Recycling is cool, but it hasn't solved our problems the way you might think. Recycled products contain chemicals from the waste stream that can't always be traced, so you really don't know what's in your recycled toilet paper. Emerald's™' Tree-Free™' products are verified BPA free, Chlorine free, PFAS free, ink and dye free, fragrance free...you get the idea.

Sadly, most of what we throw in our recycling bins never actually gets recycled. Most estimates say only 9% of plastics end up being recycled. Recycling systems have failed us. We believe alternatives are the future, and each of us can play our part!

To us, sustainable production means less waste, more efficiency, and repurposing materials to their fullest extent. After harvesting crops, many farmers leave the stalks from their crops to decompose or they are forced to burn and discard them. Burning and wasting this valuable material takes time and energy away from farmers and causes local air pollution to increase within the community. Emerald™ uses this 'waste' material to produce Tree-Free™' and plastic free products, transforming this agricultural waste or barren land into something new.

Unlike hardwood trees that take decades to grow to full maturity, crops like sugarcane bagasse, wheat, and miscanthus all grow back in less than one year; making Emerald Farm to Tissue® and Farm to Paper® products a highly sustainable alternative to traditional paper products. Plus, it creates additional revenue streams for farmers!

Our Plant to Plastic' products may look and feel just like traditional plastics, but they are very different (in a good way)! Traditional plastics are derived from the distillation and polymerization of nonrenewable petroleum reserves (ie petro oil).

We make our "plastics" with PLA, a material derived from renewable resources like corn starch, or sugarcane, or PHA, material made from the fermentation of feedstocks. PLA and PHA are fully compostable, biodegrade in a short period of time, and are naturally BPA free, fluorocarbon free, and certified USDA bio-based.