Circular Action Alliance picked Jeff Fielkow as CEO, putting the industry veteran at the head of several fast-paced plans to roll out extended producer responsibility laws for paper and packaging.
Fielkow will officially start at the producer responsibility organization on Aug. 20, according to a press release from CAA. Most recently, Fielkow was president and CEO of ID Images, which manufactures label products, and he also held multiple executive positions at Tetra Pak, including CEO for the U.S. and Canada, CEO for Vietnam and vice president of sustainability for Southeast Asia and Oceania. Before that, he spent nearly 15 years in the sustainability and recycling industries, including with ReCommunity, Container Recycling and WM.
“Fielkow has founded, co-founded, counseled and led successful packaging recovery organizations in the United States, Canada, Vietnam, Thailand and India, and advised several government entities on recycling strategies,” the CAA announcement noted. “He has also served on boards of public and private companies, including his current director position at TriMas Corporation and previous roles at WasteCap Resource Solutions, Inc., the U.S. Carton Council and other entities.”
CAA was formed in 2022 by big brands to comply with the growing number of EPR laws for paper and packaging. It has been chosen as PRO in Colorado and California and has submitted a program plan in Oregon, as well as working in Maine and Maryland.
Charlie Schwarze, CAA board chair and senior director of sustainability at Keurig Dr Pepper, said in the press release that Fielkow is “a well-respected and experienced leader, with a proven record of driving successful packaging recovery initiatives for both private and public organizations around the world.”
Fielkow added in the press release that he’s “committed to ensuring that we get EPR implementation right.”
“Over the course of my career I have developed a deep passion for sustainability and recycling to better understand how packaging circularity can be advanced through collaboration across the value chain,” Fielkow said. “This journey has brought me to CAA, an organization that has incredible potential to transform how packaging is managed in the United States.”
A version of this story appeared in Resource Recycling on August 13.
