Green packaging supplies and materials are environment friendly products. You will also hear them referred to as “eco friendly packaging supplies” or “Eco Products” for packaging applications.
There are many packaging manufacturers responding to this growing market that want to replace packaging materials with more environment friendly products and why not? This growing trend stands to replace all non eco friendly options sooner rather than later. The general eco industry is growing rapidly rushing to deliver materials, processes and technology solutions to supply the ever growing reduce environment impact demand. According to ETAP (Environmental Technologies Action Plan), “The global eco-industry is forecasted to be worth some €700 billion by 2010”.
New green packaging solutions that reduce environment impact to varying amounts are being created every day. Common green packaging characteristics often include the following:
- Made from recycled materials (100% or varying lesser percentages)
- Made from annually sustainable materials (ex: bamboo farms, corn, soya, cotton)
- Made from organic farmed materials (ex: organic bamboo, organic corn)
- Biodegradable materials (ex: clam shells, unbleached paper)
- Recyclable material (ex: cardboard papers, corrugated paper, glass)
- Reusable products (ex: glass bottles)
- Energy efficiency, such as achieved by reduction in packaging processes, packaging systems, manufacturing process or distribution savings (ex: using plastic bottles instead of glass bottles because of reduced carbon output in the shipping of a lighter product).
Popular green packaging supplies on the market include:
- Recycled Cardboard Boxes
- Compostable Food Containers (ex: biodegradable take out food containers, starch based biodegradable and disposable food containers)
- Biodegradable Products ex: biodegradable bags, biodegradable trash bags, biodegradable garbage bags, biodegradable plastics, biodegradable paper, biodegradable films, biodegradable green materials)
Business and industry realize that materials, systems and processes needs to be greener as caring about the impact for the environment is not only the ethical choice but the market of the future. Businesses that don’t come up with solution alternatives for greener packaging supplies and environment friendly products stand to lose their market share to environment friendly businesses that create the new generation of eco friendly alternatives and solutions.
References:
http://ec.europa.eu/environment/etap/pdfs/dec06_eco_industry_report.pdf
