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Cabot Cheeses Go Green with Sustainable Packaging
The cheese company’s new sustainable packaging strikes the perfect balance of product protection and environmental responsibility.
2 Min Read
Agri-Mark, Inc./Cabot Creamery Cooperative
At a Glance
- Later this year, the cheesemaker will debut a new wrap made of 30% post-consumer recycled (PCR) film.
- The redesign reflects extensive research to balance packaging, product, and consumer considerations.
- The switch to PCR film brings big sustainability gains without compromising product quality or production throughput.
It’s been two years in the making and Agri-Mark, Inc./Cabot Creamery Cooperative is nearly ready to reveal the new sustainable packaging for all of its flagship 8oz cheese bars. Beginning in Q4 of this year, Cabot Creamery cheeses will roll out in a new wrap made of 30% post-consumer recycled film (PCR).
The new packaging replaces Cabot’s original single-use, virgin plastic packaging and was developed after a comprehensive sustainable packaging study that began in 2022 and was funded by a $324,000 grant from the Northeast Dairy Business Innovation Center, or NE-DBIC.
Extensive testing produced a PCR win.
The trials enabled Cabot to conduct shelf life and feasibility tests on fully compostable, PCR, and fully recycle-ready packaging options in partnership with TC Transcontinental Packaging. Rigorous testing was done to ensure packaging performance, including assessing integrity during transport, texture, flavor, and color differences. Cabot also conducted consumer studies to gauge perspectives on alternative packaging and ensure consistent cheese quality, flavor, appearance, and nutrition.
In the end, Cabot chose a 30% PCR film that will deliver water and oxygen barriers. It can also be run on the company’s existing production line.
“I was pleasantly surprised to find solutions that were readily available that did not compromise throughput or quality, and required minimal operational adjustment,” comments Jason Martin, senior vice president of operations at Agri-Mark. “Specifically, the PCR package performed seamlessly on the production line, and the grant team confirmed that it maintained Cabot’s high standards for cheese quality, shelf-life, and sensory experience.”
Jed Davis, Cabot’s vice president of strategic engagement & sustainability, tells Packaging Digest that the new packaging will also deliver other important environmental benefits, including a 23% decrease in fossil fuel emissions per bar, a 19% decrease in water usage during the manufacture of the company’s 8oz bar line (equivalent to three cups of water saved per 8oz bar), and a 15% decrease in greenhouse gas emissions per bar.
What’s more, “100,000 pounds of single-use resin would be offset by the incorporation of recycled material,” he explains.
Cabot said it will share its grant-funded research findings with the dairy industry with the goal of broadening the positive impact.
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