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Start exploring sustainable shipping and eco-friendly packaging solutions. Eight founders share their secrets for shipping eco-friendly products.
As consumers become more aware of their shopping habits, they are looking not only for eco-friendly products, but also for sustainable business practices across the board.
The way products ordered from Shopify merchants are packaged and shipped has a significant impact on the planet, and customers notice.
We spoke to the business founders about their sustainability practices, including their eco-friendly packaging choices, and how they ship and fulfill orders in an environmentally responsible manner. Check out their top eco-friendly packaging tips and get ideas on how to make your product packaging and shipping more eco-friendly.
Sustainable packaging uses sustainable materials and methods to reduce environmental impact. This includes recyclable, biodegradable, or compostable materials to reduce waste. Brands that use sustainable packaging demonstrate social responsibility, attract environmentally conscious consumers, and increase brand loyalty in a highly competitive marketplace.
Let’s dive into these eco-friendly packaging ideas and hear advice from e-commerce business owners on everything from recyclable packaging to compostable packaging, eco-friendly alternatives to plastic bags, refill cartridges, and more.
The current trend in eco-friendly packaging is compostable and biodegradable packaging. Addressing this area of ​​growing concern for many retailers, Hero Packaging is one of the suppliers working on producing 100% compostable mailers to replace traditional plastic mailers that are difficult to recycle.
Partners in life and business, Anaita Sarkar and Vik Dawe, started out as a fashion company before realising how much plastic waste they were producing by fulfilling orders.
“We throw away a lot of packaging from suppliers and then have to repackage it, which adds to the world’s plastic and landfill problems,” Vick said.
“We did some research and found that we could actually use compostable shipping labels and mailing envelopes as an alternative to plastic,” Vick said.
Now that business is picking up in Australia, Vic and Anaita are starting to notice that a significant portion of their eco-friendly packaging sales are coming from North America. To meet the new demand, they have decided to partner with distribution centres in the US.
“Because our business is at the bottom of the Earth, it’s very difficult for us to transport heavy boxes around the world,” joked Vic.
The couple say they aim to further reduce their carbon footprint by delivering products closer to customers in the most environmentally friendly way.
Harriet Simonis, David Fragomeni, and Scott Ferguson originally met while living in Bali. While surfing in the area, they were horrified to discover that the sea was littered with single-use plastic packaging and abandoned fishing nets. This moment became the impetus for them to adopt a zero-waste lifestyle, which they follow to this day. While searching for eco-friendly, plastic-free products, they realized something ironic.
“A lot of eco-friendly products are packaged in plastic,” says Harriet. “It basically defeats the purpose of being an eco-friendly product.”
In an effort to find an eco-friendly solution, the trio founded Zero Waste Cartel, a brand of bath, body, and kitchen products that come in biodegradable or reusable packaging.
Their drive to go plastic-free comes with some unique challenges. For example, Harriet said the company had a hard time finding a warehouse that would actually use the compostable mailers they provided, as it required extra time and effort.
They later found a suitable partner in the United States and most of their orders are placed in the United States, further reducing their environmental impact by reducing the transportation distance between warehouses and customers.
“We prefer to supply in bulk because it’s better for the customer and better for the environment,” Harriet said.
Zero Waste Cartel only sells bamboo toothbrushes in packs of 10 to encourage customers to plan their purchases or share orders so the products can be delivered in a more sustainable manner. This seemingly tough policy resonates with Zero Waste Cartel customers, who believe that buying in bulk is better for the planet and their own wallets.
Since 2016, Roth Martin and Stephen (Hothy) Hawthornthwaite have been creating high-quality, durable, machine-washable shoes from plastic water bottles under the brand Rothy’s. Rothy’s products combine fashion and sustainability, and Meghan Markle and supermodel Karlie Kloss are loyal fans.
Lauren Taflinger, former chief operating officer of Rothy’s, said the company has recycled and reused more than 34 million water bottles to date. Rothy’s manufacturing process also knits the uppers into shape, creating virtually no waste, compared to 30% to 40% of the material lost in traditional cutting.
Like TAMGA Designs, Rothy’s also offsets the carbon emissions generated during the manufacturing and distribution of its products by partnering with the Envira Amazonia project to finance ecosystem services and forest protection projects.
“Our shoe boxes are not designed to transport the product itself, but rather to ship and return the product at the same time,” Lauren said.
Rothy’s vegan, biodegradable boxes are made from 85% post-consumer recycled waste. Rothy’s wanted to reduce the use of paper cards and make their boxes more versatile.
