Switching to curbside recyclable packaging materials makes sustainable disposal an easy choice.
Curbside recyclable packaging enhances brand image and customer loyalty: Consumers are increasingly factoring sustainable packaging into their purchasing decisions, with recyclability being a key element they look for. By adopting recyclable packaging, you can demonstrate your commitment to environmental responsibility, which enhances your brand image and helps retain customers who value eco-friendly practices.
Helps you meet your sustainability goals: By choosing recyclable packaging, you are contributing to a more circular economy. If you strive to reduce landfill waste or conserve resources, recyclable packaging can help you meet these goals
Recycling is confusing...The US has a complex recycling system that confuses most consumers. Too often, people open a package and are left wondering “Is the packaging recyclable?”
If your customer is unsure whether packaging is recyclable, they probably won’t recycle it.
Choose a material that your customers are familiar with recycling: To reap the sustainability and brand boosting benefits of eco-friendly packaging, it has to be clear to the customer that the packaging material is recyclable.
Make sure it can be recycled at home: The packaging also needs to be convenient to recycle. This means curbside recyclable at the customer’s house, and not specialty recycling where they have to leave home. For instance, some materials may only be recyclable at a store drop-off facility, which limits their true recyclability.
Paper meets both of the above requirements. Everyone knows it is recyclable, and they can easily recycle it in the home curbside bin. As a result, people recycle paper at a higher rate than other packaging materials.
By the numbers: 81% of paper packaging is recovered for recycling, compared to just 10% of soft plastic packaging, according to US EPA data.
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For ecommerce shipments, try these 4 simple switches to recyclable paper packaging:
Brace products with paper air pillows: These cushions can be used for filling voids or for wrapping, depending on the option you choose. They combine the best attributes of kraft paper and plastic air pillows: they are curbside recyclable, yet they reduce cost and material waste since they are made from 99% air.
Protect fragile goods with paper bubble wrap: These sheets of paper have embossed “bubbles” designed to safeguard delicate goods from damage. Perfect for ecommerce shipments, the easy-to-use sheets are designed to save time on the packing line and provide a memorable unboxing experience for your customer.
Ship small items more efficiently with a paper mailer: Paper mailers provide the same level of protection as a bubble mailer while being curbside recyclable. If you are shipping smaller items in boxes, switching to a paper mailer helps cut shipping costs thanks to a lower DIM weight. They can also be packaged twice as fast as a box: simply place the item in the mailer, peel the adhesive strip and pat it closed.
Keep temperature-sensitive shipments cold with a recyclable cold chain solution: Made from starch-based foam with a kraft paper outer, recyclable box liners (a cousin of BGR’s compostable cold chain liners) offer comparable insulation performance to EPS, while mitigating environmental damage. They can be customized for your needed temperature range and transit time to ensure your cold chain goods arrive safe.
Did you know: While both corrugated boxes and plastic bottles are fully recyclable, if the tape and labels attached to them aren’t removed, it can negatively impact recycling.
Corrugated: Both the adhesive and backing of tape are impurities that reduce the quality of the recycled corrugated. The adhesive from labels attached to the box can cause operational issues at the recycling plant by gumming up the machines.
PET and HDPE bottles: If not properly detached during recycling, label fragments and adhesive become sources of contamination in the recycled plastic.
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Use tape and labels that customers don’t need to remove prior to recycling:
Luckily, there are tape and label products that are specially designed to not interfere with recycling. This makes sustainable disposal easier for your customers because it means they don’t need to remove the tape and labels prior to recycling their packaging. You can even print the recyclability message on the tape or label, to communicate this info straight to the customer.
Recycle-friendly label solutions:
For film labels: CleanFlake labels enable recycling for both PET and HDPE containers. They’re designed to detach cleanly from the container during recycling, preventing label fragments and adhesive from contaminating the recycled material. These eye-catching labels are perfect for making products stand out on the retail shelf.
For paper labels: TrueCut adhesive is designed to make paper labels recyclable on both boxes and bottles. It can be used for direct thermal, thermal transfer, or custom printing applications. The adhesive is designed to be fully repulpable during the recycling process.
Recycle-friendly tape solutions:
Flatback tape is an eco-friendly alternative to plastic packaging tape – the paper fibers in the tapes can be recycled into new paper. Try flatback tape for sealing light and medium weight boxes.
- Water activated tape: Like flatback tape, water activated tape is made from recyclable paper. It is known to provide an extremely strong seal and is often reinforced with fiberglass strands to provide durability for heavy-duty boxes. It can be custom printed to create a powerful branding tool that increases sales and customer satisfaction.
Selecting easily recycled packaging enhances your brand’s image and supports your sustainability goals.
Recycling is a surprisingly difficult task with conflicting, poorly communicated rules. By adopting packaging that is simple for your customer to recycle, you can establish your brand as environmentally responsible, while improving customer loyalty. Make it easy for your customers to recycle by selecting curbside recyclable paper packaging and using recycle-friendly tape and labels.