I am in the middle of an interesting project trying to determine the best type of packaging for shipping products.
The interesting dilemma at hand is how does one make the right decision when you are not comparing apples to apples?
So that you can quickly understand the challenge, I am going to simplify the issue. Packaging #1 is a recycled paper envelop, while Packaging #2 is a recycled plastic envelop. Sounds similar? Not so much.
The interesting issue at hand is that while intuitively we want to stay away from plastic, the plastic option is actually more durable and seen as a better product. But ultimately this packaging, like so much packaging, ends up in the hands of individuals in our homes and we have limited ways of disposing of it well.
Most waste haulers across the USA don't want soft plastics; in fact only 5% of municipalities will accept it. This is mostly because of how recycling is sorted in the facilities. Usually there are large conveyer belts that are sorting materials with giant magnets and optical scanners. In this system, soft plastics get caught up in machinery. And the other issue is that because soft plastics are so light, if they get dirty - that dirt easily contaminates the ability for recycling to occur.
BUT, if there was a way to guarantee we could effectively recapture the large quantities of clean soft plastic, the technology exists to recycle it.
So back to our two options for packaging: Packaging #1 is paper and there for can be recycled (and people already know how to recycle it easily), or worst case scenario is in a landfill and will eventually biodegrade. Packaging #2 - could be recycled forever... but we don't currently have the systems to support that.
We are living in an interesting time - where technology and human behavior are needed to work together in new ways to achieve the desired results. And that is part of the equation towards sustainability. All the great technology in the world will not allow us to create better systems, unless we change our behaviors to create those better systems.
So to start: recycle everything you can. And think about which of your systems you can develop -by changing your behavior - to support sustainable change.
The interesting dilemma at hand is how does one make the right decision when you are not comparing apples to apples?
So that you can quickly understand the challenge, I am going to simplify the issue. Packaging #1 is a recycled paper envelop, while Packaging #2 is a recycled plastic envelop. Sounds similar? Not so much.
The interesting issue at hand is that while intuitively we want to stay away from plastic, the plastic option is actually more durable and seen as a better product. But ultimately this packaging, like so much packaging, ends up in the hands of individuals in our homes and we have limited ways of disposing of it well.
Most waste haulers across the USA don't want soft plastics; in fact only 5% of municipalities will accept it. This is mostly because of how recycling is sorted in the facilities. Usually there are large conveyer belts that are sorting materials with giant magnets and optical scanners. In this system, soft plastics get caught up in machinery. And the other issue is that because soft plastics are so light, if they get dirty - that dirt easily contaminates the ability for recycling to occur.
BUT, if there was a way to guarantee we could effectively recapture the large quantities of clean soft plastic, the technology exists to recycle it.
So back to our two options for packaging: Packaging #1 is paper and there for can be recycled (and people already know how to recycle it easily), or worst case scenario is in a landfill and will eventually biodegrade. Packaging #2 - could be recycled forever... but we don't currently have the systems to support that.
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| Separate bag for sorting soft plastics, next to our kitchen laundry bin |
So to start: recycle everything you can. And think about which of your systems you can develop -by changing your behavior - to support sustainable change.
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