While I’m out on leave, I want to take the opportunity to share another Q&A with a WAC team member who you might not know.
As a nod to Earth Month, we recently chatted with Garrett McMullen, WAC’s Packaging Category Manager. He’s the team member in charge of everything that goes into your WAC box each month — everything except the fish, that is! As WAC’s Packaging Category Manager, Garrett is obsessed with making sure your box of wild-caught seafood gets to you in the best condition every time. But there’s a catch; he wants the packaging to have as small a footprint as possible.
The team chatted with Garrett about the work he does to ensure that your sustainably-caught seafood is sustainably-packed.
This interview between Garrett and the WAC Content team is edited for clarity and length.
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Garrett, how did you get into packaging?
I was a student athlete at Rochester Institute of Technology (Go Tigers!). My hockey coach suggested I check out their Packaging Science Program. I already had a broad interest in engineering, and then I fell in love with the packaging program after a few 101 classes. My classmates and I joked around that you don’t wake up and say, “I want to be a packaging engineer when I grow up.” But if you think about it, just about everything you have in your house right now, at one point, was packaged.
After college, I was working with PepsiCo, doing packaging research and development. But I grew up fishing and come from a fishing family, so when I heard about this position open at Wild Alaskan Company it felt like it was a great match.
What makes you excited to come to work every day?
What’s interesting and different about Wild Alaskan Company is that I’m not trying to buff up our packaging or make it sparkly. I’m actually trying to make it more eco-friendly. We source seafood in a very sustainable way, and part of that requires sourcing packaging in a very sustainable way. We try to keep it as simple as possible, while making sure members’ seafood remains frozen solid in transit.
Before making a decision to buy any packaging material, when possible we want to make sure it’s either made from recycled materials, or able to be recycled or composted. I absolutely love compostable packaging.
Why do you absolutely love compostable packaging?
At the end of the day it’s gone. It disappears back into the earth, reintroducing nutrients along the way. Also, when packaging is compostable, there typically exists various methods of how to responsibly dispose of it.
It’s important to be thoughtful with what we send to WAC members’ homes. For example, the insulating liner inside of our box is compostable — it’s my favorite aspect of our packaging. The liner is made from plant-based material that is completely compostable. It insulates the box to keep the seafood cold without adding a ton of weight, and can be easily dissolved in water.
What can members do with their box liner once they’ve unpacked their fish?
It’s a really versatile material. You can take it as is and spread it throughout your garden. You can dissolve it in water and use that to water your houseplants. It can add nutrients to your compost bin.
No material is perfect, but this compostable liner has been a great solution for us and for members. Compare it to a conventional material like styrofoam, which can take up to 500 years to break down in a landfill, and you can see a big difference.
What steps is Wild Alaskan Company taking to further improve the sustainability of its packaging materials?
We’re taking intentional steps at every turn to take more responsibility for our product, for our packaging, and for our business. At every step of the way to get a Wild Alaskan Company box to you, we’re looking to minimize materials and emissions without compromising on quality. It’s what drives me, seeing if we can maintain the integrity of each WAC box, while keeping it as eco-friendly as possible. We’re always doing market research and looking for the latest technology in sustainable packaging that fits our criteria. We have an open canvas to design and think about things.
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For a more visual breakdown of the packaging materials in your box, check out this page.
The next time you receive a box of WAC seafood, don’t forget to share the love with your plants! There are plant-friendly nutrients literally built into the packaging. Just dissolve a few pieces of WAC’s compostable insulating liner in a watering can, then use it as you’re working in the garden or tending to the potted plants inside your home.
Over the weekend, if you’re following WAC on Instagram or are part of WAC’s exclusive What’s Cooking Tonight? Facebook community, we’ll be sharing a little how-to video to inspire you to repurpose your WAC packaging as plant food.
Live Wild,
Monica
Pictured above: Garrett in action, left on the ice on his college hockey team and right on the Wild Alaskan Company trip to Homer, Alaska, holding a coho salmon along Anchor River.
