The Collective Impact of Our EcoAlly Community in 2021 (So Far!)

Posted on Nov 16th 2021

Every day, I reflect on how lucky we are to work with such a passionate, committed group of eco-minded brands. 2021 has brought new levels of complexity for all businesses - from continued management of COVID threats to global freight delays to supply chain crises to hiring shortages. Despite these immense challenges, our EcoAlly community has continued to invest in sustainability and eco-friendly packaging.

By choosing recycled packaging for your shipments this year, so far you have collectively saved 21.7 million gallons of water, 13,700 tons of GHG emissions and 270 acres worth of trees. 

With six more weeks left in 2021, we hope we can help you continue keeping the planet front of mind as you prep for the holiday season.

Calculate Your Saving Infograph By Ecoenclose

How We Calculate These Eco Packaging Savings

We analyzed all packaging we’ve produced and shipped in 2021 to date (through November 15th), to assess the total weight of each type of material. 

For this calculation, we focused on: recycled paper mailers, recycled poly mailers, recycled poly bags, recycled bubble mailers and recycled shipping boxes. For this particular assessment, we did not consider packaging paper, labels or stickers, tissue paper, office paper, EcoBand and other recycled packaging we offer as these represent a very low percentage (by weight) of the packaging we offer. 

In 2021 so far, our EcoAlly community has used the following (by weight, in pounds) for their packaging needs.

100% Recycled Paper Mailers 2,548,099
100% Recycled Corrugate 1,664,000
100% Recycled Poly Mailers and Poly Bags 555,102
Recycled Bubble Mailers 107,742

Once we calculated the packaging weight by material type, we used our internal calculators to assess the resource savings from comparing 100% virgin options with recycled alternatives.

We recognize that resource impacts and estimates like these rely heavily on assumptions, and that these assumptions are often debated. EcoEnclose’s calculators utilize the latest impact data from the LCA software GaBi Envision by Sphera and Environmental Paper Network's Paper Calculator 4.1. For more information, visit www.papercalculator.org. We have prioritized these sources based on their willingness to share their assumptions, sources, and system boundaries.

Calculate Your Own Savings

The calculations above are based on the sustainable packaging decisions made by our collective community of EcoAllies. 

Curious about the impact of your company’s individual recycled packaging decisions?

We’ve created a tool that (we hope!) is easy to use and can help you translate your weekly shipment volume into your own resource savings. 

Check out our Eco Savings Calculator here. Plug in your weekly volume of shipments, the type and size of mailer or box you use, and the calculator will output your resource savings.