Written by: Mia Davis, Chief Impact Officer at Ollie

So many of the products that we use on a daily basis are packaged. From personal care products, to the polybag wrapping a brand new shirt, to your best friend’s Ollie meal, plastic packaging is everywhere. And while plastic has enabled great convenience, it unfortunately comes with big environmental burdens.

At Ollie, we’re honest about the trade-offs of using plastic, and we want to share our point of view. On the positive side, plastic is lightweight, versatile, and allows us to protect our high quality food from the elements, keeping it safe (always priority #1). We’ve looked, and there are no other packaging types currently on the market that can protect Ollie’s food from harsh conditions (we flash freeze our fresh meals in plastic film, and ensure it is kept super cold all the way to your doorstep), especially without a lot of added bulk, weight and cost. Plastic pouches allow our treats and gently baked food to be stable on the shelf, and resealed to maintain freshness.  (Stale or contaminated food that needs to be thrown away is the worst: According to the EPA, the greenhouse gas emissions from landfilled food waste are equivalent to the annual emissions of 15 coal-fired power plants.)

You’ve probably heard, but the issues with plastic are many, and overlapping. The vast majority of plastic is made from petrochemicals derived from refined oil and gas, which are finite resources extracted using unsustainable processes. Energy, chemicals and water are used to make plastic, and greenhouse gas emissions and other forms of toxic pollution occur through its lifecycle–from the time plastic is made to its decomposition.  And while many of us do not see it on a daily basis, humans, especially people of color and those below the poverty line, and animals, are exposed to this harmful pollution.

Why can’t we just recycle all of this plastic?

Because it wasn’t made to be recycled, despite the (often misleading!) recycling symbols we see on so many packages. Unfortunately, most of the plastic that humans have made has never been recycled, and much of what the plastic industry continues to make today cannot be recycled in recycling centers, or Material Recovery Facilities, as they’re known.  Why? The infrastructure was not designed for the plastic resin types (especially mixed materials, fused together) or formats most common today, or the plastic is dirty and contaminated, and/or it has no value, cannot be turned into something else useful.

And then there is the major issue of plastic that doesn’t even make it to the landfill or the recycling center, but ends up polluting the environment, especially waterways that eventually lead to the ocean.  About 2000 garbage trucks a day, to be exact. Ugh.

We see the problems. While we use plastic, Ollie has made a concentrated effort to do it responsibly, and to continue to improve our material selection. We 

• Use monomaterial polyethylene (PE) bags that may be recycled through store-drop off collection (residential, curbside recycling programs do not recycle any bags yet– even monomaterial ones)

• Are members of How2Recycle , an organization that licenses an on-package label based on nationally harmonized data and  provides consistent and transparent on-package disposal instructions for consumers. Behind every label is a custom recyclability assessment.

• Have started to clearly disclose all of our packaging material on packaging (on a rolling basis as we need to order new packaging, so as to not waste what we’ve already created). 

Why does this matter? Because customers need to know how to properly dispose of packaging so they’re not “wishcycling,” and specialty recycling facilities need to know what the package is so that they can sort it properly, increasing the chances the material will be recycled into something higher value

Ollie has also completed a full packaging audit of all primary and shipping materials, and we’re committed to improving our environmental footprint by reducing material use (always the best option) and sourcing recycled content and/or materials that are more likely to be recycled. The journey is a long one full of trade-offs, but we’re committed to making smart and sustainable choices wherever we can. We will continue to share progress with you along the way!

Mia Davis, Chief Impact Officer at Ollie

Mia Davis is a nationally recognized impact leader driving meaningful safety, sustainability and transparency standards in consumer products. Mia recently joined Ollie as Chief Impact Officer, where she leads our sustainability and social responsibility work.

Mia was one of the first hires at Beautycounter, where she developed the company's stance on safety, including The Never List (TM) and "Ingredient Selection Process."  She also created The Credo Clean Standard (TM) for the clean beauty retailer, including the Sustainable Packaging Guidelines-- retail's strongest formula and packaging standards. In 2021, she co-founded the nonprofit membership organization Pact Collective to start to make a dent in hard-to-recycle beauty waste, and to bring beauty stakeholders together to move toward circularity.

She has advised Safer Made, Novi Connect, rePurpose Global, Spindrift, ChemForward, Belcorp, Honest Company, Bloomi, Verity Case, goop, ILIA, and others.