Corporate Social Responsibility
Achieving sustainability is a collaborative process. Solo delivers on its eco-forwardTM promise in a number of ways:
- BareTM by Solo® - An eco-forwardTM line of single-use tableware and containers made with recycled, recyclable, compostable or renewable resource materials.
- Carbon Reduction – Ensuring that our manufacturing and distribution processes are as efficient as possible. Solo implemented more than 300 energy-saving initiatives in 2008 and saved 35,000 tons of carbon by using intermodal rail whenever possible to distribute products.
- Providing Options – Partnering with our customers to identify the single-use products that work best given their options for recovery and disposal.
- Investing in the Future – Staying on the cutting edge of research and development into the latest possibilities for more environmentally preferable materials.
- Supporting Education – Partnering with environmental and educational organizations to educate people across the United States about foodservice packaging materials and disposal options including recycling and composting.
- Engaging Employees – Implementing environmental sustainability programs in our facilities and communities through the Solo Sustainability Action Network, a group of approximately 400 employee volunteers.
- Biodegradability and compostability are not the same thing.
- Biodegradable materials degrade through the action of naturally occurring microorganisms such as bacteria, fungi or algae without human intervention.
- Compostable materials degrade through controlled biological decomposition in the presence of water, heat and microorganisms to form an earthy material that can be added to the soil to provide food for plants.
- PET plastic is the plastic from which water bottles are made and is commonly recycled.
- Solo's PET and recycled PET products are made from bottle-grade PET.
- There is no universally accepted definition sustainability.
- BareTM by Solo® products can be found at most Target and Meijer stores nationwide.
- Solo's commitment to sustainability rests on three pillars: Options, Investment, and Education.
- Solo is a national sponsor of Keep America Beautiful's Great American Cleanup.
- Nothing decomposes in landfills - they are designed to contain, not to degrade.
- Bio-resins are plant-based plastics made from renewable resources such as corn.
- "Eco-forwardTM" expresses Solo's ongoing commitment to developing foodservice packaging alternatives that contribute to a more environmentally sustainable future.
- PLA stands for polylactic acid, a corn-based material that offers an alternative to petroleum-based plastics.
- BareTM by Solo® products are made with post-consumer recycled plastic, renewable resources and/or compostable materials.
- BareTM by Solo® products were used to serve more than 100,000 Keep America Beautiful volunteers across the country in 2009.
An eco-forwardTM line of single-use tableware and containers made with recycled, recyclable, compostable or renewable resource materials.
Great American Cleanup National Sponsor