🌎 On a Mission to Eliminate 1 BILLION Pounds of Plastic Annually! 👉 Let’s connect today!

I'm dedicated to eliminating BILLIONS of pounds of plastic by making circular compostable packaging a reality for every brand.  We've made circular compostable packaging solutions easily accessible, and help brands get them effectively composted, powering sustainability impact to drive brand value and financial success.

With 25 years at the helm of Elevate Packaging, I have pioneered and led the charge in providing world leading, reliable, high-quality compostable packaging solutions for the leading sustainable brands.

Our mission is to make it easy for your business to seamlessly move beyond traditional plastics to circular compostable packaging, making sustainability an easy choice and a big win for your business.

Leveraging my deep expertise in strategy, technology, and business innovation, I've identified and developed market leading solutions to reduce packaging waste, introducing industry-first compostable products and enabling circular packaging systems.

As a speaker, investor, and a key contributor to sustainability councils, I strive to lead by example in both my professional and personal life and promoting a healthier planet for future generations.

Let's make a difference together!

As we enter 2026, with the looming health threat of #microplastics it's clear that we’re entering a new era of #plasticfree #sustainability... where performance, purpose, and planet are no longer at odds.

At Elevate Packaging, that’s been our focus  quietly but relentlessly from our founding in in 2000.

We don't focus on headlines; We are #leaders, #pioneers, #engineers, and #innovators focused on building #effective sustainable solution systems.

We’ve engineered world-class #compostable materials that reliably outperform plastic thru our vertically integrated, circular supply chain designed for consistency, scalability, and real impact. ♻️

Our customers confirm they cannot find a better [name-the-packaging-Elevate-offers] than from Elevate Packaging, where  [name-the-packaging] is our disposable gloves, stand up pouches, coffee bags, child-resistant packaging, tape, stretch wrap, cello bags, etc etc.

From the very beginning, we took a different path. ➡️

Instead of chasing sales, we invested in engineering, circular authenticity, and integrity with a clear mission to eliminate wasteful plastics and replace them with solutions that truly restore the planet. 🌍

True sustainability is not about compliance or marketing.
‼️ This is such an important point, and the basis for today's gross misdirection in the industry by the perceived incumbent leaders of compostable packaging compliance.

It’s about #systems #leadership.  It's about redesigning how materials flow so business performance and planetary health move in the same direction. 💡

Elevate isn’t just a packaging company. We’re a sustainability company, proving that #Circular design + #Performance + #Purpose does scale together. 🌎

The next phase is all about partnership.
If your #sustainablebusiness is ready to move beyond incremental change and help build a regenerative future with #zeroplastic, let’s connect and make it real. 💚

Rich Cohen

I'm speaking at B2B Online Chicago 2026, to join me click here https://lnkd.in/gt7Yfv_9 #B2BOnline #B2BOnlineChicago

Have you noticed the fear and anxiety regarding #AI replacing humans and their jobs?  I'm sure you have.

The million dollar question is: 'What will humans do now?'

I have a very different perspective about AI.

I've lived through tech fearmongering firsthand a few times.

In the mid-'80s I played a central role in driving technology transformation from mainframes to PCs and client-server computing.
IT executives and programmers panicked: "Now our business colleagues will develop their own apps and access data on their own, leaving no more IT jobs!"
Spoiler alert: Technology and software developer jobs exploded more than ever before.

Then in the 90's I recall the hand ringing of how 'the internet' would immediately eliminate jobs: "E-commerce will kill all retail jobs!"
Yet we see now how warehouses boomed and digital marketing surged.

AI job fears are overstated. 
As in the past there will be a shift in what work we do and how work is done, and as before, we will adapt.

#Disruptive technology has always created anxiety but has introduce new opportunities and humans have adapted. 
👉 Automobiles dramatically reduced horse and buggy work but birthed mechanics and highway/road construction
👉 Electricity ended tons of manual work and changed the lighting industry (candles, oil lamps) but launched a huge range of useful appliances, such as dishwashers, clothes washing machines, refrigerators,  etc, which eliminated many other jobs, while creating other new jobs.

At Elevate Packaging, AI is enabling our e-commerce and custom #circular #compostable packaging manufacturing and distribution business more than ever.

It has enabled us a platform for growth and  creating new exciting career opportunities. 

AI streamlines and improves flows from sales to production to delivery.

It helps our customers enable #EPR: automated traceability reporting, fee-optimized designs, rebate forecasts.

