Sustainability has become a major focus for businesses around the world, and the packaging industry is no exception. As consumers become more environmentally conscious, demand for eco-friendly packaging is on the rise.
However, even the most sustainable packaging solutions can generate waste that needs to be managed properly. This is where waste disposal companies can play a vital role in assisting eco friendly packaging companies in their efforts to reduce waste and promote sustainability.
By partnering with a waste disposal company that prioritizes your efforts to provide your clients with eco-friendly packaging, you can continue to help reduce waste, promote sustainability, and help protect your brand and your clients’ brands.
Diverting Waste From Landfills
While many eco-friendly packaging companies focus on creating packaging that is sustainable and biodegradable, it’s
also important to consider the end of life of the packaging.
By partnering with an experienced waste disposal company, eco-friendly packaging companies can work with them to develop a plan that reduces the amount of packaging waste that ultimately ends up in landfills. Landfills are one of the primary sources of greenhouse gas emissions, which is why many sustainably-focused companies rely on other types of disposal solutions like recycling or composting.
Because waste collection is the first step in the waste management process, a disposal company that prioritizes environmentally-friendly solutions can help create a sustainable plan from the beginning. For example, by offering regular recycling services for materials like paper, cardboard and plastics, waste disposal companies can help divert your waste from landfills and turn them into new products by transporting that waste to the appropriate recycling facility.
Improving Sustainability Credentials
Packaging companies can further demonstrate their commitment to sustainability to their customers by collaborating with waste disposal companies that have expertise in waste management and sustainability. This collaboration can help enhance your brand reputation, while giving you a competitive advantage in the market by differentiating you from your competitors who may not be taking the same level of environmental responsibility.
An experienced waste disposal company will also help you implement a comprehensive waste management strategy that builds your sustainability credentials overall. This strategy can include goals for:
- Waste reduction
- Recycling
- Measuring progress
- Reporting on sustainability performance
By having a well-defined strategy in place, eco-friendly packaging companies can more effectively communicate their efforts to stakeholders, including their clients and their clients’ customers.
Staying On Top Of Current Trends
Collaborating with a top waste disposal company in your industry can help your packaging company business stay on
top of emerging trends and best practices in waste management and sustainability.
Waste disposal companies are often at the forefront of innovation in the waste management industry. They can provide you with valuable insight and guidance to help you improve your sustainability efforts.
For example, one of the latest trends in recent years is using digital technology to improve waste tracking and management. Digital platforms can help monitor waste streams in real-time, optimize waste collection routes and provide customers with detailed reports on their waste management performance.
New recycling technologies and sustainable alternatives are being developed all the time as well to reduce the overuse of raw materials and increase the use of renewable resources. Innovations like reusable packaging, upcycling and chemical recycling make it more possible to recycle different types of packaging materials that were previously considered difficult before.
Protecting A Brand’s Identity
As a packaging company, brands rely on you to package their products so that they arrive safely onto the market and represent their goods in a positive way. By focusing on environmentally-friendly packaging, you’re already taking that first step in promoting their overall commitment to sustainable solutions.
However, your responsibility extends to protecting their overall image as well by ensuring any branded packaging doesn’t fall into the wrong hands. As businesses evolve, their branding may as well and as a packaging company, these changes may leave you holding on to outdated products or sustainable product packaging that must be disposed of.
Tossing packaging into the waste bin can invite unscrupulous characters getting ahold of that packaging and selling counterfeit products in what seems to be legitimate packaging on the gray market.
The gray market is a marketplace for sales not authorized by the manufacturer of a product. When buyers purchase products through the gray market, they are buying what appears to be branded products … either by what appears on the product itself or its outer plastic or paper-based packaging.
Consumers also often think they’re getting a good deal, yet they aren’t. In reality, buyers may be purchasing knock-offs, recalled items or non-functional returns. They are left disappointed with what they have purchased, or worse, endangered if the products have been recalled due to safety concerns.
It’s not unusual for companies to brand all aspects of their packaging, including on:
- Paper packaging
- Plastic packaging
- Corrugated boxes
- Custom packaging solutions
- Mailer boxes
- Tissue paper
- Larger shipping boxes made with paperboard packaging that hold multiple products
Certified product destruction, or certified product disposal, should be a standard part of any operation for a packaging company to ensure these items are properly disposed of and do not end up in the wrong hands.
A certified product disposal company or a waste disposal company that offers certified product disposal will:
- Develop a specific plan for the items you with to dispose of or destroy
- Provide necessary information like photographic and video evidence of destruction
- Ensure 24/7 surveillance at any storage yard facilities where your product is awaiting destruction
- Complete all appropriate paperwork and permits, especially if products are deemed hazardous
- Provide you with a Certificate of Destruction form for your records and your client’s records
Depending on the type of packaging and products you need disposed of, a certified product disposal company will transfer the items to a facility that will use one or more of these technologies:
- Recycle/reuse
- Non-hazardous incineration
- Aerosol recycling
- Ingredient capture for reuse in other processes
- Off-site wastewater treatment
It’s important to note that any certified product disposal company you work with should always maintain the tracking and security of the products throughout the entire disposal process.
Collaborating For A Healthy Environment
Waste disposal companies can play a vital role in assisting eco-friendly packaging companies in their efforts to reduce their carbon footprint, promote sustainability and develop a stronger waste management plan.
As a eco-friendly packaging company, you’ll benefit from developing strategies that reduce packaging waste, improving sustainability credentials, staying up-to-date on the latest innovations in waste management and protecting your customers’ brand identity through safe disposal.
Ultimately, this collaboration can lead to a more sustainable future … for both the environment and your packaging company.
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