About Hold the Plastic for Ukraine

Hold the Plastic for Ukraine was organized to replace petroleum-based plastic food packaging with safe, renewable biopolymers. Plastic sheds. The microplastics from food packaging contaminate our food and beverages. Research has found plastics in the brain, reproductive organs, veins, everywhere. Links have been found between microplastics in the body and cancer, dementia, cardiovascular disease, and reproductive disorders.

Hold the Plastic for Ukraine is dedicated to leading this inevitable transition from petro-plastic food packaging to natural, plant-based biopolymers.

The Co-founders, Marc Schechtman and Katya Koval, are both Ukrainian-Americans. Marc's grandmother was from Odesa; his grandfather was from Berdychiv. Katya was born in Odesa. Marc began teaching in public schools in the United States in 1975 and remains employed as a schoolteacher. Marc's family has been in the food industry since the 1950s.

Katya and Marc are joined by Oksana Boiko, a Ukrainian schoolteacher in the Kharkiv region. Together, we are inspired to build Hold the Plastic for Ukraine to replace plastic food packaging in every aisle of every supermarket worldwide, and to provide funding to rebuild schools and help meet the immediate needs of students, teachers, and families.

Recently, Marc's family was asked by one of the nation's largest supermarket groups to reduce or replace plastic food packaging. The supermarket did not suggest options. In small volumes, plant-based biopolymers cost more than petro-plastic packaging. Hold the Plastic for Ukraine is organizing a food industry-wide plan to drive the necessary volume to reach price parity between plastic and biopolymer food packaging.

Hold the Plastic has developed professional relationships to produce and distribute biopolymer-based food packaging globally. According to Marc and Katya, "Our first goal is to begin working with Whole Foods Market's suppliers to replace plastic packaging now."