Most advice about sustainable packaging is written for brands with a sustainability team, a procurement budget and a press office.
If you're a small business sending out a few hundred parcels a month, most of it doesn't apply. Mushroom foam and seaweed film are interesting. They're not what you're going to order next week.
What you can do is simpler, and it makes more difference than the trend pieces suggest.
Start with less
The greenest packaging is the packaging you don't use. Before you think about materials, look at what's in the parcel now.
- Is the box bigger than it needs to be? Empty space means more board, more void fill and a bigger, heavier parcel.
- Is there a box inside a box? Often the product's own packaging can travel in a mailer on its own.
- Is the tissue, sticker, card and sleeve all doing a job? Some of it is lovely. Some of it is there because it always has been.
Cutting one layer out of every order beats switching one layer to a "greener" material.
Choose board people can recycle at home
A material that's technically recyclable but never actually recycled isn't a solution. For most UK customers, the easiest thing to deal with is plain cardboard and paper. It goes in the household recycling, nobody has to look anything up, and nobody has to find a specialist bin.
That's why we'd start most small brands on printed corrugated mailer boxes rather than mixed-material packaging. Brown board, printed with your design, sized to your product. If you can avoid plastic windows, foil and heavy plastic laminates on board packaging, do. They make the box harder to recycle.
Be careful with words like "compostable" and "biodegradable". Some of those materials only break down in industrial composting, which most households can't get to. If you use them, say so plainly on the pack rather than leaving customers to guess.
Order the quantity you'll use
Overstock is the hidden waste in packaging. Old boxes with an out-of-date logo, last year's seasonal sleeve, a pallet of the wrong size: all of it ends up thrown away.
Shorter runs help. Our mailer boxes start from a single box, so you can test a design on real orders before committing, and reorder when you need more rather than storing a year's supply. It costs a little more per box. It usually costs less overall.
Make the box do more than one job
If the box is printed with everything the customer needs (who you are, how to get in touch, how to reorder), you may not need the leaflet, the card and the sticker as well. One printed surface instead of four separate pieces.
It also makes the unboxing feel considered. Simple doesn't have to mean plain.
Know what the rules ask of you
The UK's packaging extended producer responsibility rules (pEPR) put reporting duties and fees on businesses that place packaging on the market. They're aimed at larger producers, so many small businesses won't be affected yet. If you're growing quickly or aren't sure where you stand, check the current thresholds on gov.uk rather than relying on a blog post, ours included.
Be honest about what you say
Customers are getting good at spotting green claims with nothing behind them. "Eco-friendly packaging" on a plastic-wrapped box does more harm than saying nothing.
Say what's true and specific: "plain cardboard, recycle with your household waste", "no plastic in this parcel". If you can't back a claim up, leave it out.
We hold ourselves to the same rule. We don't call ourselves a green company. We do fund climate projects through Ecologi with every order, and we're open about what that does and doesn't cover.
Where to start this week
- Open one of your own parcels and count the layers. Take one out.
- Measure your product and check the box fits it.
- Price a short run of printed mailers in plain board, and compare it with what you spend on boxes, tape, stickers and inserts now.
If you'd like a second opinion on the box you're using, send us a photo and the product size. We'll tell you what we'd change, including when the answer is "nothing".
