Eco-friendly packaging for your brand. Paper or plastic?

One of the biggest challenges in making packaging eco-friendly is to change from fossil based material to bio-based.

Eco-friendly packaging in paper is a contender to replace plastic, which is the most common type of littering. Up to 13 million tons of plastic end up in our oceans every year. The problem with plastic is that it primarily comes from fossil raw material and also the extensive littering it comes with.

To be more precise, 95 percent of all trash on beaches and in the ocean are pieces of plastic. The majority of the trash is thrown at land but eventually ends up in the ocean through wind and water. This is not sustainable.

A transition to biodegradable, eco-friendly paper packaging makes it possible to prevent a further negative development. A development which makes itself best known with examples like the Great Garbage Patch in Pacific Ocean. A huge, swirling pile of trash – three times the size of France.

We need to change

Compostable paper can with many advantages be used to replace other packaging material. Consider a durable, FSC-certified paper instead of:

Plastic – has higher carbon footprint. In a lot of uses paper can save up to 75 percent to 99 percent of the fossil carbon emissions compared to a similar packaging in plastic. Not to mention all non-compostable plastic waste.

Glass – Heavier and more fragile material. The weight of paper packaging is a fraction of the similar container in glass. This makes transportation of glass much more fuel demanding.

Metal – Higher energy use. The fossil energy used to produce a metal can, could be used to produce ten similar paper packages and still release less emissions.

What does the future look like for plastic?

According to the European Commission, 94% of customers agree that retailers and industry should reduce their use of plastic packaging.

We can also see how the European Union has recognized the problems by placing a ban on single use plastic products in 2021. A critical step to stop plastic waste ending up in nature.

This puts pressure on manufacturers to rethink how they work with plastic. But also on consumers to make an environmentally conscious packaging choice!

Replace plastic for sustainable paper packaging.

Ink n Art see positively on governments around the world getting more serious with stopping plastic pollution. But to speed up the green transition –  small, mid-sized and large businesses around our planet can do their part by reducing, reusing and recycling.

We have an ambition to shed light on a sustainable packaging solution that does not result in unhealthy waste and littering.

We are convinced that the transition to eco-friendly packaging can be easy. The paper Ink n Art use is bio-based, recyclable and compostable.

Check out our eco-friendly packaging

Sources:

http://www3.weforum.org/docs/WEF_The_New_Plastics_Economy.pdf

https://ec.europa.eu/environment/circular-economy/pdf/plastics-strategy.pdf

https://edition.cnn.com/2018/03/23/world/plastic-great-pacific-garbage-patch-intl/index.html

www.iggesund.com/sustainability/our-products/our-products/#id3507_Friendly_and_functional

https://www.wwf.org.uk/updates/how-does-plastic-end-ocean

https://feature.undp.org/plastic-tidal-wave/