Maine-based gelato maker Gelato Fiasco announced Wednesday it is switching from plastic to paper packaging, a move the company says will keep 3 million plastic jars out of the waste stream over the next year.

The company also announced a new packaging design. Created by Portland-based branding studio Might & Main, it uses waves of color to reflect the ingredients of each flavor of gelato.

Gelato Fiasco has switched from plastic to paper containers, and unveiled a new design. Photo courtesy Gelato Fiasco

The company’s gelato has been packaged in plastic containers since 2013. The new paper pints are made with paperboard certified by the Sustainable Forest Initiative.

“I had been trying to reduce plastic usage in my own life,” Joshua Davis, co-founder and CEO of Gelato Fiasco, said in a statement. “While personal practice is a great start, it became increasingly uncomfortable and untenable to ignore an obvious contradiction: If I am trying to reduce my plastic consumption as a single consumer, why not get real and cut out literally millions of plastic pint containers that I have some control over?”

Gelato Fiasco is sold in more than 5,000 grocery stores. The new packaging will begin arriving in stores this week, Davis said, and should be everywhere by the end of the summer.

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