Opportunities emerge. Roles evolve.

Our outstanding all-human #zerowaste ambassadors (sales team) can focus more than ever on building authentic human relationships with our clients and businesses that seek to eliminate #plastic and develop circular packaging solutions. 

We will let AI crunch the EPR calcs and manage production integration.

Productivity fuels #sustainability.

AI is Tech. Tech amplifies us.

B2B Distribution has been making a quiet shift.

As I was preparing trending topics for leading a roundtable with distributors at the upcoming B2B Online, I’ve been thinking about something many B2B distributors are beginning to notice.

Customers are asking more often for packaging that is:
✅  #Compostable
✅  #Plasticfree
✅  #PFAS-free
✅  Compliant with emerging packaging regulations, like #EPR

This shift is not just consumer driven.

It is coming from brands responding to retailer requirements, sustainability commitments, and new legislation.

For distributors, this raises an interesting question.

Will sustainable packaging remain a niche category, or will it become a standard product attribute, like recyclable, recycled, food-safe, or FDA compliant?

B2B e-commerce leaders understand that distributors who win are often the ones who recognize new product attributes early and structure them into their catalogs, like Zoro.com, before competitors do.

Curious to hear from other distributors:
👉 Are you seeing sustainability show up more often in product searches, RFQs, or procurement requirements?

#B2BDistribution
#SustainablePackaging
#CircularEconomy
Lena Jawdat Angelica Cieslak, MBA
Modern Distribution Management (MDM) Distribution Strategy Group

B2B distribution sustainable compostable recyclable EPR eco-friendly biodegradable 

Hey Distributors!
Sustainability is a powerful product attribute! 🌎

One of the most interesting shifts happening in B2B distribution is how sustainability attributes now appear directly inside product data and digital catalogs.

For decades, product discovery has depended on structured attributes like: Weight, Dimensions, Material, Temperature rating, Certifications, etc.

These attributes allow buyers to quickly identify the right product.

Now sustainability is joining that list. 🌿

Procurement teams are increasingly searching for products based on attributes such as:

 🌎  Plastic-free
 🌎  Compostable and Biodegradable 
 🌎  Recyclable
 🌎  Low Environmental Impact
 🌎  Environmental Regulatory Compliance

Distributors are now using sustainability data as structured data elements in digital catalogs as a means to improve product discovery and to support rapidly growing procurement requirements.

This is helping distributors differentiate their offering and capture emerging demand.

When that essential sustainability information is missing, buyers often move on to the next supplier.

What makes this shift even more interesting is who is now participating. 🤔

Even business leaders who have historically supported organizations skeptical of climate policy are now awakening and adapting to the market reality.

For example, leadership at Uline has long been associated with funding groups critical of climate regulation.  Yet today Uline prominently markets and distributes a wide range of sustainable and environmentally responsible packaging products in its catalog.  Industry experts say this is a huge about-face for them.

That tells us something important.‼️

This shift is not ideological.

It’s market driven. 💪

Customer demand, procurement requirements, regulatory pressure, and digital product discovery are all pushing sustainability directly into the structure of B2B commerce.

When even the most skeptical corners of the market begin promoting sustainable solutions, you know the shift is no longer theoretical.

It’s structural.

Sustainability has now firmly established itself as essential structured product data.

And the distributors that organize and surface that information best will become the platforms customers rely on.

The big question is... where will B2B distributors see the largest opportunities emerging?

#B2BDistribution #EcommerceStrategy
#SustainablePackaging

uline environmentally friendly eco-friendly sustainable compostable recyclable biogradable Liz Uihlein climate-change denial Ed Uihlein Family Foundation Heartland Institute

#B2B distribution is one of the most exciting opportunities for sustainable packaging! 

As sustainability pressures increase across supply chains, this is paving the way for completely new types of sustainability leadership opportunities emerging for distributors. 🌟

Customers are not just asking for products.

They are asking for guidance. 💡

Increasingly, purchasing agents have been charged to reduce plastic, improve environmental performance, or prepare for regulatory changes.

But they often do not know where to begin.

This is a great leadership opportunity for B2B distribution.

The distributors that win in this next phase of B2B commerce will not just move products. ‼️

They will help customers navigate sustainable material choices, compliance requirements, and circular packaging alternatives.  This is the emerging stage of convergence of technology enablement and sustainability.

