As societal attitudes increasingly shift toward sustainability, brands are exploring eco-friendly packaging design solutions that improve brand reputation and can even save business owners money. The timeless mantra “Reduce, Reuse, Recycle” is redefining contemporary design and is incorporated in the following eco-friendly packaging ideas. So let’s dive into this article and explore these inspiring and innovative sustainable packaging examples!
- Sustainable packaging reuses, recycles or minimizes waste materials.
- Generally, the fewer materials involved in a product’s packaging, the more eco-friendly it is. This is because it’s easier to recycle or compost single-material packaging.
- Often, eco-friendly packaging is less expensive than traditional packaging because it involves fewer materials and assembly steps. However, it may come with greater up-front costs.
- Sustainable packaging examples include compostable, plantable, recyclable, edible and reusable packaging ideas.
Eco-friendly packaging: The consumer perspective
Types of packaging that are sustainable not only reduce waste but also create less pollution during production and decompose more naturally than traditional packaging materials. Consumers are increasingly choosing products for their eco-friendly packaging, demanding that brands consider sustainability in packaging design.
In a study by Trivium Packaging, 74% of consumers said they would pay more for sustainable packaging. As a small business, showing you value sustainability and including environmental awareness in your brand’s messaging are easy ways to connect with buyers.
However, there are some challenges with eco-friendly packaging design. For example, biodegradable plastics, often labeled as compostable, typically need to be broken down in an industrial facility and can’t decompose in a home compost heap. So they end up in a landfill. As you explore packaging options, think about the entire lifecycle, from raw materials to disposal.
Beware of buzzwords
Greenwashing is the marketing technique where products and packaging are made to appear environmentally friendly when, in reality, they’re not. Brands from different industries engage in greenwashing, which ranges from using vague brand messaging to outright lying.
Forms of greenwashing include using nature-related imagery or the color green in branding. Other times, brands emphasize how their product promotes environmentalism, when in fact the link is irrelevant. An example of this kind of trick is branding an apple as being gluten-free or vegan. As you explore green packaging examples, be sure to research how each choice is sourced and produced and how it’s relevant to your product.
Companies recognize that many audiences and potential customers want to lower their carbon footprint. From the buyer’s perspective, the easiest ways to do this are to consume products that are packaged as eco-friendly and buy into brands that support environmentalism.
While this marketing tactic works for businesses in the short term, in an era of brand transparency and authenticity, it’s not a solid foundation for any brand that hopes to connect with its audience.
Unpacking eco-friendly packaging ideas
Designers, scientists and researchers are continually developing new packaging methods that maximize usage and minimize waste. These involve using sustainable materials and processes that cause the least harm possible to the environment. We’ve compiled a list of sustainable packaging design tips and ideas you can adopt to make your brand greener.
1. Upcycling and reusable packaging
One of the most affordable, environmentally friendly packaging ideas is to find more uses for it. Usually, packaging doesn’t have much of a lifespan past its originally intended purpose, but this doesn’t have to be the case. An easy way to make packaging more eco-friendly is to keep it out of landfills and recycling centers by making it reusable.
A great example is the brand Cat Person. Any products they ship arrive in boxes that can be repurposed as cat toys.
An easy way to do this is to switch from plastic to glass, where many people can reuse glass for storage.
This option works great if you have a food and beverage product or need to store your product in a container.
Reusable and upcycled packaging is an eco-friendly packaging idea that goes back to the Great Depression in the United States and Canada, when families made do with what they had. The material from flour and feed sacks was used as fabric for new dresses and other necessities, and companies quickly printed similar patterns on their bags. This increased the value buyers received from their products, ensuring the packaging lived on much longer than its original intended use.
If your customers have found a new use for your packaging or product, lean into it. Consider how buyers could reuse your packaging, and inspire them by sharing ideas on your social media or on the packaging itself.
In the 1950s, the jelly brand, Welch’s, decided to redesign its packaging by printing popular cartoon characters on jelly jars, appealing to its target audience of children and quickly becoming a cultural phenomenon.
Once all the jelly is eaten, toss the lid and clean the jar for a handy drinking glass. Source: via Lakeside Vintage Shop
Many families had already been using the jelly jars as drinking glasses, but the redesign meant the jars went from household items to collectibles. With sales rocketing, this increased Welch’s popularity as much as it did the lifespan of each jar. This strategy can be a great choice for any brand that packages its product in jars. Welch’s continued this practice beyond the 1950s, underscoring their commitment to reusable packaging.
2. Returnable packaging
Returnable packaging is a great way to ensure that packaging never reaches landfills. In the past, the milkman would deliver milk in the morning and pick up the empty bottles to clean and reuse. Today, brands like Mac cosemtics or Kiehl’s skincare follow this sustainable packaging model. They have programs where customers can easily recycle their product with the company. Some even have incentive programs, like the My Kiehl’s Rewards program where customers are gain points for returning and recycling empty product containers.
3. Minimalist packaging design
Minimalism has been around for a while. From its 1960s origins, the design trend has expanded across industries alongside a shift toward sustainability. Minimalist packaging design is particularly prevalent in the cosmetics industry, as consumers seek products with few, natural ingredients and plastic-free packaging.
Founder of Los Angeles cosmetic brand NOTO, Gloria Noto, says that she “saw all too clearly how the majority of cosmetics were cocktails of chemicals, fillers and pollutants.” In response, she created products packed with uncomplicated yet high-performing cruelty-free ingredients.
