In the past, giant retailers did a great job of cardboard recycling in New Jersey and other places across the United States. As more Americans shop online, people are recycling less cardboard. America is at a crossroad where corporations and consumers must decide if they are going to waste natural resources to make more cardboard. The alternative is to offer consumers sustainable packaging. The last choice is more reasonable because there are only so many trees, and deforestation creates a host of other problems. Here are some things to know about sustainable packaging to get you headed in the right direction.
Offering consumers packaging that they can easily convert to another purpose can be a great marketing concept. Helping consumers understand how to recycle their packaging into another useful material often encourage customer behavior. For example, switching to paper tape on boxes allows the whole cardboard box to be used in the garden to block weeds from getting started without any harmful effects to the environment.
Use your creative team to come up with minimal packaging. Then, there is less to recycle or throw away in the first place, but there are other benefits as well. Usually, the cost to manufacture minimal packaging is significantly lower. Secondly, you pay less to transport packages. Even if it is not, then your company’s carbon footprint becomes much smaller.
There are many sustainable raw materials that you can use to package your product. Renewable resources, like corn husks and sugar beets, can be used to make almost all petroleum-based plastics. Many raw materials can be pulped and turned into paper and cardboard. When considering making a switch, keep the amount of energy burned in the process as one of the determining factors. Many of these products are also biodegradable, meaning that your packaging is not taking up space in a landfill.
There are two factors that you should keep in mind before shipping your product to the consumer or the retail outlet. Never select a box that is bigger than necessary. Always use boxes made from recycled materials, and try to offer consumers a way to recycle that cardboard box efficiently. Secondly, choose the right loose-fill materials to surround your packaging in the cardboard box. Numerous companies are experimenting with up-cycled corrugated cardboard bubble wrap, while others are using agricultural waste, like mushrooms and tomato leaves to wrap fragile items.
While making changes in your packaging can take a while, there is one thing that you can do right now to help the environment. Call All County Recycling to be your cardboard recycling in New Jersey provider. Making this switch allows you to feel good about saving the environment through cardboard recycling in New Jersey.
