Sustainable packaging may not be top of the business agenda, but packaging is everywhere. It allows us to safely transport and preserve our food, protect our medication, and deliver our latest online purchases or stock orders, to name a few examples. We deal with packaging at home, at work and in our business supply chains.
Considering the environmental impact of packaging, it is vital that businesses factor their packaging footprint into their sustainability plans and find ways to reduce it.
This is particularly pertinent in ecommerce, a market expected to grow by one-fifth per year until 2028. Retailers’ packaging choices will significantly impact people and the planet. Moreover, a customer’s first impression of an ecommerce brand is the package they receive, and first impressions count.
This article explores current trends in sustainable packaging, identifying five ways to make more environmentally-friendly packaging choices.
Right-size your packaging
Choosing the right size of packaging for an item may seem straightforward, but most online shoppers have experienced receiving a small purchase in an oversized box, filled with air and padding.
This uses more packaging material, but the greater environmental impact is through logistics. Large boxes take up more space in courier lorries and vans, which means there are more half-filled vehicles on the road making more frequent journeys.
Businesses are coming under increasing pressure to right-size their packaging, with positive steps already taken by many, but any business that uses packaging should match the parcel with the item, saving the environment and the packaging budget.
Reduce waste
As well as cutting back on ‘shipping air’, it is important to reduce excessive padding or unnecessarily thick or heavy packaging. Unnecessary materials are pure waste.
It’s important to consider – and test – whether you can reduce the amount of padding, or the package thickness. If an item is matched with a snug-fitting package, such as a book wrap made from corrugated cardboard, the item will be held safely in place without need for superfluous padding (and the bigger box this would require). As well as reducing waste, lighter packages cost less to ship, so the benefits are beyond purely environmental.
Eliminate plastics
Thanks to the tireless work of figures like Sir David Attenborough, plastic has become steeped with negativity and highly unpopular in consumers’ eyes. There is also a chronic lack of infrastructure in the UK for recycling LDPE soft plastics, such as the mailer bags frequently used by retailers. Furthermore, municipal film recycling can only recycle less than five per cent of over 300,000 tonnes of such plastic packaging waste thrown out by households every year.
With the trend for plastic-free packaging on the rise and so many suitable alternatives now available, there is frankly no excuse for businesses to still rely on plastic. For example, paper mailing bags are just as efficient and cost-effective, but with a lower carbon footprint and 100 per cent recyclability.
As the number of conscientious consumers grows, plastic packaging will be a deal breaker on repeat custom for shoppers. And outside of retail, investors and employees are increasingly calling for businesses to make choices that contribute to a more sustainable future.
Choose a responsible supplier
Choice of supplier is an important aspect of reducing carbon emissions for all businesses, and the supply chain is key. Not every business needs to become a sustainable packaging expert, so long as they work with a responsible supplier with the right credentials, priorities, and products.
Questions to ask prospective packaging suppliers include:
- Are they SEDEX registered and do they use sustainable logistics?
- Do they manufacture locally?
- Are they committed to minimising their impact and helping clients to limit theirs?
The benefits of using sustainable packaging materials are undone if they are shipped long distances or made using dirty energy or with unethical labour.
Packaging as PR
Packaging is where your brand meets customers in the physical world, your choices and design here influence how your brand is perceived. If you’re using stock packaging, choose packaging that demonstrates your commitment to sustainability and shows clear recycling and eco-credential markers. If your packaging is customised, don’t miss this powerful opportunity to show customers how to recycle your materials and explain what sustainable choices you have made.
Find out more about Josh Pitman and his business Priory Direct on LinkedIn
