In the effort towards reduced packaging waste, brands are listening to consumers. Customers desire fresh products with minimal packaging. Excessive packaging is not only wasteful but harmful to the environment. According to the University of Southern Indiana, packaging waste makes up the majority of landfills.
However, some brands are taking the initiative to rethink their packaging to be more eco-friendly.
Interested in learning more? Below are some well-known brands that now offer recyclable packaging to help the environment.
Colgate
Colgate is a well-known toothpaste company that’s aiming to become more environmentally friendly. They’ve already made toothpaste tubes made of high-density polyethylene, which is easily recyclable.
Also, Colgate’s new toothpaste tubes are now fully recyclable. These new toothpaste tubes should be released very soon.
Colgate’s not just stopping there, though. They’re aiming to make all of their oral care packaging 100% recyclable by 2025. So keep an eye out on this space!
Nestle
We all love to buy a chocolate bar and eat it on the go. But that foil wrapper in your pocket may blow out into the street, where it would take hundreds of years to decompose. Or it may just end up in a landfill, where again, it’ll barely decompose.
Nestle is taking a similar initiative to Colgate to combat this kind of food packaging waste. They’ve developed a paper wrapper to be run on a high-speed flow wrapping machine. The paper packaging is fully recyclable.
And like with the other brand, Nestle aims to make all their packaging either recyclable or reusable by 2025.
Unilever
Unilever is a global brand, with several household brands under their belt. Some names you might recognize under Unilever include Axe, Hellmann’s, Knorr, Lipton, Magnum, and Degree.
Many of their products come in black plastic bottle packaging. While this makes them more appealing and attractive, it does present a problem with recycling: the carbon used for black packaging makes recycling difficult and limited to specific centers.
However, that may all be changing soon.
Unilever’s partnered up with multiple other brands (such as RECOUP, Veolia, SUEZ, and Viridor) to find a way around this problem while still retaining their sleek black packaging.
They’ve developed a black pigment so that recycling plants can recognize Unilever’s bottles. As a result, they’ll be sorted and recycled correctly.
Honest Tea
The brand Honest Tea is known for its organic tea that’s free from unauthorized pesticides. Based on that alone, you’ve probably inferred that this brand dedicates itself to ethical practices.
For example, their glass bottles are Cradle to Cradle certified. This means their bottles are highly sustainable; not only do they use reutilized material, but they also use safe materials, renewable energy, and water stewardship.
But Honest Tea doesn’t just stop at its glass bottles. When it expanded its products to kids’ juices, they also aimed to be sustainable in that area.
They’re currently using Tetra Pak packaging, which is a 75% FSC-certified carton. However, not all recycling programs accept Honest Tea’s containers, as they’re mixed material; there are also plastic polymers and aluminum.
While some of these cartons end up in incinerators or dumps, a decent proportion of them is still recycled.
Straus Family Creamery
Straus Family Creamery is a Californian dairy company that’s been around ever since 1941. For the last 2.5 decades, they’ve offered their organic milk in reusable glass bottles. These bottles are made with up to 30% recycled glass, which makes them very eco-friendly.
Not just that, but Straus Family Creamery also offers a recycling program for its customers. They can rinse out their bottles and then turn them at the store of purchase for $2.00 back. These bottles are later reused by Straus Family Creamery about five times before they finally recycle the whole thing.
Considering they have a return rate of 80% for their glass bottles, that’s pretty impressive and keeps a significant number of milk containers out of landfills.
Kiehl’s
Kiehl’s is a skin, hair, and body care company that’s been around since 1851. As you can imagine, they’ve manufactured quite a few products in their 169+ years of business.
To ease the burden of their products on the planet, Kiehl’s has made it so that their products are recyclable. They even have a Recycle and Be Rewarded program for their customers.
To participate in this program, customers can bring back their empty Kiehl’s products to their local stores. For each one, they receive one stamp. Once they reach ten stamps, they’ll get a free travel-sized product.
RMS Beauty
RMS Beauty is a brand that offers natural makeup and skincare products made with organic ingredients. You can find them in a physical store in Sephora or shop online on Dermstore.
Founder Rose-Marie was determined to give women access to makeup that was free of toxic chemicals. She also sought to decrease her carbon footprint.
All RMS Beauty products have minimal packaging and use glass, as well as other recyclable or reusable materials.
We Should Continue to Strive For Packaging Sustainability
The major brands are paving the way to a better future by offering recyclable packaging. If you run a business, why not follow in their footsteps?
Not only will you be more eco-conscious, but you’ll also have an advantage over your competition if you offer recyclable packaging, and they don’t. Why not strive to reduce waste while still providing a fresh and presentable product to customers?
Would you like more information about reducing packaging waste for your products? Then get a quote from us today! We’ll get back to you within 24 hours of submission.
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