The dust is settling on this year’s United Nations climate summit – known as COP 29.
Leaders from almost 200 countries gathered in the Azerbaijan capital Baku with calls for everyone to play their part on climate change.
The two-week long forum, which is held every year, has the goal of limiting climate change and its impact on the planet.
Packaging and packaging suppliers have a key role to play in that goal, not least because packaging is such a big part of the world we live in.
Goodyear Packaging
On the most basic level, packaging needs to protect your goods or your purchase during delivery, while at its most creative level, packaging can generate a sense of excitement and anticipation and have a wow factor all of its own – and there’s all the levels in between.
And increasingly, customers want their packaging to be as sustainable and as environmentally friendly as possible.
Which is why Goodyear Packaging has taken huge steps to make ourselves an eco-friendly and sustainable producer and provider of secondary packaging.
What is sustainable packaging?
Sustainable packaging is any material and process used to store, ship or wrap a product that minimises its environmental footprint.
It’s generally a move away from virgin plastic primary and secondary packaging, and a move to more eco-friendly materials that support our planet.
The three Rs
You’ll often hear the three Rs of sustainability and sustainable packaging.
The first is reduce. Taking the size and weight out of packaging. It avoids waste in the first place and uses less energy and resources to create.
The second is reuse. So packaging that is reusable. An example could be a bag that can be used over and over again.
And the third is recyclable. Recycling avoids using the resources needed to create the packaging in the first place, but it does require energy to collect and to process.
At Goodyear, we look at ways to reuse and recycle waste products to create new packaging solutions in a planet-friendly way.
Examples of sustainable packaging
One example of sustainable packaging could be to reduce your carbon footprint and protect our forests with our low carbon agrofibre paper.
Another could be by using recycled, reusable, or recyclable materials, such as our paper ribbon.
Or it could be by cutting the use of plastic. Our pulp paper trays offer a recyclable alternative to plastic vac forms, while mono material refill pouches are 100 per cent recyclable.
Speak to our team of packaging experts to find out how we can help your business.
Is sustainable packaging good for your business?
In short, yes.
Sustainable packaging isn’t just better for our local environment, and indeed the world as a whole, but it is almost certainly better for your business.
Customers and consumers are more eco-aware than ever and are demanding that their products are more environmentally sound than ever.
And there is no doubt they are increasingly turning to eco-aware brands – and your business can’t afford to be left behind.
What next?
While we wait for the ramifications of COP 29 to filter through, Goodyear Packaging is already well placed to meet your sustainable packaging requirements.
Our product development team can help your business assess your packaging needs.
We can help you reengineer your products to become more sustainable, to reduce your plastic and waste packaging, and to help protect our planet well before next year’s COP 30 comes round.