The future of sustainable packaging is only getting more and more advanced as time goes by. The average amount of packaging that goes in the trash is sixty-five percent. That is most of what an everyday homeowner is putting into their trash cans and giving to the recycling companies and dump trucks. While that stuff may be out of the homeowner’s hands, now it is in the hands of the trash and recycling companies. To get rid of the waste it also costs money. On average it costs thirty dollars per ton to recycle and fifty dollars per ton to send the trash to the landfill. After it arrives at its destination it also costs sixty-five to seventy-five dollars per ton to incinerate it According to the University of Southern Indiana. Although this may not seem like it costs a lot of money, America usually produces around two hundred and fifty-four million tons of trash and only thirty-four point three percent of it can be recycled according to Title Max. Although saving money should be a priority, our main priority should be reducing the amount of trash we produce with sustainable packaging. With the help of making more companies use sustainable packaging, we could drastically cut down the amount of trash Americans produce on a day to day basis. With saving the earth in mind, some companies have already been Reducing the amount of trash they put into the world. With Reducing, Reusing, and Recycling packaging we can help keep the earth clean.
Many companies today are starting to take a more sustainable and environment-friendly approach to the packaging they are putting their products in. Many companies have started making reusable packaging, biodegradable packaging, multi-use packaging, and even packaging that you can plant a plant with. Reducing packaging can help decrease trash production significantly. One of the companies I have been seeing a lot of recently makes shampoo bottles made of soap and has liquid shampoo inside. Another big company everyone has heard of called LUSH has many products that contain little to no packaging. They produce soap bars and hair bars that require little to no packaging, they also use biodegradable paper bags to put all of their products in. With the products that come in packages, they do have recycling programs that if you return them you can get a soap item in return. I believe that if more companies had rewards for recycling, the trash load would reduce drastically and the Earth would be a cleaner place. Even though companies may see recycling as a burden on finances, I believe companies should start seeing it as a burden on the future for our planet. Reducing waste can help keep our home planet healthy and clean for decades to come.
Recycling and reducing packaging are great ways to eliminate trash, but another big thing today with environmentally friendly companies is reusable packaging. Reusable packaging is anything from reusable bags, glass containers, and packages that have many purposes that they can fulfill. With the help of many grocery stores starting to tax for plastic bags and promoting reusable bags, it helps to get people to stop producing waste. One brand that I buy a lot of clothing from, LuluLemon, uses reusable bags for every purchase someone makes. With giving these bags out, it helps customers conserve their resources and use bags they have received from their earlier purchases. I have 4 reusable totes and I always use them to carry stuff in instead of using plastic bags to carry things. Making small actions such as using reusable totes can cut down on waste drastically as well. As time goes on with as many resources and ideas that companies are using to reduce trash waste, I believe that we can find a sustainable way to package goods and to decrease the amount of trash produced as companies use the methods of reducing, reusing, and recycling.
Sources:
Solid Waste Landfill Facts
Trash One Person Produces in a Year
Essay by: Alexandria Fuller