Europe Leads The Way Climate progress across industries is accelerated by two major segments: Consumer demand and government intervention. The interplay between these two segments can create momentum – a little bit of a chicken and an egg dynamic – and the U.S. still lags behind other parts of the world. “Canada and Europe made all of this progress because the government required it,” says Alex Paschal, CEO of Warwick Publishing, PPAI 100’s No. 66 supplier. A 2023 PPAI Rising Star, Paschal concedes neither market has the volume of the U.S. Still, if we are to suppose that consumers can’t push sustainability patterns as far as the government could, then it’s still worth wondering if consumers and the general public will soon influence government. Government also can step in when it comes to businesses that are uninterested in the marketing bump or ethical follow-through that typically comes from sustainable products. “The bar down the street that might not care and never will because they’re not getting clients from their stance on sustainability,” Paschal says, “they’re going to do it only when the government requires it.” It’s worth noting, however, just how far the reach of Europe’s influence is. Paschal says that European regulations can lead American companies to adopt similar practices as they plan global business. “Companies with ties to Europe are pushing the industry forward regardless of being required to by the government,” Paschal says. Goldstar, PPAI 100’s No. 16 supplier, has expanded into a global company with a presence across oceans and whose global head, Heather Smartt, resides in Lisbon, Portugal. According to Smartt, that environment affects the company’s sustainability initiatives. “Living in Europe has really shown me how much people here care about sustainability,” Smartt says. “It’s not just a buzzword; it’s part of everyday life. We’ve learned so much from the European approach, and we’re excited to bring those lessons into our global practices.” ‘The Planet Will Decide For Us’ So much of the progress that promo has made in sustainability over the past two decades has focused on sourcing and materials. That, according to Grossman, is only the start for an industry that puts so many products into the world. “If we’re not thinking about what happens after the products are used, we’re only solving half of the problem,” Grossman says. SwagCycle, the division of Grossman Marketing Group that Grossman founded in 2019, takes client inventory that is becoming obsolete because of rebrands and finds ways to recycle and upcycle those materials through various means. “The path of least resistance for them previously was to dispose of the products, but that wasn’t necessarily what they wanted to do. They just didn’t know a better way,” says Grossman, who claims that distributors that SwagCycle partners with see it as one of the tools in their toolkits when responding to client RFPs. This is typically referred to as a circular economy model where materials avoid landfill at all costs, constantly being reused in some form. A handful of promo firms such as Numo and EcoStiks follow this model, and others adhere to it at different stages. While there’s a lot of talk on how promo compares to other industries in terms of sustainability (more on that in a bit), according to Julie Schneiderman, founder and CEO of EcoStiks, and one of PPAI’s Coolest People in Promo for 2025, circular models will eventually become an inevitability that has less to do with CEOs or decision-makers. “I’m not sure any one industry will actually be the ones that decide on that course,” Schneiderman says. “I believe our customers and the planet will decide it for us.” What’s Next? ‘We Are Micro-Influencers’ The progress is real. “Ten years ago, our industry felt like it was 25 years behind B2C industries,” Wimbush “We’ve learned so much from the European approach, and we’re excited to bring those lessons into our global practices.” – Heather Smartt, Global Head, Goldstar Julie Schneiderman Alex Paschal Heather Smartt 50 • OCTOBER 2025 • PPAI Must Read | Promo's Sustainability Journey
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