Driven by an ambitious goal to reduce packaging waste as part of its Project Gigaton — an initiative to reduce or avoid 1 billion metric tons of greenhouse gas emissions from the global value chain by 2030 — Walmart, in partnership with Emerald Packaging, Idaho Package and Wada Farms, has introduced the first 30% food contact Post-Consumer Recycled (PCR) bag for the potato category.
While Emerald Packaging, the Union City, Calif.-based supplier of retail flexible packaging behind the new PCR potato bag, launched a 30% PCR resin bag for D’Arrigo California’s Andy Boy romaine hearts last year, Emerald CEO Kevin Kelly wondered if the same could be done for a 5- or 10-pound bag of potatoes.
“Idaho Package read about the PCR bag we were doing with D’Arrigo Bros., and they called and asked whether we thought we could do one for their customer Wada Farms,” Kelly told The Packer. “What you really worry about with potato bags is: will the material be strong enough? Could PCR handle the weight? When you’re packing potatoes, you have five and 10 pounds of potatoes dropping into a bag on a ceiling line.”
Kelly says potato grower-shipper Wada Farms connected with the potato buyer at Walmart, and she was really excited about it, and the project “just rolled from there.”
And it rolled quickly, says Kelly. Idaho Package and Wada Farms started trialing PCR potato bags in the early fall of 2024, and later that year launched the product with Walmart. Today a dozen SKUs incorporate PCR resin. The reduction in virgin polyethylene plastic exceeds 100,000 pounds, and as of June 2025, Walmart continues to transition more root category SKUs to PCR.
“I was really impressed with how fast Wada and Walmart moved and moved in tandem,” says Kelly. “They were really like a team. We all have this sense of Walmart being this big giant, but in this case, they were really collaborative.”
And when this retail giant makes a move in sustainability, it can have major impact.
“At Walmart, we are committed to reducing our environmental impact and offering our customers more sustainable choices,” Laura Himes, vice president of produce sourcing for Walmart, said in a news release. “We are proud to collaborate with Emerald Packaging, Idaho Package and Wada Farms to introduce the first 30% Post-Consumer Recycled (PCR) bag for the potato category. This initiative directly supports our goal to minimize waste with the integration of PCR content for retail packaging and demonstrates our dedication to working with suppliers who share our commitment to a more sustainable future.”
“There seems to be a commitment to using PCR at Walmart, and we were really excited by the opportunity to do it,” says Kelly, whose Emerald Packaging had been in the potato packaging business since the 1960s but had recently gotten out of it because it was no longer profitable.
“And now we’re back in after leaving the potato bag business five years ago. We’re back in it in a huge way, because suddenly we’ve got [to produce] 45 million potato bags or more a year,” he says.
Affordable and Sustainable Solution
One of the ongoing challenges with sustainable packaging has been the question of how much more the consumer is willing to pay for it. But the tide may be turning thanks to innovation and changing views on the value of sustainable solutions.
“We’ve worked on sustainable packaging initiatives for over 20 years, and PCR has emerged as the first affordable option ever,” says Kelly.
What’s more, says Kelly, companies have come to “appreciate what the packaging guys bring to the table.”
“There was so much respect towards us from the three other players involved in this, and I don’t think that would have been true a decade ago,” says Kelly. “I think then we were just looked at as a commodity, and now we’re looked at as a partner, and they’re looking to us for innovation.”
Emerald Packaging has been reinventing produce packaging for over 60 years and today is the largest plastic packaging manufacturer for produce in the U.S. For over two decades, it has led the industry in addressing plastic waste, most recently helping shape legislation in California that addresses the need for a better recycling infrastructure, says Kelly. Emerald also won a Green Business certification for its waste, water, and energy reduction efforts.
