Reducing Your Carbon Footprint with Sustainable Packaging

Sustainable shipping and packaging is becoming more important than ever before.   There is a huge environmental impact e-commerce creates. Sustainable packaging supplies help to reduce this, and when you offer more eco-friendly shipping packages and practices, you’ll be able to build a more sustainable experience.

Here, we’ll go over sustainable packaging solutions for you to consider, and why you should use each of these in order to create the ultimate eco-friendly experiences. 

Types of sustainable Packaging 

The first is recyclable mailers. These are mailers you can throw in the recycle bin, and then use again and again. This type of packaging is sustainable because of the unique properties of such. it is easy to dispose of too, so even if you don’t use it again, you have solutions that will in turn reduce the waste that’s there. 

The second one is compostable packaging. This takes your sustainability a step further. You can put this in a compost pile to break down. Then, it can be used for soil improvement and health. It is a great alternative.

If you don’t want to use any of these, but still want to go with the sustainable movement, then try to use minimalism with your packaging. This means only using what you absolutely need, and keep the font and design simple. Why? Because when you keep this simple, it costs a lot less, and uses less materials. It’s magical just what this can do, and the impact it has on your packaging experience. 

Finally, let’s say that you already have some boxes that are eco friendly, but your fillers aren’t. That's fine, because you can get some paper-based ones, or plant-based ones such as biodegradable void fill or cornstarch packing peanuts. These are all an alternative to plastic, and can do wonders for ensuring that you’re able to get the most out of your packaging experience. 

Overall, you should look at the different types of packaging, and also what it can do for you, and choose accordingly. 

The Benefits and Drawbacks 

Going green has a lot of benefits.   It does reduce waste, which means that you won’t have to worry about harming the planet. Overall, it creates less of an eco-footprint.

It might seem small at first, but imagine this: everyone starts to do this, and soon everyone’s managing to reduce their environmental impact. It makes a huge difference, and over time, it really does add up. 

It also helps with attracting different eco-conscious customers. There are more and more people interested in eco-friendly products. When you give them something like this, it makes them more excited.

All of this happens while lowering your carbon footprint, so it is simply magical, and it offers some marked alternatives to plastic that can really shine. 

Sounds good, right? It is great, and there’s a lot of benefits that come with this. Probably your biggest drawback however, is the challenge of how much it costs, the durability of such, and the sourcing of these materials. It does cost a lot in terms of overhead early on, but it does become sustainable with time. The other downside, is that the sourcing is sometimes a little bit hit or miss. Sometimes you find different items that are great, and are sourced great, but the problem with them is that they are not really sustainable. A big problem for some, so if you’re not careful, you could fall into the trap. 

Though rare, it does happen, but when you start to factor in all of these costs and start to go eco friendly, more people are happy.

The Tasty Solution for Single-use Plastics

With single-use plastics being phased out by many businesses, a lot of brands are looking for unique means to really make packaging shine.

One way is edible packaging. This is an innovative type of solution that reduces a lot of the single-use plastics that are plaguing the food and drink industries. 

Edible packaging is being used by a lot of trendy startups and indie brands, but we’re seeing it as well in more well-known food packaging vendors.   The potential for this is immersive, as it may add value to the experience of the customer, while also addressing a severe environmental issue that’s been plaguing businesses of all kinds. 

What Edible Packaging Entails 

With edible packaging, one might think it’s just packaging you can eat. It’s much deeper than that however.

Edible packaging is a food-grade material, so it needs to be food.   The second thing is that it also is something that’s plant-based.   Seaweed, riche, even starches from plants are used for this.   They create wrappers, containers, and even films placed over the food. The customer is able to eat it. 

One example of this are wrappers for packaging such as sandwiches.   They can be made with seaweed and starches, creating an edible wrapper for people to enjoy. 

Now, it might seem so simple, but the thing is, you also need to teeter the line of fitting what you’re giving the customer. 

It isn’t just slapping some seaweed on something and calling it a day. The food that you use for food packaging does need to be in a manner that’s safe for people to consume, so if they’re prone to spoiling fast, you don’t use this. 

You also need to make sure it’s hygienic.   Food that’s dirty with food you’re selling is also not a good thing for you to have either. you need to make sure it’s clean. Some companies actually use a fresh container from the food packaging, and that’s enough for the food to be protected and clean.

The final thing is flavor compatibility.   This is something that’s a huge problem for a lot of brands. You need it to fit the item. The problem is, a lot of times it rarely adds value, and tends to taste a little bland. In that case, they may try to add some flavoring to it, in a manner that will enhance the experience. 

Is it Worth It? 

For some brands, yes.   Using edible packaging does reduce plastic waste. A lot of customers are focused on this, and they want a packaging that’s tasty and good to eat.   However it also is great as well for those who are worried about sustainability, because that’s a huge issue amongst younger customers. 

A lot of trendy startup restaurants and food trucks use this, because it’s simple to package, and also offers immense benefits.   So yes, there are some benefits to having this.

There are a few drawbacks, however. The biggest thing is that it’s complex.   You know from reading this alone you have to also factor in how good this will taste with the food, and also be safe.   you also want to make sure that it’s durable, and can hold the item inside. a heavy piece of food will crumble under seaweed packaging.

There’s a lot of factors and things to consider, but overall, if you can have these edible packaging items, such as water pods and condiment sachets that are edible, you’ll stay ahead of the game, and bring about new ways for consumers to have their packaging and well, eat it too!