Sustainability: Materials

Hood Packaging Corporation combines the physical properties of a variety of materials to create packages that offer product protection, enhanced shelf life, and attractive point of sale display for a vast array of items we use everyday.

Shoppers purchasing such products as sugar, flour, frozen vegetables, meats, and even candy often buy them in Hood produced packages. We are also a leader in packaging for pet products, such as dog, cat food and bird seed.

Farmers are also served by Hood packages. We are a leading producer of bags for animal feed, seeds, and fertilizer.

North American industry is similarly fueled by Hood, via packages for cement, chemicals, salt, minerals, and other industrial materials.

In selecting materials for these packages, sustainability ranks with product protection and competitive costs as one of our three drivers for selection.

Paper is the most commonly used packaging material at Hood Packaging Corporation. It is also an outstandingly sustainable, as it is made from renewable forests. At Hood Packaging Corporation, 100% of the papers used in our bags are sourced from Sustainable Forestry Initiative (SFI) or other similarly certified forests. This assures that proper forest conservation practices and replanting policies are in place. Paper is also recyclable where suitable municipal waste recovery systems exist.

Plastic films are another major component of Hood packages. While most plastic film used by Hood and other packaging companies is fossil fuel based, more than half the packages we produce are recyclable where municipal waste recovery systems exists. Beyond that, we are a leader in developing such new products as our EB 1 bag, which takes a previously non-recyclable bag and via Hood technology, turns it into a structure that is 100% recyclable.

Ink is used for the print which graces most Hood Packaging Corporation products. For two decades we have been proud to take a leadership role in promoting the use of environmentally friendly water based ink in many of our manufacturing facilities. We also utilize in plant ink re-processing facilities to assure that almost all of our ink is reused internally, and not sent to landfills or recovery centers.