New York, NY | cbarry@closedlooppartners.com

Caroline Barry is the Innovation Fellow at Closed Loop Partners’ Center for the Circular Economy, a New York-based investment firm and innovation center focused on the circular economy. The Center partners with brands, NGOs, and industry leaders to keep materials in circulation and out of our natural environments, and ensure they are recycled, composted, or reused instead. Caroline co-leads the Center’s Composting Consortium, a multi-year collaboration across the entire compostable packaging value chain to pilot industry-wide solutions and build a roadmap for investment in technologies and infrastructure that enable the recovery of compostable food scraps and food-contact compostable packaging. She holds a Master’s in Environmental Sustainability from the University of Colorado, Boulder.

Session Code: F4

Track: Diversion and Collection

Session Name: Compostable Products Update

Session Time: Thursday, January 26, 8:30 AM – 10:00 AM

Presentation Title: The Trials and Tribulations of Compostable Product Labeling – New Consumer Research to Guide Decision Making

Presentation Description: Contamination from non-compostable products is one of the biggest challenges composters face. On-product labeling is part of the strategy to address the issue, and can help consumers, end-users, and others distinguish compostable from non-compostable items. Until now, rules and guidance from BPI and requirements from states like Washington have been created without research on how consumers and end-users respond to different labeling techniques and elements. A BPI and Closed Loop Partners consumer study brings first-of-its-kind data to the on-product labeling conversation to guide manufacturer and brand owner decision making.