5 innovative ways to reduce the environmental impact of your packaging

Sustainability is one of the key concerns of all major brands in 2020. Sourcing packaging options that are more sustainable is one of the main ways many brands are trying to show their commitment to the environmental cause. Retail and manufacturing industries play a big role in causing the harm that results in climate change, therefore, in order to stop it, these industries need to make moves to reduce the environmental harmfulness of their practises and products. Packaging causes harm to the environment because it often made from non-sustainable resources, requires carbon emission heavy processes to produce its final products and produces waste that is not easily recycled or cannot be recycled at all.  The packaging industry needs to change its ways if we are to make significant enough changes to prevent a climate disaster. Here are 5 innovative ways brands and businesses are reducing the environmental impact of their packaging in 2020. We hope you find some inspiration for your own packaging requirements…
1. Going Packaging Free – Many brands have opted for absolutely no packaging on their products when they can. Including cosmetics shop Lush that offers bath bombs and other products packaging free and Asda recently began trailing a sustainability store that had significantly reduced the amount of packaging used in its products. This is obviously not an option for a number of brand products, but if you could eliminate the packaging of some products or even just greatly reduce the amount of packaging on your product in general, it would go some way to reducing the environmental impact of your business.

2. Repurposing Materials or Using Recycled Materials – This is a great way to cut down on the new resources you have to use and also reduces waste going to landfills or oceans. You can take old materials and recycle them into new products. This is a great option especially for paper packaging, paper is one of the most sustainable packaging options available to us because it can be recycled, a more than once. It can replace plastic in some many packaging realms. Such as takeaway food containers, look below at the paper options available for takeaway containers. The skincare brand Ren has also come up with an ingenious way to reuse ocean waste by reusing ocean plastic to create the bottles for its body wash. The bottle is made from 100% recycled materials.

3. Design Packaging to be Reused – A great way to reduce packaging waste is to design packaging that consumers can keep for reusing as storage options or for style options. This greatly reduces the amount of waste produced by your packaging and offers customers an added bonus which makes them more inclined to shop with you again. Examples of this type of reusable packaging that works is by Glossier, a makeup brand that delivers its products in distinctive pink bubblewrap envelopes that customers can use as makeup bags and storage pouches. Or Repack that allows you to reuse packaging options to resend items or to use as bags. This is a really great option for

4. Refillable Packaging Options – Another great way to reduce waste and reduce the amount of items produced using unsustainable resources. Companies that offer more sustainable refill pouches and pods can greatly reduce their waste. Refillable cleaning supplies have become very popular recently such as Ocean Saver, who offer plastic bottles that you can insert their refillable capsules into, meaning you do not have to keep repurchasing plastic bottles. Refillable options for food packaging are also emerging such as Häagen-Dazs’s refillable ice-cream tubs, these are trail items but could definitely become an option for many brands that produce consumables.