PHOENIX – January 30, 2019 – Footprint recognizes environmental leaders with its first-ever “Footprint Hero” award. Given to its first recipients today at Footprint’s sustainability summit in Scottsdale, Ariz., the award is one of many efforts the company has created to recognize people and organizations making ongoing changes to improve the environment and eliminate plastic.
"One of our goals as a company is to eliminate as much plastic waste as we can," says Troy Swope, founder and CEO of Footprint. "It’s not just about making a sustainable product. It’s how we live. We have a passion for eliminating plastic waste. The people and companies that share this goal will receive Footprint Hero awards.”
The company gives these awards throughout the year and honors each recipient annually at its sustainability summit.
Jeff Bassett, vice president of marketing at Footprint, who organizes the ceremony and award program says these people and companies bring a lot of passion into the effort to make real changes. “It is all about recognizing meaningful and measurable impact around eliminating single use plastics. We are looking for real leadership and risk takers that are willing to forge a different route and move away from plastics.”
Today the first group of award winners were recognized at Footprint’s summit and include:
- David Jones, senior project director, Stephen Gould Corporation for designing packaging that eliminated 1,146,270 pounds of plastic in 2018—saving CO2 emissions equivalent to 1,140 metric tons.
- Beyond Meat for their inspiring industry lead in demanding the use of fiber-based packaging across their full product line which eliminated 185,000 pounds of plastic in 2018 and saved 148 metric tons of CO2 equivalent emissions.
- MTD for replacing expanded polystyrene (EPS) packaging with fiber-based packaging for its yard trimmers. This project alone eliminated 767,370 pounds of plastic in 2018 and saved 616 metric tons of CO2 equivalent emissions.
- ConAgra Brands for its Healthy Choice Power Bowls switch to the fiber bowl which eliminated 1,420,745 pounds of plastic in 2018 and saved 1,140 metric tons of CO2 equivalent emissions.
Eric Sinz, vice president of packaging at ConAgra Brands says, “I was excited to have received the award on behalf of ConAgra. In addition to being an amazing award it’s a great validation of the work we have put into Power Bowl packaging.”
The Footprint sustainability summit is held annually and is the premier half-day sustainability conference designed for C-suite executives to learn about the challenges and solutions to plastics and plastic packaging.
About Footprint
Footprint has a clear vision: eliminate single-use and short-term use plastics. Footprint designs, develops and manufactures shaped fiber and paper into bio-degradable, compostable products. We make it easy for companies to switch out of plastic to preserve our future. We love our oceans and our planet, that's why we are revolutionizing industries to eliminate plastic pollution. The company was founded by former Intel engineers Troy Swope and Yoke Chung and employs more than 800 people. In 2019, Footprint was announced a winner of the prestigious NextGen Cup Challenge for its fiber-based alternative manufacturing process for making cups and lids. It has already helped eliminate over 50 million pounds of plastic. The company is based in Gilbert, Ariz. For more information and a complete portfolio of Footprint solutions visit www.footprintus.com
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