Retailers face a growing list of competing priorities when making decisions on their packaging, and sustainability continues to climb up the ranks. Regulatory developments are nudging businesses away from plastic packaging and toward paper, but this ‘plastic is bad, paper is good’ narrative does a disservice to our complex landscape of environmental issues.
Legislation that supports curbside recyclability, along with single-use plastic bag bans, focuses almost exclusively on a material’s end-of-life. This perpetuates a simplistic view of ecological challenges. California’s recent law, altogether banishing the bags and closing a loophole in earlier legislation (The New York Times) is one example, but plastic bans have also come into effect in Colorado, Oregon, and Maine, to name just a few states (National Wildlife Federation); this trend is gathering momentum.
Our excessive and careless reliance on single-use plastic is terrible for our environment. I firmly believe we should actively seek ways to curb plastic consumption and ensure all packaging is successfully recycled back into packaging. However, many bans and end-of-life-focused policies fail to consider the big picture. They often don’t account for or introduce measures to mitigate the pressure all-out plastic bans place on other materials, and paper in particular.
When Portland and Philadelphia banned single-use plastic bags, they faced a significant rise in the use of paper bags instead [OPB]. Policymakers must begin to consider these consequences. I’d like to see packaging bans and policies encouraging curbside recyclability and introducing fees for the use of virgin paper. These steps will help guide brands toward choosing packaging alternatives that don’t put pressure on our primary forests.
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When plastic bag bans occur, brands shift to paper packaging. It’s a natural consequence. So if lawmakers don’t proactively manage this inevitability, their new legislation will likely increase the consumption of irresponsibly sourced paper and contribute to ever-soaring deforestation rates.
Not all paper is equal. There is a big difference between the environmental impact of recycled paper, paper produced from agricultural waste, FSC-certified paper sourced from sustainably managed tree plantations and uncertified virgin paper, which could come at the cost of our primary forests. We must differentiate between these options.
The pulp and paper sector uses 33%-40% of all industrial wood traded globally (WWF) – it’s a mammoth industry that leaves a significant environmental footprint. And the global demand for paper and paperboard is growing. The market is on track to grow by 4.28% between now and 2032, making the market worth a huge $452.74 billion (Towards Packaging).
So it’s clear that there is a growing demand for paper-based products, and I worry that without appropriate measures in place, such as fees on the use of virgin paper, plastic bans will only ramp these figures up further.
Policymakers should incorporate fees for the use of virgin paper – especially uncertified paper from unvetted sources – alongside plastic bag bans. By doing so, they can actively mitigate the risks associated with the uptick in consumption of paper-based packaging and incentivize the use of recycled content and innovative non-tree alternatives.
I recognize recycled paper can only take us so far – virgin paper is necessary, as the material can only be recycled so many times. That being said, we should couple our focus on recycled content with efforts to diversify the fiber basket by incentivizing brands to explore ecologically promising, next-generation paper alternatives.
Brands that actively contribute to developing alternative paper packaging solutions will establish themselves as the pioneers of their sector. And there are so many emerging options available to them.
Personally, I’m excited by the advancements in producing packaging out of agricultural waste, fallen leaves or restorative on-purpose crops such as seaweed and hemp. I’m also excited about the exploration of successful reuse and refill models that can keep packaging products out of landfills.
We recently partnered with Sway, launching the first-ever line of polybags featuring seaweed as its hero ingredient.
Whatever a business needs from its packaging, there’s likely a cutting-edge sustainable solution out there already taking form.
Currently, plastic bans and some Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) laws fail to encourage retailers to take a holistic approach to their packaging choices; many policies take a narrow view of the issue.
But it’s crucial that government policy encourages retailers to consider all competing environmental factors when making packaging decisions. I see how important this is through my work at EcoEnclose. I’ll be the first to admit that there’s a lot of information to navigate, but when companies allow themselves the time and space to get to grips with the entire lifecycle of a product – not just its end-of-life – they feel empowered to choose the sustainable packaging solutions that also align with their other competing priorities.
Sustainable business decisions don’t occur in a vacuum, and neither do environmental challenges that matter. Retailers must take a rounded approach.
Businesses are keen to make progress – I’ve seen it time and time again — but tunnel-visioned policies, however well-intentioned, will only hold them back. With fees for the use of virgin paper, we’d ensure that plastic-reducing regulations don’t send its consumption sky-high.
Let’s encourage retailers to see the big picture and dig deeper into the benefits and drawbacks of packaging materials. Retailers can make the right decision for them when they look under the surface; our laws must do the same.
Saloni Doshi is CEO and Chief Sustainability Officer at EcoEnclose, a leading provider of sustainable packaging for over 50,000 ecommerce brands. Doshi helps brands implement more sustainable packaging in a way that aligns with their wider business objectives. Since acquiring the company, she has spearheaded the research, development and launch of innovative packaging solutions – including options made with industry-leading levels of post-consumer waste and solutions that incorporate next-generation inputs such as agricultural waste, hemp and seaweed.
