Compostable Packaging and the Biodegradable Products Institute

Overview
This webinar will provide a complete overiew of compostable products and packaging from the perspective of North America's leading certifier of compostable products and packaging – the Biodegradable Products Institute. We'll begin with why compostable products exist – hint: it is not to keep plastic out of the landfill, though that is a side benefit. Then we'll cover the BPI Certification Program from eligibility all the way through to use of the BPI Mark, BPI's Education and Advocacy work that is focued on getting more compostable products accepted and processed by composters, the wide array of market opportunities that have been created by this new category of packaging, and we'll conclude with a review of BPI's Stakeholder Membership program that creates a way for organizations that don't certify with BPI to join and participate.

Objectives:
-Core Value Proposition of Compostable Products – To facilitate the diversion of food scraps and yard trimmings and make organics diversion at scale possible
-BPI Certification – Eligibiliy, Requirements, Process, Use of the BPI Certification Mark
-BPI Education and Advocacy Work
-Market Opportunities
-BPI Stakeholder Membership Program

Wendell Simonson, Marketing Director - Biodegradable Products Institute (BPI)
Wendell is responsible for all aspects of the Marketing function including content development, communications strategy, brand management, and member engagement. Wendell also works on Education and Advocacy at BPI, and recently led the effort to produce the first ever set of industry guidelines for the labeling and identification of compostable products. Prior to joining BPI, Wendell ran Ellipsis Strategy, a Marketing Consulting business where BPI was an early client. Before starting Ellipsis, Wendell spent 10 years building the Marketing function at Eco-Products in Boulder, CO.

Rhodes Yepsen, Executive Director - Biodegradable Products Institute (BPI)
Yepsen is Executive Director of the Biodegradable Products Institute (BPI), a non-profit advocating for the value of compostable products in diverting organic waste to composting. He is passionate about systems-based solutions, specifically the synergy in solving for food waste and packaging at the same time–to address climate change, ecosystem impacts, and regenerative agriculture. Yepsen has served on the Board of USCC, is an advisor to several sustainable packaging groups, and was an editor and writer at BioCycle magazine.