Top: New Veridian™ line includes green or brown identification elements like tinting and striping. Images courtesy Eco-Products

Drink lid features third-party certification mark and  wording required by labeling rules. Click to enlarge

Eco-Products® introduced a new product line designed to make it easier for consumers, composters, and the entire foodservice value chain to differentiate between certified compostable and non-compostable products. All cups, lids, containers and cutlery in the new Veridian™ line feature the word “Compostable,” display the BPI Certification Mark signifying that the material is compostable, and include green or brown identification elements like tinting and striping that further help distinguish them from their non-compostable counterparts. The items are designed to meet new labeling rules in Washington state and Colorado that require the use of the word “Compostable,” a third-party certification mark, and the combination of color and design elements that vary by state. The laws were created to address contamination challenges and make compostable foodservice products more readily and easily identifiable. “Consistent on-item labeling is essential to giving foodservice operators, their customers and composters the ability to quickly and easily identify products as compostable,” explains Wendell Simonson, Director of Marketing at Eco-Products.  Last fall, Eco-Products launched the “CIRC” Program — Controls Intended to Remove Contamination — an open source, systems approach to contamination mitigation for the foodservice industry. “Composters have an extremely limited ability to deal with contamination once it gets to their facilities,” adds Simonson. “That means we need to do everything possible to keep non-compostable products out of organics streams, and consistent on-item labeling is a foundational piece of that effort.”