Nowadays, more and more consumers are concerned about the environmental impacts of their brands. Some consumers have made the switch to go for a completely eco-friendly lifestyle in order to minimize their carbon footprint, and this reflects in their buying decisions. Others tend to keep awareness of the brands they buy and opt to purchase more sustainable products.
While complete sustainability and climate change reversal are far from reality, we can already do our part in creating sustainable business practices through our products and offerings. We can choose to integrate environmentally friendly practices into our everyday business operations, and opt for better, recyclable products and materials.
Here are five sustainable and eco-friendly products you can integrate into your business as packaging, offerings, or even promotional products:
1. Aluminum Bottled Water
It is imperative that we get to address the plastic problem brought about by water bottles. Plastic water bottles are detrimental to the environment, and may leach harmful chemicals into the water you drink as well as the environment once the bottles are thrown away. Thankfully, there are better alternatives that are eco-friendly, yet are just as convenient as plastic bottles.
Bottled water companies like Crystal Beverage Co. are now shifting their products and pushing environmentally friendly alternatives like aluminum water bottles instead of plastic. The goal of these companies is to get people to adapt to a sustainable material that is better for their health, and better for the environment.
Aluminum is an endlessly recycled material as it does not break down after recycling again and again. You won’t have to worry about chemicals leaching into your water, and these aluminum bottles are often accepted at the majority of recycling centers, unlike plastic bottles, glass bottles, and tin cans.
2. Sugarcane Food Containers
Sugarcane food containers have gained popularity as a food-safe alternative to plastic and styrofoam takeout containers. Sugarcane food containers are made from the spent fibers of sugarcane after the juice has been processed to make sugar. The pulp is ground, pressed into a mold with a binding agent, and dried.
The result is a sustainable alternative to common food containers as these products make use of otherwise waste byproducts from sugar processing. At the end of its useful life, the sugarcane containers simply degrade, leaving no toxic residue or traces of the material unlike plastics that create microplastics.
3. Repurposed Packaging
Repurposed packaging is becoming widely accepted, particularly in online shops and retail. The idea is to use clean byproducts from creating end products as packaging materials, thereby reducing the amount of waste generated by the business. We often see this in art shops and online stores that use excess materials to create handmade packaging.
But we also see this in bigger businesses, where boxes used to ship in raw materials are used to ship out finished products. Similarly, groceries make use of boxes from their inventory shipments to wrap items together when they won’t fit in eco-friendly canvas bags or brown paper bags.
5. Plant-based Mailers and Plastic Bags
Plant-based plastics have been on the rise in recent months to years as we shift into an online shopping experience. Plant-based mailers have the same look and feel like plastic, but biodegrade in a much shorter amount of time. They are made from sustainable materials as well and consume less energy than creating plastic bags.
While these are generally more expensive, they also fit a minimalist aesthetic. Your consumers will delight at the plant-based mailers used to ship out your products, while these bags offer the same protection and waterproofing abilities as any plastic bag.
6. Reusable Canvas Bags
Another alternative to plastic bags is a canvas bag. Those “eco-friendly” eco bags are actually made of plastic material like nylon or polyester and are not eco-friendly at all. Canvas bags made from pure organic fibers are much more environmentally friendly than so-called eco-bags, and are much more reusable as well!
Since canvas bags are thicker, they can carry heavier items that thin plastic bags cannot. They can be designed with different, aesthetically pleasing patterns so consumers can reuse them with confidence as well, and you can brand your logo on these bags.
