An essential aspect of every industry, packaging protects the product in transit and while in storage until it reaches the customer. It can also be a marketing strategy and branding about profit maximization, but to a few, it is more about sustainability and the environment. Packaging accounts for a whopping 10% of the overall cost of all retail products bought and sold globally, adding up to billions of dollars.
Carbon Packaging and Types of Packaging Materials
Carbon Packaging refers to packaging systems and materials that incur carbon footprints. Most typical packaging methods use materials that generate high carbon footprints, hence the few who consider sustainability and the environment have come up with new terms as carbon neutrality, carbon positive packaging, carbon-negative packaging, eco-friendly packaging.Traditional plastic is everywhere. It is made of petroleum, and it typically stays on our planet forever. The pollution of our oceans with single-use plastics is one of the most concerning environmental issues facing our planet today. It is undeniable that decades of plastic use have added up to frightful consequences for our planet. At Fierce Hazel, we use no plastics in the packaging of our products.
Impacts of Packaging Materials
Packaging systems must be designed with care, using the least amount of materials and energy, maximizing recycled content, and increasing the potential for reuse.
The impacts of packaging materials are seen in the carbon footprint and negatively affect human health as well as the environment. Every year millions of tons of waste get into landfills without any form of processing, causing an increase in environmental degradation, global warming, and climate impacts.
These unprocessed materials take as much as 1000 years to decompose.
Zero Carbon packaging is a sustainable method that takes into understanding the impacts of packaging materials, packaging systems, and its environmental effect. There are various ways individuals, groups, and firms can reduce these impacts from carbon footprints and unprocessed materials in landfills.
Benefits of Zero Carbon (Sustainable) Packaging include:
- Resources as energy, water, electricity, solid waste, and emission can be reduced by using sustainable packaging process.
- Reducing packaging materials helps cut down carbon footprints by switching to lighter weight materials and reducing the amount of energy required to produce finished goods as well as the energy required to ship them to retailers. An example is a material used in Fierce Hazel’s Evolution Convertible backpack. Olefin is lightweight, durable, and highly stain-resistant. It’s a synthetic fabric but eco-friendly.
- Efficient space for storage can be achieved with sustainable packaging. More space for transport allows for shipping more products while reducing freight costs.
- No Allergies and Toxins using sustainable packaging. Most biodegradable packaging is allergy-free and non-toxic.
- Using sustainable packaging can see an increase in both profits and sales. More and more consumers understand the effects of their purchases on the environment. Millennials are now more willing to pay higher for products and brands that champion reduction in carbon footprints.
At Fierce Hazel, we are working to make every product as sustainable as possible. The Echelon All-Conditions Pouch and the Tour de Fierce Wallet are made entirely from deadstock—specifically, unused fabric left over at the factory by bigger clients that overestimated the amount required for production.
The outside material of the Evolution Convertible Backpack is made from remnants that otherwise would be discarded. We use scraps discarded in the construction of another product that, in the past, were too small to use and sent to the landfill. We rescue those pieces and repurpose them for the exterior, main fabric. The material, Olefin, is lightweight, strong, and highly stain-resistant. It’s a synthetic fabric but is considered eco-friendly.
Our products are packaged for shipping without individual plastic bags, and all of our internal shipping products are either compostable, recyclable, and/or made from post-consumer waste.
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