And, at Elevate Packaging, we are already seeing distributors expand into product categories that support this transition.

Are your customers asking for help identifying more sustainable product options?

#B2BDistribution
#SupplyChain
#CircularEconomy

circular compostable biodegradable recyclable recycled packaging B2B e-commerce distributors

I'm embracing #Neuroplasticity!

I was deeply impressed by #Olympic #champion Eileen Gu, and her gold-medal dominance left me in awe - Nueroplasticity is her big advantage.

When it comes to building a world-class #circular #sustainable company I look for every tool possible to help drive sustainability impact and success.

This is how I/we can rewire our brains for peak performance through focus and practice.

At Elevate Packaging, by applying that same relentless mindset to build world-class circular compostable systems with our passionate, brilliant team, we're engineering sustainable solutions that outperform plastics and deliver #plasticfree packaging to brands so we can collaborate to restore the planet.  

Eileen's success proves what's possible for all of us! 🌟

Let's bring Olympic-level excellence to sustainability! 🥇🌍

Founder and CEO at Thrive Global | Passionate about Health and AI

Do you ever wonder what happens inside the mind of an elite athlete? 

I absolutely love this perspective from gold medal freeskier Eileen Gu on the power of our mindset and belief system: "You can control how you think. And therefore, you can control who you are." 

Athletes don’t just magically create routines and habits. They’re supported by coaches who use the principles of behavioral science to set them up for success. That means using techniques to reduce decision fatigue and lower stress. Through neuroplasticity, the small choices we repeat every day can strengthen our neural circuits and rewire our brains to make certain behaviors more automatic, which is exactly what Gu has trained her mind to do. 

As Gu said, “With neuroplasticity on my side, I can become exactly who I want to be.” 

What was your favorite moment of the Winter 2026 Olympics? Let me know in the comments!

If you're in #Chicago and want to learn about the #PlasticFree movement and what can be done, come to this event on April 15th at 5pm.

Michael Hawthorne and Judith Enck 
at SEMINARY COOPERATIVE BOOKSTORE, INC

Join co-author Judith Enck and Pulitzer-finalist investigative journalist, Michael Hawthorne for a free book talk at Seminary Co-Op Bookstore in Chicago on Weds, April 15 at 5:00 PM CT to learn more about the plastic pollution crisis and the solutions outlined in this bold new book.

https://lnkd.in/eDdMCaxX

🏷️ Judith Enck, The New Press

Do meetings energize you? 💪

They energize me when I'm meeting our clients!!

They're quite amazing! 👏

It is my very good fortune for the opportunity to work in the space of #sustainability.

At Elevate Packaging we meet with innovators, creators, and brilliant leaders that are reshaping business and products to be grounded in good for the planet and good for the body solutions.

These amazing humans and their teams are pouring their heart and #passion into all they do. 

I feel so blessed to meet these truly kind and conscientious people on this journey, and playing a supporting role for them by supplying the world's most innovative high-quality circular #compostable packaging and labels! 

Let's keep doing amazing things together, for the planet together!

Eater congrats and thanks to Harry Doull and Ashley!

https://lnkd.in/eniarP24

Watch this quick PBS video to see what plastic is doing to us.
...to our planet
...to us
...to our family and friends.

At Elevate Packaging we have toxic-free packaging solutions for you and your business.

Start eliminating plastic TODAY!

Go to ElevatePackaging.com for a wide range of plastic-free compostable bio-based solutions.
No minimum order + Ships fast!

#microplastics #recycledplastic #plasticwaste #Bcorp 

https://lnkd.in/ejjy3qgs

Professor, Stanford University, Department of Epidemiology and Population Sciences, School of Medicine & Woods Institute, Doerr School of Sustainability

Talking plastics and why fossil fuel producing nations are stopping progress in the #PlasticTreaty negotiations, which will harm health - on @PBS Newshour - https://lnkd.in/gDTtnuwY. 

Thank you Bjorn Beeler and Nicholas Chartres, PhD, MHumNutr for your expertise and in highlighting this work for my comments and in our report - https://lnkd.in/gXrSBi5r

And Phil Landrigan for leading the work published in the Lancet on plastics impacts on health https://lnkd.in/gztj4jyj

Open article: The Lancet Countdown on health and plastics by thelancet.com

The Lancet Countdown on health and plastics

A little entertainment for your weekend! 😉

Founder Pasturebird, USMC War Veteran, UCLA, Permaculture Orchardist

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