Atlantic Packaging’s Packaging Solution Center in Charlotte, North Carolina, has achieved Gold certification under the TRUE zero-waste rating system after reaching a 95.6% waste diversion rate.

The certification, administered by Green Business Certification Inc. (GBCI), is the first TRUE Gold certification achieved by an Atlantic Packaging facility.

TRUE, which stands for Total Resource Use and Efficiency, evaluates how facilities reduce waste and improve resource management. Certification requires facilities to demonstrate at least 90% diversion from landfill, incineration and the environment.

Atlantic’s Charlotte operation exceeded that threshold by 5.6 percentage points.

Charlotte Facility Reaches 95.6% Waste Diversion

The certification followed changes across waste collection, employee training, composting, electronics recycling and packaging operations at the Packaging Solution Center.

One of the site’s operational changes involved replacing a cardboard-only collection bin with a single-stream recycling system.

Atlantic also retrained office and janitorial employees on waste sorting and standardized recycling, composting and landfill bins in breakroom areas.

Reusable dishware was introduced as an alternative to some single-use food-service products.

Gabie Giers, Atlantic Packaging sustainability analyst and project leader, said the 95.6% diversion rate reflects a broader change in how the facility manages waste.

“A 95.6 percent diversion rate isn’t incremental progress, it’s a fundamentally different way of running a facility,” Giers said.

Stretch Wrapping Becomes Part of Waste Reduction Strategy

Packaging operations themselves were also included in the Charlotte site’s zero-waste program.

The facility implemented Atlantic’s MUST Management System, the company’s patented stretch-wrapping optimization program, on its own stretch wrappers.

Stretch-film optimization can address waste at the point of use by controlling how much film is required to secure palletized loads while maintaining the necessary load containment.

The Charlotte facility also houses Atlantic’s closed-loop stretch film system.

According to the company, the system has the capacity to recover up to 10 million pounds of stretch film annually.

Material that meets the required specifications can be returned to the stretch-film production cycle, while pellets that do not meet quality requirements for new film can be directed toward other applications.

The system illustrates an important distinction in packaging waste management: recycling material after use is one part of the process, while reducing unnecessary material consumption before waste is generated is another.

Food Waste and Electronics Added to Diversion Program

Atlantic also expanded its waste-management program beyond conventional packaging materials.

The Charlotte operation works with local company Crown Town Compost to divert food and other organic waste from landfill.

Compost purchased from the organization is used for an employee garden located behind the facility’s warehouse.

The Packaging Solution Center has also established a dedicated electronic-waste collection area where employees can dispose of both workplace and personal electronics.

These programs contributed to a broader waste-diversion strategy covering multiple waste streams rather than concentrating only on corrugated board, plastic film and other materials directly associated with packaging operations.

Customer-Facing Facility Adds Waste-Sorting Guidance

Because the Packaging Solution Center regularly receives customers, Atlantic also had to consider how visitors interact with its waste-management system.

The company introduced clearer signage and trained customer-facing employees to help visitors correctly separate recycling, compost and landfill waste.

That addresses a practical challenge faced by facilities pursuing high diversion rates.

Installing additional collection bins alone does not ensure materials reach the correct recovery stream. Contamination caused by incorrect sorting can reduce the effectiveness of recycling and composting programs.

Employee and visitor education therefore became part of the site’s operational approach rather than being treated separately from the physical collection infrastructure.

TRUE Certification Looks Beyond Recycling Alone

TRUE certification places emphasis on reducing resource consumption and redesigning processes rather than relying exclusively on downstream recycling.

Peter Templeton, president and CEO of GBCI and the U.S. Green Building Council, said companies need to examine how waste can be prevented before it is generated.

“Businesses must go beyond our current wasteful practices and think critically about how to redesign processes so that less waste is produced in the first place,” Templeton said.

For packaging operations, that distinction is particularly relevant.

Waste reduction can involve material recovery, but it can also include using less packaging, improving process consistency, preventing contamination and creating closed-loop material systems.

Atlantic’s Charlotte project combines several of those approaches.

The result is a 95.6% diversion rate and the company’s first TRUE Gold-certified facility, potentially providing a model Atlantic can evaluate across other locations in its network.

Atlantic Packaging provides packaging materials, equipment, engineering and technical services, with operations that include packaging optimization and stretch-film recovery programs.

Last Updated on 28/08/2026 by Jota Machinery