Cabot Creamery’s sustainable cheese packaging. (Monika M. Wahi/Wikimedia Common). Cabot Creamery Vermont Sharp. (Courtesy of Agri-Mark/Cabot Creamery Cooperative)

Jessie Haas

Some 2023 grants from the Northeast Dairy Business Innovation Center (NE-DBIC) (https://nedairyinnovation.com/) are yielding benefits for the environment this year.

NE-DBIC awarded five dairy packaging innovation grants in 2023; three recipients are certified B-Corps, and four are located in Vermont. Agri-Mark/Cabot Cooperative Creamer used their $324,000 grant to work with a leading manufacturer of flexible packaging on a two-year feasibility and shelf-life study that compared options including: a 30% post-consumer recycled (PCR) film, a recycle-ready film, and a fully compostable film. This was a big, practical science project with no possibility for failure. Every outcome would produce data that the industry could use. TC Transcontinental Packaging partnered with Cabot to assess integrity during transport, flavor, color, and aroma changes.

Cabot discovered that the PCR packaging was an immediately usable option, fitting into previous processes with barely a glitch, and the coop plans to switch to that for all its eight-ounce bars in early 2025. Jason Martin, senior vice-president of operations at Agri-Mark, noted that he was “pleasantly surprised to find solutions that were readily available that did not compromise throughput or quality, and required minimal operational adjustment. The PCR package, he says, “performed seamlessly on the production line, and the grant team confirmed that it maintained Cabot’s high standards for cheese quality, shelf-life, and sensory experience.”

The change will result in a 23% decrease in fossil fuel emissions per bar, 19% decrease in water use during manufacture of the entire eight-oz bar line, and a 15% decrease in greenhouse gas emissions per bar. 100,000 pounds of single-use resin will be offset by incorporating the recycled material.

The research findings will be shared with the dairy industry at large, to broaden the positive impacts of NE-DBIC’s grant. (bit.ly/CabotSustainablePackaging)

Big Picture Farm in Townshend, VT, which produces goats’ milk caramels, has used its grant to create an open-source guide to sustainable packaging suppliers, focusing on the needs of small and mid-sized producers. The guide is intended to be updated as new suppliers come on the market and can be used online or downloaded for free. Big Picture Farm has also designed a green packaging guide—which it is making available for free download to other processors. (sustainable packaging – Big Picture Farm)

Jasper Hill farm cheeses varieties on display. (Courtesy photo)

The Cellars at Jasper Hill also assessed sustainable packaging options for hard and soft cheeses, working with UVM Extension. Stonyfield, the New Hampshire yogurt maker, made changes to its YoBaby pouch line, transitioning to a mono-material polyethylene and lighter-weight cap, modifying the filler production line, and disseminating resources to the dairy industry. Vermont Creamery conducted film trials to convert their primary goat cheese packaging to PCR, recycle-ready, or compostable by 2025. All grantees shared their research and results within the specialty foods industry, which has the likelihood of greatly increasing the positive impact.

Cheese lovers will not want to know that packaging is a relatively small component of our favorite food’s greenhouse gas (GHG) impact. Cheese has significant GHG emissions, coming in below beef and lamb, but above pork, chicken, and eggs. However, readers of Judith Schwartz’s book, Cows Save the Planet know that “it’s not the cow, it’s the how,” and the Cabot Cooperative has addressed the ‘how’ of dairying significantly. The first dairy cooperative to be a certified B-Corp, Cabot has 4% of all U.S. manure digesters on its farms. A partnership with Efficiency Vermont reduced electricity uses by 721,607 kW at the main plant through changes to refrigeration and heating, LED lighting, and motor upgrades. 70% of cattle feed is grown on member farms, a large savings in transportation impacts. A quarter of cattle feed is upcycled ‘waste’ from breweries and cider makers. Cabot farmers typically use conservation tillage, no-till, and targeted grazing, which when done carefully can sequester carbon in the soil.

Another greenhouse benefit comes simply from Cabot’s business model. The efficiency of cheese production is greatly increased if it is part of a production system that also makes butter and cream products; that has always been part of how Cabot does business. The cooperative also donates thousands of pounds of food a year to the Vermont Food Bank. (https://cabotcreamery.com/pages/our-stewardship)

In the future, we can hope for 100% recycled, recyclable, or compostable packaging to come on line for big producers like Cabot. The 2023 grants allowed dairy producers large and small to take meaningful steps in that direction.