting facilities.
To help expand the commercial composting infrastructure, Eco-Products has embraced the following initiative:
- connect composters to new sources of feedstocks;
- support haulers and compost manufacturers that are entering new markets; and
- identify key areas for potential expansion of composting infrastructure.
In the Sustainability Report, Jacobson wrote, “We continue to call on a plurality of voices to create enduring solutions to the lack of infrastructure and end-markets required to reclaim our global packaging waste. This necessity leads to productive and lasting partnerships with like-minded organizations also willing to do the hard work.”
In that same spirit of stakeholder collaboration, NERC welcomes Eco-Products as its newest Sustaining Advisory Member, and looks forward to continuing the development of effective strategies that reduce waste.