A North Carolina-based, environmentally-friendly packaging company has raised $2.5 million in equity, according to a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Earth Renewable Technologies filed a Form D signed by Richard Scalzo, Mark Finser and Maria Peretti Gurtensen on Jan 5.

Earth Renewable Technologies is a company that uses plant-based resins and a patent-pending bio-based microfiber-additive package to produce plant-based alternatives to the normal plastic packaging of products. The company strives for a lower carbon footprint than traditional methods.

According to the company website, over 17 million barrels of oil are used each year to make plastic bottles, but Earth Renewable Technologies created a packaging for non-beverages that uses 42 percent less non-renewable energy and 67 percent reduction in greenhouse gases.

This was a new notice with the first sale on Dec. 31, 2016. This offering is not intended to last more than one year.

The full $2.5 million has been raised from 10 investors. The offering is being made in connection with a business combination transaction.

None of the money will go toward executive salary, and there is no minimum investment accepted from any outside investor.

Earth Renewable Technologies claimed a Rule 506 (b) exemption for the filing. Companies relying on the Rule 506 exemption do not have to register their offering of securities with the SEC, but they must file what’s known as a Form D electronically with the SEC after they first sell their securities.

Note: This story is from the North Carolina Business News Wire, a service of UNC-Chapel Hill’s School of Media and Journalism