The Importance of Eco Friendly Packaging
Companies used to try to capture consumers’ attention with elegant sustainable packaging for food colorful logos, and high-profile marketing efforts. While not everything has changed, one aspect of packaging has risen to prominence: eco-friendly packaging. However, the relevance of eco-friendly packaging extends beyond attracting consumer attention — it also has a meaningful influence on the environment. According to the European Organization for Packaging and the Environment, businesses contributed to a nearly 50% reduction in the quantity of packaging waste ending up in landfills.
Increased recycling efforts in the United States helped keep approximately 80 tons of packing material out of landfills in 2009. However, paper packaging alone accounts for nearly 1.5 million tons of garbage, not to mention more than 13 million tons of plastic packaging.
The demand for more water vapor transmission packaging is highly significant, and it is also important to customers, so firms have a double incentive to redesign their product packaging in a more environmentally friendly manner.
Methods
There are various ways to enhance eco-friendly packaging:
Lightweighting
The phrase ‘lightweighting’ refers to the use of less plastic in the production of packaging, such as a thinner plastic water bottle. This reduces the amount of plastic used in production, resulting in less material that needs to be recycled or thrown away. Furthermore, many businesses find that lightweighting reduces transportation expenses, including the use of less fuel, which is excellent for the environment. When a product weighs less, companies can ship more goods, making transportation more economical and decreasing fuel use.
Recycled Materials
Another efficient option is to build the first packaging from recyclable materials. For example, recycled plastic may be used to make a water bottle, but the bottle was most likely created from virgin plastic previously.
Glass, corrugated cartons, paperboard, and steel are all suitable recycled packaging materials.
Biodegradable Plastics
One of the most significant advances in water vapor transmission packaging is the use of biodegradable polymers derived from natural sources such as wheat, potatoes, and maize. These plastic containers, also known as bio-plastics, decompose faster when placed in a decomposition environment such as a landfill.
Post-Consumer Recycled Material
Post-consumer recycled material is packaging that the consumer may recycle once the product contents have been consumed. Clearly labeling packaging as sustainable packaging for food and offering instructions on how to recycle the container can raise customer awareness of this alternative.
Natural Packaging
Natural packaging, which decomposes faster and is biodegradable, is another emerging topic of interest. Coconut husks, for example, have minimal water absorption, excellent strength levels, no chemicals or additions, and good compostability.
Considerations
There are several more elements that influence the usage of sustainable packaging for food. Food-stained packing material, for example, cannot be recycled. This is due to the possibility of food residue contaminating the slurry used in the recycling process.
Adhesives on glue, tapes, paper, and plastic cups all pose the same issue. Contaminates put on packaging material make recycling harder.