When it comes to sustainability, Rothy’s is working to rethink details from product to packaging so that every part of a customer’s order creates less waste.
Artists Tara Pelletier and Jeff Kurosaki are partners in life and business who founded Meow Meow Tweet, an organic skincare company that features adorable animal illustrations on the packaging of its eco-friendly products. Their love for animals, the driving force behind their vegan lifestyle, ultimately inspired them to create products made from organic, unrefined vegetable oils, cold-pressed essential oils, and botanicals.
Jeff and Tara want everything they produce to go back into the earth or be reused, so they use biodegradable packaging foam as a cushion and non-reinforced paper tape throughout the eco-friendly shipping process.
Their solid products such as deodorants, soaps and lip balms come in biodegradable kraft paper packaging, while liquid products such as cleansers, toners and sunscreens come in recyclable packaging such as glass or aluminum bottles. The plastic pump can be recycled by their partner TerraCycle.
Holy Lamb Organics has come a long way since its founding when founder Willow Whitton sold bedding out of a converted school bus.
The brand has gained a loyal following and critical acclaim, and part of the appeal can be attributed to husband and wife Jason and Mindy Schafer’s unwavering commitment to zero-waste manufacturing.
“Our production model is carefully designed to make the most of every cut and use excess for other purposes,” Mindy said.
The same goes for the company’s wool suppliers, who use cardboard rolls and kraft paper for eco-friendly packaging, and the waste can be sent back to suppliers for reuse.
When it comes to eco-friendly shipping, the team at Holy Lamb Organics does a great job of packaging their products in small packages – an eco-friendly packaging solution for larger items.
“We make our boxes lightweight without adding extra materials or supplies, and we vacuum pack all mattresses to make them less bulky during shipping,” Jason said.
For all other components of transportation and logistics that they can’t control, the team uses carbon offset programs to help mitigate the impact, Mindy says.
The team hopes to work with fulfillment partners to reduce the distance each shipment travels by storing products in warehouses located closer to the most customers.
Eric and Jana Dales met while working for a humanitarian organization in Dhaka, Bangladesh. As a hub for clothing manufacturing, the Dales have first-hand knowledge of the environmental and social impacts of fast fashion. In response to these companies’ unsustainable raw materials, plastic packaging, and poor working conditions, they created the fashion companies they wanted to see.
The couple founded TAMGA Designs, a sustainable clothing brand with a focus on style, people and caring for the planet.
Their main goal is not to contribute to the deforestation of Indonesia’s ancient jungles. They have found a manufacturing partner that makes fabrics from sustainable eucalyptus and beech trees to create clothing dyed with eco-friendly dyes.
Despite this, their clothing is sourced in Asia, shipped to factories in Canada, and ultimately delivered to consumers in more than 25 countries. Given the long distances their clothing must travel, the Dells aim to become a carbon-neutral company.
“We looked at the carbon emissions per kilogram of clothing per kilometer for different modes of transport,” Eric said. “We have a big spreadsheet, and at the end of each month we calculate those emissions and buy offsets.”
TAMGA Designs also packages each product using eco-friendly packaging materials, including 100% biodegradable cassava mailing bags. This compostable packaging solution replaces traditional plastic or kraft paper mailing bags.
“Small businesses need to understand that this will not impact their profitability,” Eric said. “We firmly believe that this will have a positive impact on our profitability in the long run because customers see it and appreciate it.”
Shopify comes with built-in tools to help you track, prioritize, and fulfill orders from one place, allowing you to ship orders faster and exceed your customers’ expectations.
What all these brands have in common is a commitment to being more environmentally responsible. For some brands, this promise is an opportunity to connect with customers based on core values. For other brands, investing time, effort, and research into finding eco-friendly packaging solutions feels like the right thing to do.
Depending on your industry, location, and resources, the right packaging and shipping solution for your business can vary greatly. Whatever your business path, rest assured that your efforts will pay off as more customers become more vocal about protecting the environment and investing in it.
Sustainable packaging is an alternative to typical wasteful packaging such as plastic. These alternatives include renewable packaging, compostable plastic mailing bags (bioplastics), recycled kraft or shopping bag fillers, biodegradable packaging tape and stickers, recycled corrugated boxes, and other packaging materials that create less waste.
Packaging accounts for a large amount of waste generated worldwide. Taking steps to replace some of this waste with sustainable alternatives will reduce the burden on the planet, including plastic ending up in our oceans and deforestation.