The world is moving toward a more eco-friendly future. We’re biking more, we’re limiting our single-use items like water bottles and bags, and packaging has become more minimal and constructed with more eco-friendly materials.
It’s something we noticed at the 2020 PPAI Expo—a major shift toward sustainable material like paper and other recycled/recyclable materials, and the trend is continuing in both consumer-facing markets and the promotional products industry.
Recently, Mattel announced that its packaging for the card game Uno would, from this point forward, be made with paper, rather than plastic wrap, in order to limit environmental waste.
The “Uno Nothin’ But Paper” set is completely recyclable, and is the first one not to include cellophane.
Mattel has unveiled its first-ever 100% recyclable UNO game. https://t.co/TZO9t1pnLM
— WITN Headlines (@WITN) October 20, 2020
The trend is continuing to self-care products, like across the pond where The Body Shop beauty brand announced that it would source plastic waste to use in future packaging.
Plastic… It's not fantastic. That's why in 2019 we launched our #CommunityFairTrade recycled plastic project. Thank you for shopping with us and supporting us in building a fairer and more beautiful world. #Recycle #RecycledPlastic #SustainableBeauty
— The Body Shop SA (@TheBodyShopSA) October 18, 2020
According to The Body Shop’s website, the brand is encouraging customers to return empty packaging products like tubs and tubes to be recycled for future use, removing the need for new materials in the supply chain.
Being environmentally conscious creates a positive perception for customers who want to buy from or work with ethical businesses. On the promotional products side of things, if you provide eco-friendly products for things like packaging or storage, end-users will then have a positive perception of your customers. And, because of that, they’ll likely keep doing businesses with them. Which means they’ll continue doing business with you.
For folks in places like Canada, which has a major single-use plastics ban starting next year, or in the U.K., which has severely limited single-use plastics, this will eventually become the new normal and just the way of doing business.
