The Impact Paper and Plant Based Packaging Have on the World

We’ve talked plenty of times about the problems that bad packaging has, especially with the overly abundant usage of land, and the environmental effects that this has on the habitats. However, there are a lot of factors that do play a larger role, so it’s important to look at the overall state of things, to get a picture for where environmental sustainability plays a role in things. 

A lot of plant-based packaging might seem like a good alternative, especially when you’re comparing the plastic and other pollutant packaging. But keep in mind that there are some factors that you need to bear in mind when you’re looking to meet the demands people have on your packaging. 

The crops do need land to grow, and the land is definitely finite. A lot of times, people don’t realize how much crops need to grow to create hemp, corn, and bamboo, in order to meet those demands that the market has. 

There’s also demands that can be taken away from different industries that these same crops come from. If you rely on just plant-based options, it may create more problems than good.

A lot of agricultural practices like too many pesticides, fertilization and monoculture are a problem for the soil health. With the demand growing, there then needs to be more land given to each of these demands. 

The problem with industrial farms 

There’s a lot of new farmland that’s created through these natural habitats, and other forests that were once left untouched. The destruction of a habitat is the biggest threat to all animals, and the growth of the farmland isn’t helping all of this. The plants and animals do need some space to live, breed and then grow.   When the space becomes insufficient  and endangered, it results in a drastic plummet of the population, which can be irreversible in some cases. 

Even just the loss of some of the untouched soil creates a huge environmental impact. 

One example of this is corn. Corn is now used for bioplastics, rather than mere food, and increases this demand. With corn being grown exclusively in America, it’s something that we need a lot of land for. 

The prairies and grass plains help with this, but the problem is that the untouched soil gets rid of the carbon emission, and depending on your location, it stores different carbon amounts, removing a quarter of the fossil fuels that are there. 

With almost half of your land supporting that the soil loses a ton of carbon, and monoculture planting doesn’t really replace it. 

The same goes with bamboo and sugarcane.   What you need to do is make sure to monitor and ethically perform these. 

There’s a lot of monitoring that goes into this, something that not enough people know about. 

So what’s the solution? How do you fix this ongoing issue? 

Knowing the Source 

The best thing to do is to make sure that you’re aware of the environment. Talk with the suppliers, to make sure that the materials are coming from ethical locations. 

If it’s sourced from farmlands that border on endangered habitats, that’s a huge red flag. If the supplier won’t tell you where it’s coming from, definitely get a new supplier.   Definitely keep an eye out on things, and how it works across the board. 

Don't be afraid to frequent the water and energy audits to make sure that you’re using the energy well. 

Recycle as much as you can, because it eliminates a lot of this. Finally, renewable energies are easy to source. 

How to Adapt to Digital Shoppers with Ecommerce Packaging

Ecommerce is all the rage and is a billion-dollar industry. While going to brick and mortar stores is still common, many companies also need to focus on the online markets. 

Adapting to the digital shoppers out there is a bit of a challenge, but if you plan to sell on an online storefront, you do need to make sure there are a few things in place, which we will go over here. 

Product protection 

The first and most critical element is product protection. You’re shipping these items to customers, and if they are not properly protected, it causes some major problems for people.

You don’t want to sit there, swimming through a sea of returns in order to get customers their stuff.   Make sure that if you are shipping this out, there is durable packaging there. 

Make sure that the items are in corrugated boxes if needed, or rigid boxes if the item is higher quality.   Bags might be good for garments and other items.

Branding elements 

They’re going to see your item on your storefront, and you want to make sure that you let them know that the item is coming from you. 

Putting the logo on the box is a good place to start.   Try to have the boxes in branding colors if possible, so that people will know they got this from you. 

If you are strapped for costs, you can get customized tape that has the name and logo on there, which might be cheaper than other types of elements. 

Focus on unboxing 

Make sure that you focus on the unboxing experience. Customers want to show off these items to their followers and friends. Even if they don’t, they’re opening this from you, and having it look professional and presented in a manner that looks like what they expect is so important. 

Make sure that you as well try to have the items neatly in there, with any sort of void fill or protection if it needs it. Having branded tissue paper is important too. 

You should also consider little freebies or cards. That way, if the person likes your stuff they’ll be able to reorder immediately. coupon incentives are great was well. 

Sustainability 

Finally, try to ensure that you have some form of sustainability on this too. While it can be a challenge, using paper products with finishes that are easy to recycle is important.

Try to utilize paper tape rather than plastic tape, so it’s easier for disposal.   People can toss out the paper tape with the rest of the recycled elements without having to do anything.

If there are special instructions for recycling or disposal, make sure that they know this.   customers will not dispose of it in that manner otherwise, so bear that in mind.

Finally, if you can reuse the box, try to show them a fun way to reuse this. customers will appreciate that, and it’s a good way to really enhance the ability to provide a more sustainable sort of footprint for people to enjoy.

With all of this, you will be able to enhance the branding experience, and really get customers excited. Remember you only have a couple seconds to entice them and giving them a great first impression does matter. People will be excited to show off the items they get from this, and they will be quite elated to tell others about it too.

Word of mouth and repute is key here when selling these types of items, so make sure that you have these all in place, in order to ensure great success.