Sustainably Packaged started as the result of our mission to procure sustainable, eco-friendly, weight-conscious, socially responsible and cost-effective packaging for our own business.
In our research to accomplish these goals we came across products that were a resounding yes to all those things. Those sort of products need to be shared: they have the potential to have a wonderful impact on the footprint of e-commerce.
Many of these products are new and unavailable to smaller-scale businesses due to order minimums and infrastructure needs. This posed a problem not only for us, but for fellow makers and small business owners alike. Sustainably Packaged has the goal of providing that access to top of the line sustainable products that we have tested and know work.
The COVID-19 pandemic has had a dramatic impact on the way businesses, small and large alike, conduct business. In the midst of lockdowns and public health concerns, business has moved online. The increase in postal and parcel volume has overwhelmed carriers. Adaptation has been necessary for businesses to stay afloat and for new ones to emerge.
The unfortunate side to all this is that all this online commerce means more mailers. Especially bubble mailers.
Bubble mailers are the plastic straws of e-commerce.
Bubble mailers are incredibly hard to recycle. There are limited recycling programs for plastic bags and other mallable plastics. They often require consumers collecting them and bringing them to specific drop off points. Otherwise they are relegated to the garbage.
Bubble mailers with external paper are potentially even worse: paper and plastic cannot be recycled together, so unless carefully separated by the end consumer – they too wind up in the landfill.
Our carefully selected products all work to reduce this impact.
