Sustainable packaging: two words that haven’t always gone hand-in-hand. Let’s be honest, it’s not uncommon for us make a purchase, only to have the item arrive and fill our living room with just as much plastic packaging as the product itself. Plastic has played a huge role in the lives of consumers, and most of your common household items come in packages that aren’t recyclable. The packaging industry is responsible for 40 percent of plastic pollution – a third of all trash.
The e-commerce industry is one of the biggest culprits, with over-packaging an unfortunate reality. We’ve all experienced the “Russian doll” method, where a pre-boxed item is placed in a second box, creating large quantities of waste.
Thankfully, times are changing. A 2017 Sustainable Packaging Study by Packaging Digest revealed that 92 percent of respondents felt sustainability was very important when choosing new packaging, a thirty percent increase since 2010. Packaging has become part of your brand, and if you’re seen to be causing harm to the environment, you may also be at risk of harming your business profile.
eCommerce businesses can look at sustainable options such as compressed natural materials and paper alternatives. Natural materials like mushroom and coconut fibers are usually by-products of industries such as farming so, in turn, these products minimize waste in other sectors. They are renewable and biodegradable, which makes them sustainable in the long term.
Paper made from the likes of bamboo or sugarcane is increasing in popularity, and is a great alternative to wood-based paper. The result is customized wrapping paper that is soft but robust as well as biodegradable. noissue uses only soy-based ink, and our tissue is acid-free, providing you with premium custom wrapping paper that looks good, without harming the environment.
Eco-credentials are another development impacting what both consumers and businesses choose to purchase. The introduction of FSC certification for businesses that produce or trade forest products, guarantees that items with the FSC label have come from a forest and supply chain that is managed responsibly.
Recent studies have shown that more than half of consumers are willing to pay over 10 percent more for products with sustainable packaging, which also opens the door for eCommerce businesses wanting to get a competitive advantage. For our part, we are FSC Certified and strive daily to be a leader in innovation and sustainability.
