What Value Can Sustainable Packaging Bring to the Packaging Industry?

If anything is evident about the modern packaging industry, it’s that the value of sustainable packaging outweighs the convenience of outdated plastics. Sustainable packaging involves the use of compostable and biodegradable materials, waste reduction and custom design solutions. If your company is considering a switch to sustainable packaging, keep reading to learn about why making this decision can save money and raise the value of your products.

What Is Packaging Waste?

When you ship your product to a store or online buyer, you use packaging to protect and market your product. Packaging waste is the parts of the packaging the consumer throws away, destined for a landfill where it has significant pollutant effects on our environment. 

Packaging is the largest market use for plastic, resulting in almost half of the plastic waste produced worldwide. In the U.S. alone, we had 35.7 million tons of plastic in 2018. The use of plastic in packaging is a serious environmental issue, and packaging companies and their customers must look at effective alternatives to reduce the plastic pollution packaging creates. 

One element of choosing sustainable packaging is doing the right thing for the environment. The other is the customer. More consumers are concerned with buying from eco-friendly manufacturers and often consider a company’s environmental footprint before purchasing. 

Examples of Packaging Waste

Packaging waste is a broad term that can refer to several materials. If it ends up in a landfill, you can consider it packaging waste. Some of the most common forms of packaging waste include the following:

Shipping material waste: When consumers order online, their products are often repackaged in bubble wrap, styrofoam, and plastic wrap for shipping. Much of this additional packaging is thrown away immediately. 
Plastic: Plastic doesn’t degrade over time, so once in a landfill, it stays there. Single-use plastic packaging, like food wrappers, is detrimental to the environment. 
Metals: Steel and aluminum are common in food tins and foil containers, although you may find other metals in packaging. 

These are just a few packaging waste examples, some of which we can recycle. 

Packaging Waste in the Product Lifecycle

The packaging consumers receive the last piece in a long and detailed life cycle of packaging waste. To understand how much waste a product can generate, we need to consider the product life cycle as a whole. Some examples of packaging waste in the product life cycle include the following:

Product development: Products go through several prototyping stages in the development stage, and so does packaging. Manufacturers can create packaging waste whenever they create and ship a new prototype. 
Manufacturing: One product often requires materials from multiple manufacturers, each packaged and shipped, creating waste. Some products have packaging requirements, like food products or international shipping protocols, which can lead to additional packaging, 
Brand competition: Many brands use strategic packaging design to differentiate their products. The desire to maintain a competitive edge can lead to extra packaging they discard after opening. 
Shipping: Many people prefer to shop online and have their packages delivered. Manufacturers use additional packaging material to ensure products aren’t damaged during shipping. 
In-store shopping: When people go to the store, they often leave with extra plastic bags and other packaging, adding to the waste issue. 

Eight Benefits of Sustainable Packaging

Eco-friendly packaging is currently popular because it has a lot to offer businesses, consumers and the ecosystem. The future of packaging is green, and sustainable materials will continue to improve in the coming years as more companies focus on eco-friendly practices. Eight of the largest sustainable packaging benefits are:

1. High Consumer Demand

More consumers are concerned with making environmentally conscious choices and using eco-friendly packaging instead of plastic polymers that are harmful to the earth. Consumers like to know that your brand is committed to protecting the environment. Many people prefer to shop for brands that market their products and packaging as sustainable and eco-friendly. The younger generations are especially motivated to buy green products, which they will often select over traditional competitors.

Demand is an important factor if you are considering a switch to sustainable packaging materials. Gaining the favor of more consumers could help your business expand. You can also try marketing your sustainability to appeal to a wider range of customers. 

2. Affordability

Sustainable packaging has a high level of cost efficiency, and like many other companies, you may find that you can save money on your packaging if you select high-quality eco-friendly materials. Sustainable materials are designed to be lightweight, which reduces your shipping costs and allows you to focus more on the weight of your products. Sourcing recycled materials can also reduce the expenses of your packaging.

3. A Reduced Carbon Footprint

Your carbon footprint is a measure of carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions from your company’s fossil fuel consumption. You can reduce your CO2 emissions by limiting or reducing your packaging materials and using more raw, sustainable and recyclable packaging. Using sustainable materials in your products and packaging will reduce your company’s carbon footprint, which has many advantages.

