Sustainable packaging ideas at a glance:
Sustainable packaging design isn’t just about selecting environmentally friendly substrates.
It includes reducing carbon emissions from your manufacturing processes and localizing supply chains. Your paper-based packaging is sourced from responsibly managed forests. Your company reduces single-use plastics and encourages consumers to reuse or recycle materials after use.
If you’re looking to reposition your brand along a more eco-conscious path, several major companies and pioneering newcomers offer you a road map for broader green initiatives to adopt—plus some sustainable packaging ideas.
In 2023, Yum!, one of the world’s largest quick-service restaurant companies, which includes Taco Bell, KFC, Pizza Hut, and Habit Burger Grill, made a major announcement about its shift toward more sustainable packaging.
This included a movement away from plastics. Yum! also adopted right-size packaging practices (eliminating unnecessary materials), baked more sustainable substrates into packaging design, and beefed up its recycling systems with more reusable products.
"It’s our responsibility. . . to help solve for the amount of waste that ends up in landfills,” said Jon Hixson, Yum! chief sustainability officer and vice president of global government affairs. “And for years, we’ve been diligently working on this challenge, and it’s now been unified across the 150-plus countries and territories in which we operate, so that’s what’s really exciting.”
Some brands are partnering with recycling companies to encourage higher recyclability rates among their consumers.
For instance, several dog food brands, including Eukanuba, Earthborn Holistic, Wellness, Kharma Pet Foods, and Portland Pet Food Company, have established programs with TerraCycle, a recycling company that specializes in managing materials that are difficult to recycle.
These dog food brands include messaging on their packaging with the TerraCycle logo, instructing consumers on how to properly recycle their dog food packaging.
Circular packaging contrasts with linear economic models that produce large amounts of waste and carbon emissions. Alternatively, circular packaging features ways to reduce manufacturing waste, repurpose materials, and recycle packaging products to minimize ecological impact. This creates a closed loop.
Ketchup producer Kraft Heinz has recently modified its packaging materials to more fully embrace circular packaging, and they plan to create 100% recyclable, compostable, or reusable packaging by 2025.
“We are investing in innovative technologies and partnerships that are critical to helping us redesign packaging, eliminate unnecessary plastic, increase our use of recycled content, and influence the adoption of reuse models,” said Rashida La Lande, senior vice president, global general counsel, and corporate secretary at Kraft Heinz. “This is one more way we’re renovating our product portfolio to not only offer more sustainable options but to deliver on our consumer expectations.”
Entertainment and technology company Sony leaned further into sustainable packaging with the release of its PlayStation 5 gaming console.
In tandem with the launch of its most up-to-date gaming system, Sony has integrated new resource-efficient packaging guidelines and developed global 93-99% plastic-free packaging designs, per its website.
This includes replacing plastic cable ties with paper ones, eliminating excessive plastic protection bags, using pulp cushion trays instead of polystyrene or plastic trays, and avoiding oxo-degradable plastics.
Its electronic products remain fully secure and protected during transportation, and less non-biodegradable waste is produced.
As with other brands mentioned, regional supermarket chain Food Lion has increased its recycling rate to more than 79% and aims for its packaging to be 100% recyclable, reusable, and or compostable by 2025, according to its 2021 sustainability report.
This goes hand in hand with similar sustainability initiatives including increased emphasis on locally sourced food, a transition toward selling only cage-free eggs, and greater transparency surrounding where and how other food products are grown.
Again, consumers aren’t just concerned about packaging materials. They want to buy products from companies that take the broader concept of sustainability and ethical business practices to heart.
Brands big and small are adopting sustainable packaging ideas. Let’s look at some in finer-grained detail.
This shelf-ready packaging from personal care brand Badger Balm blends eco-consciousness with a minimalist design. The 20p C1S mix stock is responsibly sourced as verified by the nonprofit Forest Stewardship Council (FSC), and carefully embellished with matte aqueous coating and silver and gold embossing.
Fragrance company Scented Designs crafts unique smells for the home or office. To highlight its clean, premium, and green qualities, the brand uses PL116A stock coated with a matte film laminate finish.
Evolved Chocolate is a leader in sustainable packaging. It relies on 16pt C1S FSC stock folding cartons adorned with spot UV gloss and matte reticulating varnish, showcasing the company’s commitment to sustainability—proving you don’t have to sacrifice decorative effects when being environmentally friendly.
Skincare brand LilyAna is defined by its “clean beauty” ethos. And you encounter that same spirit in its packaging—its lighthearted visuals pairing with a sustainable substrate. The SBS C1S .020 FSC mix-certified stock is finished with a soft touch and matte UV varnish coating, showing that bright colors and green materials combine well.
Beauty brand Lauren Conrad keeps things simple and stunning while leaning into sustainable packaging design. Sustainable substrates won’t preclude you from integrating printed floral windows or matte coated and embossing on your next folding carton project.
If you haven’t already noticed, FSC-certified substrates are a versatile option for brands looking to become more environmentally conscious. Costa Brazil employs paperboard from responsibly sourced timber and a debossed logo on this elegant folding carton design.
Kraft paperboard has become a popular substrate for sustainable packaging design, but it’s also not uncommon for some companies to use kraft-like materials that visually appear more environmentally friendly than they are. Aware of this so-called “greenwashing,” skincare brand Claudiana Beautanica collaborates with Oliver to ensure genuinely green materials are part of its product packaging.
Paper packaging is a fantastic way for brands to shift away from plastics, and Meliora Cleaning Products guarantees that every package it ships is 100% plastic-free.
It’s worth noting that while single-use plastics are products of a bygone era, that doesn’t mean there is no place for plastic packaging.
It can sometimes make environmental sense to opt for plastic containers rather than paperboard folding cartons. A printing and packaging partner well versed in sustainability will help you figure out if paperboard suits your brand’s sustainability objectives and needs.
As your brand transitions to greener packaging materials, you may want to consider sustainable alternatives, including recyclable metalized paperboard and post-consumer paperboard. These can further reduce the ecological impacts of deforestation and plastic packaging that can’t be efficiently recycled.
You may not immediately be able to adopt an aggressive sustainability plan, such as going totally plastic-free in the next couple of years, but you can take smaller and not insignificant steps toward becoming a better steward of the environment today.