Tips and Best Practices AFTER Choosing Your Sustainable Packaging

Welcome back to the Sustainable Packaging Newsletter! This is Part 5 of our 5 part series on how we can make sustainable packaging the norm. In the last edition, we discussed 3 Power Questions you can ask to help make a decision on which sustainable packaging option you are going to choose.

Were you able to make a decision on which sustainable packaging option you would like to choose? If so, congratulations!?

In this last article in this series, we are going to discuss some tips and best practices you should consider both before making your final decision and also after you have made your final decision. These are lessons I have learned selling sustainable packaging at my family business Contempo Packaging and also from creating content on my podcast, The Sustainable Packaging Show.

As always, I hope you enjoy it and please share with your colleagues if you find it helpful!

List of Sustainable Packaging Tips and Best Practices:

1. Run tests?
2. Consider lead time to replenish your new sustainable packaging?
3. Use real estate on your packaging to draw attention
4. Tell a story of impact, not just the material
5. Provide clear “End of Life” instructions to your consumer
6. Update the sustainability page on your website and post on social
7. Tell media, influencers, and retailers to grow your market share

A few bonus tips as well :)

Let’s begin!

1) Run tests

There are many tests you can consider running on your new sustainable packaging frontrunner to make sure it really is the right choice. The tests you run will vary based on the product.

You may want to test the shelf life of your new packaging, the physical properties of the new packaging, or how the new packaging fills in your automation lines to name a few. If you want to test how consumers will be excited, you can even run a quick focus group on social media, via email/direct message, or even using a tool like Survey Monkey Audience.

Don’t be afraid to take extra steps to double check before you make the move. As they say, measure twice and cut once.

2) Consider lead time to replenish your new sustainable packaging?

Does your new sustainable material have a longer lead time from when you order to when you receive delivery?

This is important to understand when you are planning, so you do not run out of inventory.

Be particularly careful if your sustainable raw material takes longer to replenish or is not as readily available. To give an example, if you move from virgin plastic to ocean bound plastic, you may have additional lead time to bring resin from, say, Southeast Asia to the packaging manufacturing plant, whereas that additional lead time did not exist before with virgin plastic, which is readily available.

You may choose to order a sustainable resin in advance to avoid delays.

3) Use real estate on your packaging to draw attention?

Have you ever heard the saying: “If a tree falls in a forest and no one is around to hear it, does it make a sound?”

This applies to sustainable packaging too!?

Make your move to sustainable packaging known, clear, and easy to read. Today’s consumer is likely rushing through the aisles of a store while texting a friend or quickly tearing open their e-commerce packaging while preparing dinner for their family.?

You need to make it clear, simple, and visible that you have moved to sustainable packaging!

Otherwise, no one may even notice what you have done!

I also think doing this has the added benefit of putting sustainable packaging everywhere.

What would happen if every brand using sustainable packaging put a big icon on the front of their packaging to symbolize they use sustainable packaging, similar to the USDA Organic?

How much more aware of sustainable packaging would consumers become and what kind of “butterfly effect” would follow? Would more brands go sustainable?

4) Tell a story of impact, not just the material.

It is important to explain the positive impact you are making by moving to sustainable packaging, not just the fact that you have chosen a sustainable material.

This topic was somewhat covered in Part 2 of this series, where we discussed what sustainable packaging is. Check out that article if you have not already!?

The basic idea is as follows:

DO NOT put fine print on the back bottom corner of the box “Box made from 50% hemp fiber.”

DO tell the story of the positive impact hemp has on the planet and how your consumer is also having a positive impact on the planet by choosing your product!

With that being said, it’s sometimes very hard to tell the story properly with the limited real estate you have on the packaging.

That is where you may want to consider Video Enabled Sustainable Packaging, a concept I have previously shared where you print a QR code on the packaging that takes you to a video that tells the story of the positive impact you are making. Better than cramming a bunch of fine print that is unlikely to be read. Plus, we know that videos have the potential to get shared.

5) Provide clear “End of Life” instructions to your consumer

When the consumer is done with the packaging, what should they do?

• Recycle?
• Compost?
• Place in the trash?

Brands who give clear instructions on this show that they actually care about making a positive impact and are not only there to check the sustainability box.

It’s much easier to say nothing, but I love the idea of brands leaning in and even directly saying things like “Please compost this packaging. Do not recycle in your blue bin, as recyclers cannot recycle our packaging.”

How2Recycle has done some great work regarding giving clear recycling instructions.

6) Update the sustainability page on your website and post on social

Consumers nowadays want to see what steps you are taking to be more sustainable and the first place a lot of consumers go is your website.?

This is an easy win and data shows this can be a reason that a consumer chooses one brand over another.

"Today, nearly 90% of Gen X consumers said that they would be willing to spend an extra 10% or more for sustainable products, compared to just over 34% two years ago."

Don’t forget social too.

Your Video Enabled Sustainable Packaging can also be on your website or social media.

7) Tell media, influencers, and retailers to grow your market share

Doors can open that would not open before because you moved to sustainable packaging.

Make a list of journalists who like writing about brands who move to sustainable packaging.

Reach out to sustainability influencers and introduce your brand, product, and new sustainable packaging to them.

Tell retailers you’ve been pitching that you are now using sustainable packaging and they may just give you the opportunity you have been hoping to get.

Sustainable packaging often costs more, but this is a classic “business 101” discussion about whether you want to choose the lowest price or something of greater value.?

In this case, the value you get from sustainable packaging can be increasing your market share and the small increase in the cost of your packaging can easily be justified if you use sustainable packaging to grow your market share.

Okay, two bonuses for you:

BONUS #1: Stay up to date on sustainable packaging laws that are passing

Laws are popping up everywhere and often, they are different from state to state or country to country.?

How will you handle a single use plastics ban in Canada, had it gone through, if plastic is allowed in the US and you sell into both countries?

What if California chooses to ban plastics, but the other 49 states allow it?

You want to keep your eye on the trends and where things are headed, so you do not get stuck with excess inventory that you cannot use.

BONUS #2: Prepare yourself for people who disagree

It has been said before: “To avoid criticism, say nothing, do nothing, and be nothing.”

Do not worry too much about the conflicting opinions of others, which could be taken at criticism, so long as you are not greenwashing and you are being thoughtful. Most of the time, someone is focused on a different environmental problem than you are. Perhaps they took the blue pill and you took the red pill!

As I have said before, sustainable packaging is a journey, we are all learning, and we will all make mistakes along the way.?

Be okay with that! It’s part of being human and it’s part of making progress!

With all that being said, Happy New Year!?

I want to make you aware of several resources that may be beneficial to you when you are moving to sustainable packaging:

1. My Family Business, Contempo Packaging, has a wide range of sustainable packaging materials available. Our new website features our preferred sustainable materials, as well as what makes each of them sustainable.
2. My podcast, The Sustainable Packaging Show, is available on Spotify, Apple, and YouTube. Please subscribe!?
3. A new platform, Packaged Sustainably, which allows brands already using sustainable packaging to get found by consumers, retailers, and investors who care! Get listed for free today.
4. Wondering what sustainable packaging options to choose? Connect with me on LinkedIn. I have seen a LOT over the years and will do my best to give you a free and objective analysis. I can help with any CPG product. I also created a free sustainable packaging worksheet that helps you decide between several sustainable options.

Let's work together to make sustainable packaging the norm!

Have a wonderful 2024!