In the modern workforce, many employees change jobs every few years. That makes Natha Dempsey’s 14-year tenure at the Foodservice Packaging Institute stand out. 

Dempsey joined FPI from the Plastics Industry Association to pursue the opportunity to work on packaging specifically. “That seems to be my passion project, and I feel very connected and strongly about our industry and the people that I work for,” she said. Dempsey has been president at FPI since November 2019.

The industry association represents a “niche marketplace within the packaging fold,” Dempsey said. Citing FPI members’ “very good representation” of the North American marketplace, she touted membership from about 85% to 90% of food service packaging suppliers and converters in the sector, along with downstream membership for distributors and operators.

“The networking and outreach portions of my job are very important. We pride ourselves on being available to our members, and we take a lot of one-on-one phone calls,” Dempsey said. “We are a small team, but we are actively engaged with members and each other. Collaboration is key.”

Dempsey spoke to Packaging Dive about the many recent changes within packaging — including those driven by the COVID-19 pandemic that began five years ago — and what FPI and its members are doing to adapt and remain resilient.

This interview has been edited for length and clarity.

PACKAGING DIVE: Describe FPI’s focal areas for 2025 and if there are any notable differences from priorities in years past.

NATHA DEMPSEY: Looking at FPI and what we do for our members, I would say it’s probably split into three pillars. We do a lot of communications. Then also, policy and recovery are pretty big aspects of what is going on in food service packaging these days.

Is 2025 different? We’re five years past the pandemic and the world as we know it. Everybody keeps talking about unprecedented times. I would like to know if anyone has had a precedented time recently? Because we had a global pandemic, and then we had supply chain disruptions, and then we had inflation, and now, bird flu and egg prices. 

We’ve always had something affecting food service packaging in some way, shape or form. But in the last few years — and I’ll hit the extended producer responsibility button — we’ve seen legislation or regulation that is pulling out food service packaging in a more specific way than we’ve seen in the past. I don’t necessarily think that’s specific to 2025; this has been a process.

What have been the most impactful recent changes or trends that FPI members are responding and adapting to?

Food service operators, those folks in the restaurant space or the noncommercial food service space, they've got a lot of other things on their minds besides packaging. But packaging has been kind of creeping up the list and is becoming a more prominent thing that they want to focus on.

We're getting more questions from various parts of our supply chain about packaging. Inquiries about “What is this made of?” Or, “What are the implications, opportunities, challenges around packaging?”

FPI is material neutral. We’re not picking any winners or losers or trying to influence the marketplace in the types of packaging that are used. We’re just trying to offer what our manufacturers make and our suppliers supply to that downstream space. 

One of the other things that we're seeing around food service packaging is operators talking to suppliers further up the chain than just their converters — they're talking to material suppliers. And conversely, converters are talking to recyclers. We're trying to understand the full value chain that goes beyond just the manufacturing process and the use of the product, into that recovery space.

“Collaboration” is a key word I would use. It’s fundamental right now for our industry.

You mentioned EPR in your first answer. Could you provide more context about how that fits into FPI’s priorities?

This is new territory for those of us in the packaging space in the U.S.

Ideally, if I’m talking about what EPR would look like for us as an industry: If we're going to have however many states with EPR, that everybody has a core definition of what is the producer, a core definition of what is covered materials. Because variances in those fundamental definitions affect not only us as an industry association and us as an industry, but overall in the world when we have different definitions of what is food service ware versus what is a package versus what is a product. It causes some confusion and often causes unintended consequences.

The fundamentals should allow us to build upon them and then to allow for operational differences reflecting the status of diversion in the different states or regions. States want their own systems, but having core definitions is a baseline that we can build from.

One of the initiatives that FPI often champions is its work to support the rapid increase over the last five years in the acceptance of paper cups for recycling. Where does that work stand now and what does the future hold?

Our recovery work began 14 years ago, specifically because several of our member companies were doing things on their own and realized that if they wanted to have a more significant impact, it was going to require collaboration. Out of that, we formed our first recovery groups, which are special interest groups to the association.

Paper cups are what I would call our conversation starter. It seems to have gained traction, particularly over the last several years, for a number of different reasons. I'm going to say I'm very biased, but this is not insignificant due to the fact that we've been very thoughtful and deliberate about our recovery work and making sure that we are using a demand pull system that starts with the end markets that want materials and are willing to utilize those materials. 

Paper cups seem to have gained traction in the MRF and community space because sometimes it feels for them like an easier add. Ultimately, I want to see as many food service products recovered as possible through curbside residential recycling, which is where we focus. But it could also be through composting — we just want to see those products find their highest and best use possible within the system.

Talking about acceptance lists, let’s move on to the “f-word”: foam. The material is widely used for food service packaging, but it carries a negative public perception due to environmental concerns. Should we expect to see the use of foam continue?

Again, FPI is material neutral, and we are not supportive of bans. We would like to see a free and open marketplace in which operators can choose what products best perform for their consumers.

There are many folks out there who are still utilizing foam food service packaging. It’s really about performance and cost for a lot of operators. But there are bans in place, and we are navigating that as best we can.

Could you give information about FPI members’ work to increase postconsumer recycled content in food service packaging?

We have seen a number of folks working to increase postconsumer recycled content in food service packaging. One of the things that we do come up against is the Food and Drug Administration and the compliance around regulations for food packaging. 

The other component is performance. We can add all the recycled content we want to a product, but if it does not perform at the level in which we need it to perform to provide that convenient, sanitary packaging product for our food and beverage item, then it's ultimately a fail for us. 

What are some of the food service packaging innovations you’re most excited about right now? 

The COVID-19 pandemic brought about some pretty big advances — like some tamper-resistant packaging has gotten pretty good. As a consumer, I find it very satisfying to know that it's not necessarily tricky to get open, but that it gives me a level of assurance that my product hasn't been tampered with.

Molded fiber would be a place where we've seen some pretty big advances in terms of what it can do and the types of applications that it can be applied to. One of the things that we saw at the outset of molded fiber is often it was being used with a plastic lid of some type, which needed to be recycled separately. Now, we have molded fiber lids that go with molded fiber packaging. Asking consumers to do two things is harder than asking them to do one thing with their packaging. 

What other changes did the pandemic force in the industry? And do those alterations remain in place today or did things renormalize?

I don’t think anything has renormalized. We’re living in the new world order and we can’t look back. We have to keep moving forward. 

For us, the big elephant in the room during COVID was delivery and takeout. We have not seen that go away. It is still a fundamental part of all restaurants. We went from something needing to stay warm for 30 seconds over a counter at a quick-service restaurant to having to travel 30 minutes in a car to get to a consumer’s home.

One of the things that packaging can provide, in addition to being the transportation mode for food and beverage to a customer, is also appearance. The graphics on that packaging. And with takeout and delivery being so prevalent, now often the interaction that someone has with the packaging is their only interaction with that food service brand. So the appearance of that packaging and the customer interaction with that packaging is even more important than it was pre-COVID.