The planet faces big challenges every day, from natural disasters to economic crises, but the biggest ongoing challenge is protecting the environment we all live in. The damage that pollution, fossil fuel burning, single-use plastic, consumption of virgin materials and heavy strain on natural resources has finally been realised on a wide stage, and consumers are looking to companies both big and small to enact change in their approach to product manufacturing and their packaging choices.
What is Sustainability?
Sustainability is defined as the ‘avoidance of the depletion of natural resources in order to maintain an ecological balance’. To ensure that we as a human race refrain from wasting all of the natural resources available, pollute the rivers, seas and oceans, and protect the environment as a whole, we must look introspectively into the products that we use and, as businesses, how our business decisions impact this on a massive scale.
Paper Manufacturing
There tends to be a lot of arguments and counter-arguments for different views and processes surrounding sustainability. Take, for example, paper manufacturing. The entire process for manufacturing paper requires a few different elements – water, wood and energy.
Now, water is a recyclable resource, so it can be used and used again, and as long as it is returned back to where it was derived from in a clean state, there’s no harmful impact on the environment and certainly no worries about the longevity of water as a resource. Next, we have wood, which is a renewable resource, along with a good CO2 capturer. Providing the wood used is harvested from a protected forest under a sustainability scheme, we don’t have too many concerns about how long the resource of wood can last us. Lastly, we have energy. Energy consumption can be considered harmful as fossil fuels are usually burned to generate energy, but there are alternative energy sources such as biomass energy generation.
So, the Paper Manufacturing process as a whole does have the potential to be damaging to the environment if sustainable efforts aren’t made, but if these efforts are made, paper manufacturing is sustainable, along with the papers ability to be recycled and reused.
Plastic Labels
Plastic is definitely a big enemy to the environment. Usually, it takes literally hundreds of years for it to decompose, and that just isn’t viable in the slightest. Now, BioPlastic materials are available, but not in large quantities and even these are rarely compostable, so they too are not very viable options for sustainability. At large, you should avoid plastic labels, as they are not sustainable and are therefore very unpopular with consumers.
Recycled Hemp Labels
Recycled hemp labels are an interesting product that uses 50% hemp and 50% of post-consumer waste to create a hemp label. Not only do these labels have a very premium look and feel to them, but they reduce the carbon footprint of your business greatly. Hemp labels are also very marketable as the utilisation of post-consumer waste makes incredible use of something that would otherwise be problematic. These labels can be used on all kinds of products from cosmetics to food products, and of course, they can be recycled to create fresh hemp labels down the line.
Attacking from All Angles
Sustainable labelling doesn’t just stop with the materials that are used for the labels, but with the adhesive that bonds it to the product and the ink that it’s adorned with. Adhesives and inks are notorious for carrying harmful solvents and chemicals that release harmful gasses into the atmosphere, utilise animal products in their production and render once sustainable materials, unsustainable. The efforts to make products and packaging sustainable and eco-friendly can’t stop with the obvious elements of the materials like boxes and bottles, but with each and every aspect of the process to create the product. For more information on each aspect of the labelling process, check out our dedicated pages on each.
Packaging Symbols
There are a number of schemes and organisations that work to help certify products with symbols that demonstrate how it has utilised sustainable materials or processes to manufacture. Some of them you may be very familiar with, while others you may not have heard of.
FSC Worldwide
The Forest Stewardship Council incorporate the ‘tick tree’ to show that the product has been certified by the FSC. This shows that the product and packaging have been positive in their efforts to ensure forest harvesting is done in a sustainable manner and that it complies with very high environmental standards. It essentially gives the consumer confidence that consuming or buying this product isn’t contributing to a negative impact on the environment.
PEFC
The Programme for the Endorsement of Forest Certificate is a certification that the product is compostable and biodegradable. They are also instrumental in offering guidance surrounding effective forestation management and this label/certification is becoming increasingly more popular each year as the awareness of forestation issues are coming to light.
Mobius Loop
This is probably one of the most recognisable symbols on this list, indicating that the product can be recycled. However, this doesn’t mean that the packaging has been made from recycled materials. Sometimes this symbol will have a number incorporated into it to show the percentage of the packaging that can be recycled. Unfortunately, there isn’t much in the way of certification for this symbol so companies are pretty free to use it or variations of it without proving its legitimacy.
Green Dot
This is often mistaken with the Mobius Loop, but it’s rather different. It doesn’t mean that the product can be recycled, nor does it indicate that the packaging has been created from recycled materials, it simply shows that the company has made a financial contribution toward sustainability efforts. Unfortunately, this is often a token gesture as the packaging of the product continues to damage the environment.
Recycle Now
This symbol is part of a national campaign that is funded by the government to promote the practice of recycling. The symbol indicates that the packaging is widely recyclable and is likely to be collected by your local refuse collectors. Even if it isn’t collected by the refuse collectors, it can be taken to a local recycling centre. The use of this symbol on the packaging is closely monitored by ORPL, and companies pay a fee to ORPL to cover the running costs including the monitoring of the label’s use.