Atlantic Packaging
Wes Carter of Atlantic Packaging
For Atlantic Packaging, the sustainability journey is a lot like riding a wave. The opportunity to jump on board came about eight years ago when the emergence of e-commerce was starting to swell. It was around the same time when President Wes Carter, an avid surfer and outdoorsman, began noticing plastic pollution was growing both abroad and here at home. As the largest, privately owned industrial packaging company in the U.S., Carter also acknowledged that the supply chain they participate in was a big part of the problem.
“We are at mission critical. Pollution is out of control and with the rapid growth of consumer destined parcel packaging due to e-commerce, the problem is only getting worse. People don’t really see it right now, but they will,” Carter said.
While e-commerce is undoubtedly here to stay, Carter is adamant the products used in the process will not stick around. He said Atlantic is now transitioning customers to primarily fiber-based materials which break down in 8 to 12 weeks.
Ethel Bunch took note of the company’s environmental stewardship and welcomed Atlantic Packaging to Sustain SC’s Corporate Membership Network.
“Atlantic Packaging is a company that truly leads by example,” said Ethel Bunch, President and CEO of Sustain SC. “Through its relationship with groups like The Conservation Alliance as well as the company’s launch of A New Earth Project, Atlantic Packaging is poised to have a real voice on sustainability not only in South Carolina, but nationwide. We are proud to work with a leader like Wes to help forge those connections and establish real change at a local level.”
Carter was a guest speaker at Sustain SC’s inaugural Sustainability Summit in April, which brought sustainability leaders from South Carolina-based companies together with leaders from statewide government, conservation and business.
“What Ethel has done is remarkable to me. I was blown away at her ability to get those people in the same room – all high-level, C-suite, people of influence. That’s when you can really get things going,” he said. “Real change happens at the local level and at the end of the day it’s going to be up to business leaders and the states to set the example. Federal government will follow.”
Carter said he’s now actively working with several companies that he had no relationship with before he joined Sustain SC. He said it’s helped Atlantic Packaging continue to ride the sustainability wave and given him hope in South Carolina’s future.
“South Carolina is in an incredible position to break this paradigm that sustainability and conservation are far left issues and that people on the right don’t care. It’s not true,” he said. “When it comes to truly aligning priorities, it boils down to getting individuals in the same room and that’s what Ethel is doing. She’s a change maker, bridge builder and visionary, and I’m proud to be associated with her and Sustain SC.”
