Packaging accounts for a huge portion of the trash in the world. Most packaging which ends up in landfills is not recyclable or degradable on their own. However, packaging does not need to be so wasteful. As a responsible business, you will want to help your customers find ways to reduce the impacts of retail packaging and shipping solutions on the environment. By creating a more sustainable packaging design is the key here. Below are some helpful ways to achieve this:
Minimize the Amount of Material You Use in your Packaging
Usually, companies make use of too much packaging or package their products incorrectly. In fact, many of them have not thought about more sustainable alternatives to their packaging materials.
Make sure you audit what you are packaging and you will ship it so you can assess new alternatives which can minimize the overall amount of packaging material used. For instance, when you ship retail products, consider using shrink film instead of a multi-box master pack of one big box filled with many smaller boxes.
Choose Materials that Will Degrade
Switching to materials which can degrade over time is a good practice to reduce the amount of materials that will end up in landfills. Think of cardboard and other paper-based boxes.
Minimize Packaging Size
As dimensional weight pricing is on the rise and customers demand more eco-friendly packaging, you need to establish packaging solutions based on how your products are shipped, stored, and sold. This will help you design packaging which ships more efficiently.
Decrease the Use of Energy and Hazardous Chemicals in the Manufacturing Process
Pick design packaging that uses less total energy when producing, packaging, and transporting products. Also, reduce or eliminate toxic materials in the manufacturing process. For instance, consider using non-solvent, water-based inks and processes instead of conventional label printing techniques with volatile organic compounds
Use Reusable Packaging
Invest in packaging that your customers can reuse for other purposes. For instance, if you own an e-commerce business, consider using mailers with two seals. You can ship the mailer bag to your customers and they can reuse it with the secondary seal to return the item if necessary.
Pick Packaging that can be Made Using Renewable Resources
Look for a packaging solutions provider that use solar, water, and wind for manufacturing packaging materials. A lot of these manufacturers use these resources for making materials like corrugated and glass.
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