Source: Cosmetics with a bold and minimal sustainable packaging design via NOTO
She then takes their transparent and sustainable mission one step further with minimalistic branding and eco-friendly packaging. All packaging is biodegradable, made of recycled plastics, glass or metals, while shipping materials are made from recycled paper and green cell foam.
Source: Minimalist eco-friendly packaging design via SHEYN
Similarly, Austrian jewellery brand SHEYN’s minimalist, simple kraft mailer box is made using 90% recycled paper that unfolds to reveal an image of their custom pendant. SHEYN’s co-founder, Nicolas Gold, explains, “We want to show the digital design process of our products, where each piece is portrayed as a set of three-dimensional edges. We turned these edges into a 2D pattern and used it for the design of the box. The pattern itself is zoomed in and folded, showing abstract lines.”
With eco-friendly packaging, minimalism can also relate to minimal use of materials, such as eliminating packing peanuts or unnecessary wrapping, reducing costs, production emissions and waste.
4. Mono-materials
Product packaging additions, such as laminations, coatings and labels, can turn a simple piece of packaging into a combination of different materials that recycling centers can’t process. Monomaterial packaging or single-material packaging ensures that the entire packaging is recyclable.
Source: Glass milk bottle packaging design printed on raw cardboard by Design x Courtney via 99designs by Vista
5. Biodegradable and compostable packaging solutions
Biodegradable and compostable packaging solutions are the ultimate goal when it comes to eco-friendly packaging, and can encourage environmentally-conscious consumers to choose your brand.
Looking for biodegradable packaging ideas? Consider these compostable die-cut handle bags
For example, a supermarket in Thailand uses banana leaves, which decompose naturally, instead of plastic packaging for its produce. This is also a cost-effective packaging choice, as banana leaves are readily available in Thailand and can be acquired for free.
Source: Think outside the box for sustainable packaging via Forbes
Kaffeform is another company reusing waste materials, turning used coffee grounds into coffee cups. “A bicycle courier collective gathers used coffee grounds from selected cafes and roasteries in Berlin and then brings them to a social workshop. There, the grounds are dried and preserved. At small plants in Germany, the material is then compounded and shaped into coffee cups,” they explain on their website.
Source: Eco-friendly coffee cups in a variety of colors via Kaffeeform
The synthetic fibers that make up most clothes release microplastics when spinning around in the washing machine, which then travel into the world’s oceans.
Source: Dropps product packaging doubles as a shipping container via Dropps
Enter Dropps, the eco-responsible choice for laundry detergent. Not only has it eliminated single-use plastic jugs by developing small dissolvable pods of cleaning detergent, but it also uses fully compostable packaging.
Your shipment arrives at your doorstep in a sustainably sourced corrugated cardboard box, sealed with paper kraft tape and stamped with a recyclable and compostable shipping label. To top it off, all shipments are 100% carbon-neutral.
Another great example of biodegradable packaging is these baskets by Felix Pöttinger, designed to reduce food and packaging waste. This biodegradable food packaging concept, which can be easily integrated into traditional industrial methods, is made from dried seagrass fibers bound together in a cellulose-based substance. Other innovations in biodegradable packaging include algae-based and mushroom packaging.
Source: Biodegradable food baskets via Felix Pöttinger
6. Plantable packaging
Plantable boxes and sleeves are another innovative, substainable packaging idea. Botanical Paperworks is a Canadian company that offers plantable seed paper products, including many sustainable packaging options that can grow into wildflowers, herbs and vegetables.
Their website explains, “This zero-waste plantable packaging is made with post-consumer materials embedded with seeds so it will definitely show your eco-commitment and promote corporate sustainability.”
Source: Plantable packaging via Botanical Paperworks
Looking for more packaging design tips? Check out our guide to small business packaging.
Bloom Everlasting Chocolate is an eco-friendly and biodegradable seed-infused packaging design for a chocolate bar developed by UK Designer Connor Davey. The different flavors match the seeds in the packaging: the mint chocolate packaging can grow mint, the orange chocolate can grow an orange plant, the rose-infused chocolate wrapper contains rose seeds, and the chili chocolate packaging can grow a chili plant.
7. Innovative packaging
Seaweed-based technology is on the rise, with many brands developing inventive products, like Evoware, which offers a range of sustainable alternatives to single-use plastic items, such as sandwich wrappers made from an edible material, seaweed. As well as offering innovative biodegradable, sustainable packaging choices, Evoware aims to support seaweed farmers in Indonesia.
Another example is the company Notpla. They have a team of designers, chemists, engineers and entrepreneurs on a mission to reduce global waste through innovative, biodegradable packaging using seaweed and other plants, such as Ooho, an edible and transparent membrane.
Source: Seaweed packaging via Notpla
Source: Seaweed packaging via Notpla
Use sustainable, eco-friendly packaging
Today, more brands than ever are embracing eco-friendly packaging. Some offer reusable packaging ideas, while others are leveraging scientific and technological breakthroughs to eliminate the need for plastic packaging with innovative materials, such as mushroom mycelium or seaweed. While innovative eco-friendly packaging is exciting, it’s also important to recognize brands that are embracing sustainability in more traditional ways by reducing their product packaging, opting for single-material packaging and incentivizing refilling and recycling.
No matter how you unwrap it, sustainable packaging is a great choice for the environment and your brand. Eco-friendly packaging benefits your business by reducing material costs and demonstrating your commitment to being an environmentally conscious company. The consumer also gets a sense of fulfillment knowing that they’re minimizing their carbon footprint by choosing your product.
As you explore sustainable packaging ideas, think about what makes the most sense for your brand: something recyclable? Reusable? Compostable? The answer can be found in the type of product you offer and the type of packaging material it needs.
