Consumers are increasingly paying attention to the sustainability of the products they purchase, including the packaging in which products get sold. From established global Consumer Product Goods (CPG) firms to new Direct-To-Consumer (DTC) startups, brands are making an extra effort to make their products and operations as environmentally friendly as possible.
Some of those efforts are more sizzle than greenhouse-gas-generating steak; others are straight-up greenwashing.
Despite having many advantages over other materials, such as cost, weight, and durability, many firms are ditching or reducing their use of synthetic plastics due to the material’s significant and long-term environmental damage. Plastics typically get made from petroleum, the extraction of which is itself harmful to the environment. In addition, plastic trash that enters the environment sticks around for hundreds of years, slowly leaching small, microscopic bits as it bobs and decays in our oceans, waterways, and landfills.
