Webinar: Beyond PFAS-Free Packaging by Sustainable Packaging Coalition

About This Webinar

The Sustainable Packaging Coalition (SPC) and ChemFORWARD are hosting a webinar to share results of a rigorous safer materials pilot project that goes beyond PFAS-Free.

Regulations and restricted substances lists (RSLs) indicate what not to use, but the next question is: What to use instead? Without robust, high-quality data, this question cannot be answered and everyone in the value chain is vulnerable to regrettable substitutions.

The webinar will feature participants from the Safe + Circular Materials Collaborative, a year-long supply chain collaboration that explored the challenges of circular packaging and solutions to accelerate the transition to safer alternatives.

Participants will share their experience pushing beyond PFAS-free to provide solutions that were fully assessed and verified as PFAS-free and safer alternatives.

“The future of innovation in the packaging supply chain depends on reliable chemical hazard assessment to confirm that materials are verified to be safe for human health and reduce environmental impacts,” commented Zack Leimkuehler, Vice President, Business Development at Ahlstrom. “ChemFORWARD and SPC are building the infrastructure to enable a rigorous evaluation that protects confidential business information from upstream to downstream.”

In this webinar, you will learn about this journey from leaders at Ahlstrom and World Centric while gaining an early preview of efforts to populate a shared registry of verified safer building block materials.

Join us for a look at the future of safe and circular materials for packaging.

Presenters

Kyle Bucklin

Director of Engineering and Commercialization, World Centric

Kyle Bucklin is the Director of Engineering and Commercialization at World Centric. Kyle earned degrees in mechanical engineering and business from Union College and University at Albany, SUNY. His career has been focused on developing materials for ecological and high-performance applications. Prior to World Centric, he worked at Ecovative Design developing mycelium biomaterials for multiple applications including packaging and building materials. He also worked at Spirit AeroSystems and provided extreme material systems for NASA programs that included the Orion Launch Abort System, Perseverance, and Dragonfly missions. Kyle has been an instrumental part of the R & D Team at World Centric and continues to work towards advancing the mission of being of service to people and the planet.

Karen Hagerman

Director SPC, GreenBlue

Karen Hagerman joined GreenBlue in December 2020 as the Collaboratives Manager for the SPC. After a nine-year career in the Marine Corps, Karen shifted her energy towards addressing plastic pollution and responsible resource usage. She earned her MS in Sustainable Engineering from Villanova University, with a focus on circular and resilient systems. For her thesis research, she conducted a whole-systems assessment of the plastics value chain and recycling infrastructure in the U.S. While obtaining her graduate education, Karen worked on the Education and Outreach Team at the Tahoe Environmental Research Center. She engaged with students, community members, and visitors on issues concerning sustainability and conservation through environmental education lessons, public science center tours, and outreach opportunities. Prior to entering her graduate program, Karen was a CH-53E Helicopter Pilot and Officer in the United States Marine Corps. She served in different leadership roles in program and team management, from Administration to Quality Assurance. The majority of her roles were in Operations, developing long-range plans, building detailed schedules, and creating and implementing training strategies. Karen holds a BS in Aerospace Engineering from the United States Naval Academy. Always looking for ways to improve herself and her surroundings, Karen is a trained yoga teacher, avid trail runner, and committed trash-picker-upper.

Stacy Glass

Executive Director, ChemFORWARD

When I joined the Cradle to Cradle Product Innovation Institute team in 2011, I could not have imagined that safer chemistry would become central to my work and an enabler for the circular economy. In 2017 I began work on a new initiative to expand access to verified chemical hazard information as an accelerator for safe and circular design. In 2018 I spun the project out of C2CPII to address a larger market need. In 2019 we engaged in a co-design and proof-of-concept pilot alongside partners from Target, Google, Nike, Levis, Method, Steelcase, Environmental Defense Fund, C&A Foundation, ZDHC, and more. Today, ChemFORWARD is a science-based, non-profit, value chain collaboration.We believe that trusted data underpins the pathway to safer products for all, and that increased use of chemical hazard profiles for proactive decision making is a foundation for the circular economy. We are building cost-effective access to a trusted globally harmonized repository of chemical hazard assessments for safer alternatives. To lead this innovative project, I draw on 25 years of experience encompassing management consulting, high growth start-ups, public-private partnerships, and an MBA from Duke University.

Zack Leimkuehler

Vice President of New Business Development, Ahlstrom

Zack Leimkuehler is the Vice President of New Business Development at Ahlstrom. Zack leads product development efforts with a focus on delivering sustainable solutions for Ahlstrom’s customers around the globe. With a strong presence in specialty papers and fibers, the team creates a wealth of opportunities for innovation and product improvements to deliver value to customers and in turn, create long term technical and strategic demand for paper. Leimkuehler has been involved with multiple different end-use markets, collaborating with customers and brand owners to build lasting value and sustainability with fiber-based products.

Zack has been with Ahlstrom and its North American legacy businesses for more than 20 years and has held positions in Manufacturing, Marketing, and Product Development. Zack is a Paper Science Engineering Graduate of the University of Wisconsin – Stevens Point.