Pete & Gerry's | Hatching a zero-waste future

New Hampshire-based egg brand Pete & Gerry's partnered with Scrapp® to get a clear, data-backed picture of their packaging's real environmental impact. Through Scrapp's brand-verified program and a custom zero-waste assessment report, Pete & Gerry's replaced outdated assumptions with current end-market data — giving them the evidence to answer customer concerns about plastic packaging and make more informed decisions about materials.

When customers start asking about your packaging

Pete & Gerry's had built a strong reputation for doing things the right way. Free-range eggs. Humane farming. A brand that consumers trusted to care about what mattered. But increasingly, what mattered to customers included the packaging.

Questions about plastic use were coming in through social media, customer service, and product reviews. Consumers wanted to know why certain materials were used, whether the packaging was recyclable, and what the brand was doing about it. These weren't hostile complaints — they were concerned customers who expected a brand they trusted to have clear answers.

The problem was that Pete & Gerry's didn't have those answers readily available. Their last environmental assessment hadn't been updated in some time, and the packaging landscape had shifted significantly since it was conducted. New materials, new recycling infrastructure, new municipal rules — the data they'd relied on was no longer current.

Egg packaging also presents specific challenges that generic sustainability advice doesn't address. Egg cartons come in multiple formats — moulded fibre, PET plastic, polystyrene foam — each with drastically different recyclability profiles depending on the region. A PET carton might be widely accepted in one state and rejected by curbside programs in the next. Without current, location-specific data, any claim about packaging sustainability was either vague or risky.

Pete & Gerry's needed two things: an updated, science-backed assessment of their packaging's actual environmental impact, and a consumer-facing tool that could give customers a real answer — not a recycling symbol that might be wrong for their area.

How Scrapp gave Pete & Gerry's the full picture

The partnership started with Scrapp's brand-verified program. Pete & Gerry's products were uploaded into Scrapp's system, where each packaging component was verified and mapped against local recycling infrastructure across the US. From that point, any consumer using the Scrapp mobile app could scan a Pete & Gerry's barcode and see exactly how to dispose of the packaging based on where they live.

The verification process was fast. Pete & Gerry's discovered Scrapp through an event hosted by the University of New Hampshire, bringing sustainably-minded businesses together to explore collaboration. After connecting with Scrapp's team, the onboarding was completed the same week — products were verified, data was organised, and the consumer-facing tool was live.

But verification was just the first step. Scrapp then produced a custom zero-waste assessment report for Pete & Gerry's, using proprietary environmental data to analyse the full packaging footprint. The report covered:

• Material-level environmental impact analysis for every packaging format in the product line, based on actual end-market data rather than theoretical recyclability
• Regional recyclability mapping showing where each packaging type was accepted, rejected, or problematic — giving the team a realistic picture of what "recyclable" actually meant for their customers
• Packaging comparison data evaluating the environmental trade-offs between different carton formats (moulded fibre vs. PET vs. alternatives), so the team could make material decisions backed by evidence
• Consumer-facing disposal guidance through the Scrapp app, giving customers instant, location-specific answers about how to handle every component of the packaging

The assessment gave Pete & Gerry's something they hadn't had before: hard data to bring into internal conversations about packaging decisions. Instead of relying on assumptions or outdated reports, the sustainability and marketing teams could point to specific numbers — and communicate them to customers with confidence.

What made the process stand out, according to Taylor Ray, Digital Communications Manager at Pete & Gerry's, was the one-to-one support. Scrapp provided a dedicated point of contact who understood the nuances of packaging data and could translate complex environmental assessments into practical, actionable insights for the team.

What Pete & Gerry's gained

The combination of brand verification and the zero-waste assessment delivered value across multiple parts of the business:

• Customer concerns became answerable — instead of deflecting questions about plastic packaging, the team could point customers to a real tool that gave location-specific disposal guidance in seconds
• Packaging decisions became evidence-based — the assessment gave internal stakeholders hard data on the environmental impact of current materials, making it possible to evaluate alternatives against a verified baseline
• The verification was free to start — the brand-verified program gave Pete & Gerry's immediate consumer-facing value at no upfront cost, which helped with internal stakeholder buy-in before committing to the deeper assessment
• Marketing gained a credible sustainability asset — the data and the Scrapp integration gave the communications team something specific and verifiable to talk about, rather than generic sustainability language
• The assessment was current — unlike the previous environmental review, the Scrapp report used up-to-date end-market data reflecting the actual state of recycling infrastructure across the US

Why egg packaging is a bigger problem than it looks

Eggs are one of the most frequently purchased grocery items in the US. The average American household buys eggs almost weekly, and every purchase comes with a carton that enters the waste stream. At that scale, the packaging format matters enormously.

Moulded fibre cartons (the traditional cardboard-style egg box) are widely recyclable and compostable in most programs. But the industry has been shifting toward PET plastic cartons — they're lighter, they let consumers see the eggs before buying, and they're more durable in transit. The trade-off is that PET recyclability varies dramatically by region. Some curbside programs accept it. Many don't. And polystyrene foam cartons, still common in some markets, are accepted by almost no residential recycling programs in the US.

For a brand like Pete & Gerry's, this fragmentation creates a real communication challenge. Printing "recyclable" on a PET carton is technically accurate in some markets and misleading in others. Saying nothing leaves customers confused. And switching materials entirely has cost, supply chain, and product protection implications that can't be ignored.

This is exactly where data changes the conversation. With Scrapp's assessment, Pete & Gerry's can see the actual recyclability rate of each format across the regions where their products are sold — not the theoretical rate, but what percentage of their customers can actually recycle it through their local program. That data informs both packaging strategy and customer communication.

As Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) regulations expand across US states, this kind of granular packaging data will shift from nice-to-have to essential. Brands that can demonstrate they understand their packaging's end-of-life impact — and are giving consumers tools to act on it — will be better positioned for both regulatory compliance and consumer trust.

The social impact: rebuilding trust at the shelf

The environmental data is critical, but the social dimension matters just as much. When a customer picks up a carton of Pete & Gerry's eggs, they're choosing a brand they trust. If that trust extends to farming practices and animal welfare, it should extend to packaging too.

By giving customers a tool to scan the barcode and get an honest, location-specific answer about disposal, Pete & Gerry's is doing something most food brands haven't done yet: closing the loop between the purchase and the bin. The customer isn't left guessing. They're not relying on a confusing recycling symbol. They get a clear answer, and that answer builds confidence in the brand.

Through Scrapp's partnership with Plastic Bank, every scan also contributes to removing ocean-bound plastic from the environment — turning a simple packaging query into a tangible positive action.

Want to understand your packaging's real environmental impact?

If you're a brand or retailer that wants to replace outdated packaging assumptions with current end-market data — and give consumers a tool that actually helps them recycle your products correctly — book a 15-minute call with the Scrapp team.

See how other brands are using waste data to make smarter packaging decisions: Beech-Nut | Oddisea | Sunrays

Or explore Scrapp's industry reports to see the data behind smarter packaging decisions.