3. Direct reduction

Direct reduction means either completely eliminating or minimizing the amount of plastic in your packaging and products.

This could mean replacing plastic with a different material. Or removing the need for the material completely – sometimes there’s a non-essential function of the component that can be designed out or reduced. Doing this, plastic can sometimes be eliminated completely, or the percentage in packaging reduced.

A classic example of direct reduction is the elimination of the plastic window in a pasta box. Who really needs to know what pasta looks like through that window in the box? We all have a pretty good idea of what penne might look like, and nine times out of ten, the box already has a picture of the pasta on it anyway! It can be eliminated altogether.

It may seem like a little component to do away with, but a little bit of plastic multiplied, quickly adds up to a lot!

There are many new and innovative types of packaging entering the market (compostable packaging made of algae, anyone?!). Some innovations could be a feasible alternative for your products.

Of course, there are always tradeoffs in the world of packaging (including environmental, practical, and financial), but we’ll save that for another time. Ultimately, choosing the right packaging material for your company should include an environmental impact consideration, alongside cost, quality for your product, etc.

Where plastic cannot be eliminated completely, minimization of plastic use might be possible. A word you will hear a lot when referring to minimizing is “lightweighting”. A well-known example of lightweighting has been done to minimize the amount of plastic in a soda bottle. The beverage industry has found ways to redesign a bottle to hold the same volume of liquid, but it has less plastic in it by weight. This means that less resources are used to make the bottles, and a smaller percentage of plastic goes to landfill, incinerators, or leaking into the environment.

Lightweighting isn’t a perfect solution, but it is a good place to start – if your product doesn’t necessarily need to be in such a heavy plastic container.Maybe talk with your packaging suppliers and see what options they have?

Whether you completely eliminate plastic, or minimize the amount of plastic in your product’s packaging; both options will incrementally help you to reach your reduction targets. Happy reducing!