Looming SB 54 Deadline Exposes Critical Produce Education Gap

• CEO Kevin Kelly says the produce industry remains in an “echo chamber” about SB 54 — many growers and suppliers still don’t know the regulation applies to them, even as filing deadlines hit.
• Kelly notes most produce businesses don’t realize seven states now have EPR laws in some form.
• Growers are getting blindsided by fines because they don’t understand who qualifies as a “producer” under SB 54, with many registering only at the last minute.

Converting Trends: Flexible Packaging Readies for EPR

• CEO Kevin Kelly doesn’t expect recycling systems to be ready to meet SB 54’s goals in time, but says it’s essential for the industry to act in good faith now to demonstrate that flexible packaging can actually be recycled.
• Kelly frames the core unresolved question in sustainable packaging as “who will pay for it” — grocers and retailers have demanded better packaging for years while refusing to absorb cost increases.
• Emerald has signed on for a second year as an associate member of the US Flexible Film Initiative, alongside Charter Next Generation, while most other large flexible packaging companies have stayed on the sidelines.

CEO Kevin Kelly on the Challenges of California’s SB54 

• California’s SB 54’s sets 28% recycling rate target for plastic by 2028, even though less than 1% of flexible packaging is currently recycled.
• The Circular Action Alliance’s confusing registration process has led to erroneous delinquency notices for companies that don’t actually qualify as producers.
• Emerald is the only company providing food-grade PCR material for produce bags sold in most U.S. grocery stores.
• Kelly advocates for a simpler EPR fee model: a flat per-pound fee on resin producers instead of complex reporting requirements that disproportionately affect small businesses and farmers.

Kevin Kelly: How Emerald Packaging Sees Sustainability

• Emerald Packaging approaches sustainability through practical improvements in EPR, recyclability, and flexible packaging. Emerald replaced more than 1 million pounds of virgin polyethylene with PCR in 2025, about 5% of its annual plastic use.
• Research shows that greenhouse gas emissions from food waste have a greater climate impact than the production of produce packaging, highlighting packaging’s role in extending shelf life
• Only 18% of Americans have access to industrial composting that accepts ASTM D6400-certified biodegradable packaging, limiting adoption despite growing interest in compostable solutions.

Leadership, Resilience, and Shared Achievement

Emerald Packaging was named the first-ever FTA Flexographic Printer of the Year for:

• Excellence in print quality, innovation, and sustainable flexible packaging, including pioneering PCR integration for food-contact applications.
• A commitment to sustainability through near zero-waste manufacturing, solvent recobery systems and renewable energy initiatives.
• A culture of innovation that shows independant, family-owned companies can compete at the highest level.

Q & A: Emerald Packaging CEO Kevin Kelly on his Dual Role as Supplier and Policy Advisor

• Emerald Packaging is helping produce customers navigate evolving extended producer responsibility (EPR) laws, serving as both packaging supplier and policy advisor as regulations like California’s SB54 reshape the industry.
• Meeting sustainability goals isn’t as simple as replacing plastic–salad and produce bags depend on modified atmosphere packaging (MAP) technology that PCR and compostable materials can’t fully replicate.
• Despite rising resin costs, Emerald continues to use PCR in its flexible packaging, reflecting its long-term commitment to sustainable packaging and confidence in growing demand.

Emerald Packaging Acquires Santa Ana Facility in First-Ever Acquisition

• Emerald Packaging completes its first acquisition in 63 years, acquiring Pacific Flexible Solutions’ manufacturing assets from Blower-Dempsay Corp. in Santa Ana, CA, expanding its role as a flexible packaging supplier to the produce industry.
• The new Santa Ana facility expands Emerald’s manufacturing footprint, adding advanced flexographic printing, laminating and slitting capabilities.
• Located just three hours from the Mexicali crossing, the facility improves service for produce growers in Arizona, Texas, and Northern Mexico while adding production capacity and redundancy.
• The acquisition grows Emerald’s workforce to more than 300 employees, strengthening its position as a leading produce packaging manufacturer serving Taylor Farms, D’Arrigo California, Duda Farms and Wada Farms.

Sustainability in Your Ear: Emerald Packaging CEO Kevin Kelly Delivers Recycled Produce Packaging

• In 2025, Emerald replaced more than 1 million pounds of virgim polyethylene with PCR and partnered with Walmart, Wada Farms and Idaho Packaging to develop the first 30% food-contact PCR potato bag.
• Emerald is one of the only companies bringing food-contact PCR for produce packaging to market using recycled Walmart pallet wrap processed by Dow’s Circulus and Nova Chemicals.
• Emerald uses 30% PCR in its flexible packaging, well above the roughly 20% most competitors attempt, and has successfully deployed up to 50%.
• As a second-generation family-owned business, Emerald can make long-term sustainability investments without the quarterly pressures of private equity ownership.

