There's a saying in German that roughly translates to “Good packaging pays half the rent,” meaning that the right kind of package does half the work for you. It's of little surprise, then, that when major retailers began examining their sustainability goals leading forward, they looked first to packaging. More specifically, giants like Amazon, Target, and Walmart started first with their own private label programs.
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This way of leading by example also allows these corporations to put pressure on their suppliers to do the same. This has an added benefit of also improving consumer confidence in their dedication to the environment.
Some of the sustainable packaging goals of major retailers today include:
Reducing and optimizing all private brand packaging, across the board
Completely eliminating non-recyclable packaging, by the end of 2020
Transitioning to 100% recyclable, reusable, or compostable private brand packaging, within 5 years
Labeling all private brand packaging with the “How2Recycle” label, which is a standardized way of communicating recycling instructions to consumers
Adopting some of these practices has already allowed major retailers to keep hundreds of thousands of tons out of the landfills. For example, Amazon has eliminated over 665,000 tons of packaging materials in the last 10 years. They were able to accomplish this by switching over to recyclable packaging and discontinuing the practice of re-packaging goods that already had their own label's packaging. This growing focus on sustainability is edging manufacturers to seek green packaging options as they promise to reduce single-use or non-recyclable materials.
While these are great steps in the right direction, there is obvious more that they could be doing – from investing in water soluble materials to simply using less plastic in their packaging.
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Challenges in Achieving Sustainability Goals
The eco-friendly private labels that these giants are now investing in makes consumers expect these standards from smaller businesses. Establishing new, sustainable “best practices” for private label packaging (or any packaging, for that matter) of course comes with some challenges. Eco-friendlier aesthetics, like non-pvc plastic and occasional higher costs, are two of the most common.
However, as more people are determined to purchase from businesses who are invested in positive environmental practices, small and medium businesses are finding that sustainable packaging is, in many cases, a boost to their business.
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Courtesy:- SmartSolve