With a lower carbon footprint, you will:

Have a positive global impact: When you take steps toward implementing eco-friendly business practices, you are helping preserve the environment from the negative consequences of consumerism and make the world a better place.
Appeal to more consumers: You can market your efforts to have a low carbon footprint and draw in more customer support.
Meet government regulations: Eco-friendly practices to combat climate change are important to governments around the world, and businesses are seeing increasingly more regulations as a result.
Increase affordability: Lightweight sustainable packaging is more affordable and requires less energy to ship to retailers and end-users.

4. More Efficient Use of Space

Sustainable packaging is high-efficiency and provides a lot of space. It is also customizable, so each product will have appropriately sized packaging. Having more space for products allows for these benefits:

With more efficient packaging, you will be able to ship a greater number of products.
You will keep your freight and shipping costs low.
You will have to order fewer transports, helping you save money.
Less storage space will be required for holding your products, allowing you to expand your product line.
You will have more flexibility in your storage methods.
You can build more efficient product displays to target consumers at retail stores.

5. Fewer Toxins, Carcinogens and Allergens

Companies can use alternative sustainable packaging materials such as bioplastics to replace traditional materials to benefit the wellness of employees and consumers. Sustainable packaging is designed to be non-toxic and many types are also allergy-free for those who have common allergies. These packaging options are extensive and widely available, benefiting consumers who want to avoid contact with certain materials.

Many consumers want to be more aware of what materials are potentially carcinogenic and are concerned about the composition of the materials they regularly interact with. Health and safety are concerns for your customers as much as environmentally friendly disposal practices. You can be fully transparent about your sustainable packaging and how you are working to ensure the safety of your customers.

6. More Efficient Use of Resources

When you use lightweight sustainable packaging, you save money on several aspects of your company’s typical spending habits, including utilities. Your company can save on energy costs by making use of green packaging, but you can also reduce the amount of waste produced by your packaging.

Using sustainable packaging reduces your:

Shipping weight for products
Water usage
Electricity usage
Solid waste for your company and consumers
Fuel emissions

7. A Reduced Need for Traditional Plastics

Recyclable plastics are better for the environment than plastic that goes directly into landfills and oceans. The best kind of packaging materials for the environment are fully compostable or decomposable. Making use of post-consumer materials limits your need to rely on plastics, which have been used for decades despite their inability to break down naturally in a safe timeframe.

Plastics come with many issues, and their potential for pollution is one of the greatest problems. Even when these materials do begin to break down into microplastics, they can leech chemicals into the environment and contaminate marine habitats. Alternative packaging made from renewable resources like paper materials is popular in the modern market. They make plastic packaging unnecessary, especially when consumers are interested in wasting less plastic.

8. Customization Options

The customization options for cardboard and other biodegradable packaging types are impressive, with possibilities including personalized printing, design and dimensions. All of these capabilities make sustainable packaging highly competitive.

Customizable, sustainable packaging can help your company in the following ways:

Simple, minimalistic materials with a strong message: Your company can save on material costs with minimalistic packaging that meets your products’ specifications.
Enhanced protection for products: Snugly fitting packaging reduces damages to your products in transit and at retail locations.
Lower spending on transportation: Lightweight custom packaging with fewer bulky filler materials allows your company to save money on shipping and handling costs.
A professional, visually appealing appearance: Custom packaging is visually appealing to your customers and can enhance the unboxing experience.

How Your Business Can Reduce Packaging Waste

Understanding the benefits of sustainable packaging and reducing waste is one thing, but putting it into practice is another. There are several steps you can take to smooth the transition and reduce packaging waste, including the following:

Focus on shipping: Consider how you can reduce the extra shipping materials required for online shoppers. Encourage consumers to buy your products in-store to reduce packaging waste. 
Use recyclable materials: Reusable and recyclable packaging materials decrease the amount of waste in landfills. Cardboard boxes are easy to reuse and recycle by the customer or the business. 
Develop minimalistic package designs: Your packaging can be minimalistic and visually appealing. Adopting a minimalist approach to your packaging reduces packaging waste material. It decreases the energy needed to produce the packaging elements, decreasing costs. 
Train your team: Reducing packaging waste is a team effort. Ensure all your staff members know waste reduction protocols, like using the right size boxes and recycling. Make waste reduction part of your company culture, with your commitment printed and available for everyone. 
Create a recycling scheme: Give customers the option of returning their packaging to you so that you can recycle it. A recycling plan is an excellent way to establish your brand as eco-friendly and reduce packaging costs. 

Order Sustainable Packaging With Bolt Boxes

At Bolt Boxes, we have a variety of packaging types, printing options and sizing for all types of products. We manufacture quality mailer boxes, regular slotted container (RSC) boxes and many others. Contact us about our product packaging or request a quote today!