WestRock's Solution to Farming's Hidden Plastic Problem

If you’re a frequent reader of Sustainability Magazine, you’ll know that plastic packaging is one of the biggest challenges the private sector faces in the pursuit of a greener future. 

You’ll likely also know WestRock, one of the world’s foremost sustainable packaging companies. 

The company is hot on the trail of solving the plastic packaging issue, with its research and development team working on a paper-based alternative to plastic mulch.

Plastic mulch is used in agriculture around the world and any avid gardeners amongst you may well recognise it.

It is a plastic sheet, laid across the soil in crop fields, designed to suppress weeds and regulate water levels and earth temperature.

This new project is being directed by Product Development Manager Cas Siegling and with it he aims to address the growing environmental concerns surrounding the use of polyethylene film in crop fields.

The environmental challenge

Why is plastic mulch such an issue? Cas, who has been dividing his time between Richmond, Virginia and Live Oak, Florida, was struck by the reality of the problem during field visits. 

"We went to the field of a small farmer and there were chunks of plastic throughout the whole field, which will probably never go away," he explains. "It was from years and years of it not being completely pulled up at the end of the season."

The scale of this issue can’t be overstated.

As of 2012, farmers worldwide used 4 million tonnes of plastic mulch, with usage estimated to rise by almost 6% annually between 2022 and 2026, according to a past study by Transparency Market Research. 

This increase, coupled with growing global bans on single-use plastics, has created an urgent need for sustainable alternatives.

Navigating unique challenges in unique ways

WestRock's approach to this challenge has been unique, particularly in terms of project acceleration. 

Unlike typical product development cycles, the team's testing window is limited to a few months each year due to crop cycles. 

"Our opportunity to perform trials is between February and April every year," Cas explains. "If you perform a trial and fail, you can't simply come back in May and try something new. You have to wait another year before trying another iteration."

To navigate these constraints, WestRock has partnered with the University of Florida's Agriculture Extension, enabling multiple iterations to be tested in a single planting season. 

This collaboration has been crucial in gathering comprehensive data to guide the development of new sustainable mulches.

What are the benefits of this project?

Well, the project's potential impact extends far beyond waste reduction. 

As Cas says, WestRock’s new product could help by "eliminating further ground contamination with microplastics, eliminating the need for farmers to spend time and labour removing the product, enriching soil quality instead of degrading it, and the opportunity to test whether it could positively impact crop yield".

Persevering through the setbacks

Setbacks and failures are almost ever-present in the work of R&D teams.

It’s the way they deal with these challenges that makes businesses what they are.

It’s safe to say that the WestRock team's perseverance has been unwavering so far. Cas has a great deal of praise for WestRock's innovation team structure for helping to accelerate development in spite of the tribulations.

"We now have a person who is responsible for pushing a project over the commercialisation finish line, which allowed this project to move along faster, in my opinion," he says.

A big commitment, a big reward

This project exemplifies WestRock's commitment to innovation in sustainability. Cas is very reflective about the company's approach.

He says: "It would have been very simple to say, 'Well, it didn't work well enough. Move on.' But the team stuck with it, and it became an example of how we approach research at WestRock.

“Our team found out that if we have a justifiable reason to continue, WestRock is going to push forward."

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