Sustainable Shipping
In college, I majored in Social Science with a focus in Environmental Health. Even though I may not be pursuing that field in my career, it is still important to me to practice sustainability in my daily life, craft and business.
One contributor to the declining health of earth is plastic waste pollution. From the standpoint of the small business that I am running, I see this waste quickly building up in shipping supplies. In order to minimize and even cut out all plastic from my packaging, I have decided to use products from EcoEnclose who is an eco-friendly packaging and shipping supplies company. They even do custom branding and prints!
The products that I currently use from EcoEnclose are:
Now, you may be thinking that all of these paper products aren't strong enough to guarantee the safe traveling of pottery, but I assure you it will. I'll even show you how I wrap and package your pots for delivery.
First, I use the biodegradable greenwrap to wrap the item in; it acts like a barrier in substitution for bubble wrap. I also secure the wrapping with hemp twine and add in we care cards to inform the customer that all packaging supplies can be reused, repurposed, and recycled.
Next, I use the 100% recycled kraft paper and fold it accordion style to create stiff barricades for the pottery. I line the bottom of the box with this and add some scrunched up balls of paper to make a nest for the pot.
Then after I place the pot in the cushion and make sure it is secure, I do the same and add more paper on top. The key is to fill the box and make it hard for the walls to collapse if it gets squished.
Finally, I seal the package with water-activated tape; I wipe water across the piece of tape with a sponge to activate the adhesive. Now, EcoEnclose sells two different types of these tape; reinforced and a non-reinforced. Due to selling pottery and its fragility nature, it is important to me that the package gets delivered without breaking, so therefore I use the reinforced tape for extra strength. This tape is reinforced with fiberglass particles and while it does not make it biodegradable, the tape can still be recycled. P.S. I recommend getting a tape dispenser because it is very sticky and will get all over your hands if you are not careful.
During my research to see if eco-friendly wasn't just a marketing strategy for them, I came across the Sustainable Packaging Coalition, who EcoEnclose is a part of. This group is a membership-based collaborative that brings together businesses, educational institutions, and government agencies to collectively strengthen and advance the business case for more sustainable packaging. They have a list of requirements for members to be eligible and which they are accountable of holding up in their membership. Some big companies included in this collaboration are Amazon, Coca-Cola, Microsoft, Starbucks, USPS, and Walmart. I don't know what each of their practices are or the role they are playing in sustainable packaging, however it seems legit to me, and plus there is a full profile for each group if you are a member of the coalition. Feel free to check it out and read more into their projects and collaboratives.
Well, there you have it! I hope you found this informing or helpful and decide to take steps into making your own shipping practices more sustainable. You can check out EcoEnclose or the Sustainable Packaging Coalition to learn more or find other suppliers that suit your needs. (By the way, this is not sponsored, I just like them and finding sustainable packaging is important to me.)
Yours truly,
李甜 ✿◕ ‿ ◕✿