Which packaging materials are the most sustainable?

To see which material is the most environmentally friendly, many different factors have to be looked at. For example, not only recyclability should be considered, but also reusability, biodegradability, raw materials needed and CO2 emissions for transport.

Recyclability

Today many materials are recyclable. The three most talked about are paper/cardboard, plastic and glass. All three are recyclable, but the amount varies between materials. Glass can be recycled infinitely, but this does not apply to cardboard and plastic. After glass, cardboard is much more recyclable than plastic. For example, paper, the raw material for cardboard, can often be recycled up to 20 times. Plastic is the least recyclable. This is because many different dyes and shapes are used in plastic, making it difficult to fuse it into the correct new shape.

Reusability

Reusability also plays a major role in environmental friendly packaging. The products in the packaging often also influence the reusability. Glass bottles can be rinsed and reused up to 40 times. This also applies to the plastic trays used in the horticultural industry. These are rinsed and reused. A material that is unfortunately not yet reused enough is cardboard. Cardboard is often thrown straight into the paper container after a single use. But cardboard is much more reusable. This is reflected in moving boxes. Which are almost never used once.

Biodegradability

A factor for sustainable packaging is also biodegradability. Cardboard is the clear winner here. Cardboard breaks down within a maximum of six months. However, this cannot be said about plastic and glass. Plastic only fully degrades after about 500 years. During this degradation process, the plastic breaks down into many micro plastics. These micro plastics are often eaten by animals, which of course is very bad for nature. In addition, the chemicals of the plastic often remain in the soil where the plastic has been. But the worst naturally degradable packaging material is glass. It takes 1 to 2 million years before it is completely broken down by mother nature.

Raw materials

The raw materials needed to produce a package differ greatly for every package. For example, the product of cardboard requires paper. Paper is made from wood fibers, for which trees have to be cut down. This is obviously not good for the environment. However, at De Jong Verpakking we only use FSC-certified paper. This means that the wood comes from certified forests, with a new tree being placed back for every tree cut. The main raw material for the production of glass is sand. If you heat sand to about 750 degrees, you can make glass. The last material, plastic, is made from petroleum. This is of course finite, which means that eventually you have to switch to something else.

CO2 emissions for transport

Finally, we will look at CO2 emissions from the transport of packaging material. For example, plastic needs less material to make it as strong as cardboard. This makes it slightly lighter and therefore emits relatively less CO2 during transport. Glass usually also needs plastic or cardboard packaging to transport it, which means that its transport is very high in CO2 emissions. Because of this, plastic has the least CO2 emissions for transport because it is lighter. Followed by cardboard and then glass.

Conclusion

So if you look at the final picture, cardboard is the most environmentally friendly option. It is easily recyclable, naturally degradable and it is produced from natural raw materials that can be replanted. Cardboard is therefore sustainable. These are all good reasons to pack your products in cardboard.

We hope to have informed you enough about the environmentally friendly nature of different packaging materials. If you have more questions about this, you can always contact us.