A Closer Look at Pallavi Joyappa

• Emerald Packaging’s president, Pallavi Joyappa, champions sustainable packaging for fresh produce, working with growers and brands on flexible packaging for produce bags that keep produce fresh while reducing environmental impact.
• Emerald is a flexographic printing packaging manufacturer that has expanded its manufacturing footprint, built a sustainability portfolio, and offers custom flexible packaging for the fresh produce industry.
• Packaging plays a direct role in reducing food waste and methane emissions by extending shelf life.
• Cost remains the biggest barrier to wider adoption of recyclable and compostable packaging. Compostable packaging can cost 3–5× more than conventional materials, prompting Emerald to advocate for federal investment in recycling infrastructure.

Emerald Packaging Chosen as the FTA Inaugural Printer of the Year

• Emerald Packaging was named the first-ever FTA Flexographic Printer of the Year for its leadership in flexographic printing, innovation, and its sustainable manufacturing.
• Emerald holds Bay Area Green Business certification, recognizing its environmental performance, pollution prevention, and workplace health and safety that is part of a broader sustainable manufacturing practices program that includes near-zero-waste operations and solvent recovery.
• Emerald actively shapes packaging policy discussions around California’s SB 54, working with produce industry groups on practical recycling regulations.

Don’t Demonize Plastic Food Packaging. Recycled, it’s Better for the Environment than Some Alternatives

• Kevin Kelly opposes CalRecycle’s latest SB 54 revisions, arguing they would effectively ban plastic in the food supply chain by 2027.
• Packaging protects fresh produce from bacteria, dirt and damage from harvest through delivery, extending shelf life and helping reduce food waste before a shopper ever opens the bag.
• Food waste generates more greenhouse gas emissions than plastic production does, according to a 2017 Oregon Department of Environmental Quality study.
• Compostable packaging can’t yet match plastic’s shelf-life performance and would raise grocery produce prices 5–10%, a key reason the produce industry is asking CalRecycle to exempt federally regulated packaging from its new recycling targets.

Consumers Want Sustainable Packaging and Companies are Making it Happen

• 93% of retailers rank recyclable packaging as their top sustainability priority, and 79% of consumers say sustainable packaging matters to them, according to The Packer’s 2025 Sustainability Insights survey.
• Emerald Packaging CEO Kevin Kelly says real sustainability means compostable or PCR materials, not just mono-material packaging — part of why we joined the US Flexible Film Initiative (USFFI) to make flexible plastic recycling economically viable.

Emerald Packaging Joins Effort to Boost Film, Flexibles Recycling

• Emerald Packaging became the first packaging manufacturer to join the US Flexible Film Initiative, a coalition including Mars, PepsiCo, Nestlé, General Mills, Mondelez and Hill’s Pet Nutrition .
• Less than 1% of film and flexible packaging gets recycled nationwide, largely because most curbside recycling programs don’t yet accept it.
• California’s SB 54 will require single-use packaging to be fully recyclable or compostable by 2032, and the US Flexible Film Initiative is starting there, aiming to build reliable recycling markets for flexible plastics before that deadline.

Emerald Packaging Eliminates 1M Pounds of Virgin Plastic with Help of Partners, including Walmart

• Emerald Packaging has eliminated over 1 million pounds of virgin plastic by replacing it with PCR material across its produce packaging lines.
• D’Arrigo California was the first partner to adopt Emerald’s 30% PCR packaging for a produce bag, rolling it out across its full product line and eliminating more than 500,000 pounds of virgin plastic from the supply chain.
• Walmart’s 30% PCR potato bag program eliminated over 200,000 pounds of virgin plastic from the supply chain.
• The D’Arrigo and Walmart partnerships are advancing Emerald’s broader push towards a circular economy.

Inside Emerald Packaging’s Push to Scale PCR Across the Produce Industry

• CEO Kevin Kelly discusses the challenges of scaling PCR and why he sees it as both an enviornmental solution and sound business strategy.
• Emerald pioneered PCR across an entire retail product line, reaching 30% PCR content and working towards 50% while maintaining produce bag performance.
• Food-contact PCR packaging costs about 3x virgin resin, while compostable packaging runs 6x to 14x virgin resin — a cost gap that makes PCR the more practical near-term sustainable packaging option.
• Producing PCR generates fewer greenhouse gas emissions than virgin plastic, since virgin resin production carries the added pollution of natural gas extraction and processing.
• Extended producer responsibility programs are accelerating PCR adoption, since EPR fees on virgin plastic are narrowing the price gap with recycled content.