Best of Earth911 Podcast: Better Earth’s Savannah Seydel on Compostable Packaging

Savannah Seydel, vice president of sustainability and impact at Better Earth, is leading a movement to eliminate petroleum-based plastics and PFAS-treated fiber from our food packaging options. Food packaging and service ware are significant contributors to plastic pollution. The emergence of compostable alternatives to traditional plastics has the potential to revolutionize food service materials, creating a circular economy where materials are sourced from nature, used by humans, and returned to nature. Better Earth produces a variety of hot and cold food packaging using renewable, sustainably grown fiber and PLA, an industrially compostable bio-plastic, which now accounts for 8% of the food service industry.

Better Earth targets businesses as its customers, offering a range of packaging products and circular services. The company’s in-house design studio develops innovative packaging solutions and partnerships, such as sourcing fiber from cover crops like switchgrass to support local farmers. Better Earth also focuses on establishing collection programs to recycle packaging and food waste back into compost, enriching the soil in a sustainable manner. Savannah refers to their approach as “Field to Food to Field,” emphasizing the cyclical nature of their operations. Learn more about Better Earth at becompostable.com.

Editor’s Note: This interview originally aired on November 23, 2023.