Packaging Solutions To Reduce Waste And Protect The Planet

Earth day is right around the corner. Every year around this time PJP takes time to put out some information about how we could take better care of our planet. It’s the only one we have, after all. As a company that cares deeply about our environment, we always encourage our customers to choose green solutions and products so that we can minimize the amount of waste we produce as a species.

With that in mind, we put together a list of of packaging solutions that can help you reduce waste and help better protect our environment.

PLANT-BASED PLASTICS

As you know, the problem with plastic packaging is that it is often not recycled, and therefore sits in landfills where it takes hundreds or even thousands of years to decompose. That kind of waste can do a serious number on the environment over time. To give you an idea of just how much trash we produce, just look at the Great Pacific Garbage Patch as an example. The Great Pacific Garbage Patch is a giant collection of debris that has collected in the middle of the Pacific Ocean. Estimates in size vary, some saying it is approximately the size of Texas, other saying it’s actually more than twice the size of the Continental United States. That’s a whole lot of plastic.

So what can we do besides use less plastic? Well, we can use plastics that are much easier to break down, for starters. There are a lot of companies, such as Vegware, that make Plant-Based plastic solutions that can much more easily be recycled and composted. These plastics are made from renewable plants as opposed to from harmful oil, and therefore provide a much more natural and green solution when it comes to packaging.

If you need to offer plastic packaging to your customers, consider switching to products like Vegware to reduce the negative impact those products have on the environment.

ALUMINUM PACKAGING

While it doesn’t immediately jump to mind as a “green” solution, Aluminum is an incredibly easy-to-recycle metal. Recycling Aluminum actually uses 95% less energy than producing new aluminum. That’s so much energy that recycling just one aluminum can saves enough energy to power a TV for 3 hours. That kind of energy savings has a huge environmental impact, and as a result, aluminum is one of the most widely recycled materials out there. In fact, 31% of all aluminum produced in the U.S. is already produced from recycled materials, and about 50% of all discarded aluminum is recycled. That may not seem like a huge amount at first glance, but compared to plastic’s paltry 6.5%, it’s nothing to shake a stick at.

Not only is Aluminum Packaging a great green solution, it’s also a relatively inexpensive solution as well, as aluminum to-go packaging can be had at a reasonable price. As we’ve said before, you don’t have to break the bank to save the planet.

COMPOSTABLE FIBER PACKAGING

As we discussed above, plastic can be incredibly damaging to the environment. Remember the Great Pacific Garbage Patch? It got there because approximately 45,000 tons of plastic are dumped into the oceans each year.

So obviously the easiest way to avoid that kind of problematic pollution is to have packaging made from more natural materials like fiber. Fiber packaging, like the kind made by our friends at World Centric are great compostable options. When properly disposed of, compostable packaging is easily broken down into new soil that returns nutrients to the earth rather than ending up dumped into the ocean.

If you’re looking for a green packaging solution, just ask your PJP Sales Rep!