Posted By on Nov 26th 2025
Understanding Sustainable Packaging: What It Is and Why It Matters
by Saloni Doshi • published August 25, 2025 • 6 min read
Packaging speaks for your brand long before your product does. Ironically, just as quickly as it captures attention, it often ends up discarded. This rapid disposal makes packaging one of the most significant contributors to global plastic waste, and therefore, to the planet’s pollution crisis.
In light of packaging’s significant life-cycle footprint, many brands are shifting to packaging that reflects their values. Every shipment is a crucial opportunity to reduce waste, choose lower-impact materials, and deliver a customer experience that supports that commitment.
But the path isn’t always straightforward. Labels can be inconsistent, trade-offs are real, and “eco-friendly” doesn’t always hold up. Starting with the fundamentals—what sustainable packaging means, why it matters, and how to make smarter choices—helps transform intention into action.
Key Takeaways
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Sustainable packaging can lower costs, reduce damage, speed up fulfillment, and strengthen brand positioning.
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EPR-ready, recyclable designs keep your brand ahead of new regulations and rising packaging fees.
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Reliable data on recycled content, recyclability, and safer materials builds retailer trust and streamlines reporting.
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Consumers increasingly favor products with credible sustainable packaging, rewarding brands with higher conversion and loyalty.
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Partnering with EcoEnclose helps you build a scalable packaging system that supports both sustainability goals and daily operations.
Table of Contents
What Is Sustainable Packaging?
Truly sustainable packaging is built on circularity—keeping materials in use as long as possible to reduce virgin inputs, divert waste from landfills, and minimize environmental impacts. Its future lies in using raw feedstocks that regenerate resources rather than deplete them.
Unlike conventional options, which often value cost, convenience, and aesthetics over environmental care, environmentally sustainable packaging solutions focus on maximizing recycled content and designing for recyclability wherever possible.
This approach also prioritizes adopting novel materials that can be regenerative at scale. Such sustainable materials for packaging rarely achieve the scale needed for recyclability, especially in their early stages, making compostability a practical design choice. Thus, while recycling is the primary goal for clean eCommerce packaging, compostability offers a complementary end-of-life solution in specific scenarios.
To be viable, though, compostable materials must meet rigorous, certified biodegradation standards and the performance requirements of existing composting infrastructure. This helps keep contamination out of compost streams.
Whether through being reused, turned into new packaging, or responsibly processed at the end of life, the goal remains the same: to keep materials in circulation longer.
Making the switch to sustainable packaging practices is a key step toward that goal. Partnering with experts like EcoEnclose—a leading sustainable packaging company—can make the transition easier and more effective.
Need help making your packaging choices? Read A Guide to Choosing Eco-Friendly Packaging for Your Business to learn the key factors to consider.
Source: EcoEnclose
Why Is Sustainable Packaging Important?
Packaging choices ripple far beyond the box that arrives at your customer's door. Every material decision affects resource extraction, chemical use throughout manufacturing and disposal, and the volume of waste that ends up in landfills, waterways, and oceans. Here’s a breakdown of just how critical packaging choices are:
Climate & Carbon Savings
Plastics release around 1.8 billion tonnes of greenhouse gases each year. That’s about 3.3% of global emissions across extraction, production, transport, and disposal. With packaging generating roughly 40% of global plastic waste, eco-conscious options offer one of the most direct ways to curb this environmental impact.
Sustainable packaging tackles this upstream climate load by using less material. It also leans on post-consumer recycled content, which consistently has a lower footprint than virgin resin or fiber.
Right-sizing and lighter formats also reduce transport emissions, while designing for real recycling keeps materials circulating. This avoids another round of high-carbon virgin production and delivers measurable, compounding carbon savings per shipment.
Pollution & Biodiversity
Beyond carbon, sustainable formats reduce physical and chemical pressure on ecosystems. Recovery-ready designs leak less to rivers and coasts, easing habitat stress—an acute issue in communities with scarce waste infrastructure.
The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) estimates that millions of tonnes of plastic leak into aquatic environments annually—and this leakage continues to grow. Cutting leakage today through the adoption of more eco-friendly packaging prevents decades of accumulation.
Public Health
Chemicals used in plastic—including inks, coatings, adhesives, and additives—can migrate into food or be released during production, recycling, and disposal. UNEP has identified 13,000+ plastic-associated substances, with ~3,200 flagged as of potential concern. That makes exposure a real issue for consumers, workers in plants and material recovery facilities (MRFs), and fence-line communities.
So why is sustainable food packaging important? It specifies safer formulations and favors simpler, mono-material builds that shed less and limit migration. The result: lower migration into foods, fewer releases during manufacturing and end-of-life, and cleaner recycling streams that don’t carry unwanted additives forward.
Systems & Infrastructure
Packaging’s impact also depends on whether facilities can actually process it. Recycling facility standards show that labels, inks, closures, and format choices directly affect sortability and yield—often determining whether an item becomes usable feedstock or residual waste.
Compostables follow the same pattern: where there’s proper access and recovery, packaging adds value. A 2023 BioCycle survey found 71% of 200 U.S. sites accept some food-contact compostable packaging, but acceptance rules and contamination controls vary widely.
When packaging is designed to match actual recovery infrastructure, more materials get recovered, less ends up as waste, and communities face lower disposal costs.
Regulation & Policy Compliance
Policy now guides how packaging is designed, collected, and recycled—and the rules favor more sustainable eCommerce packaging. The Packaging and Packaging Waste Regulation of the EU targets 2030 for market-ready recyclability and adds design-for-recycling and recycled-content requirements.
In the U.S., seven states (ME, OR, CO, CA, MN, MD, WA) have Extended Producer Responsibility for packaging that ties fees to recyclability and design. Canada is moving the system in the same direction through province-wide EPR (e.g., British Columbia, Ontario), shifting responsibility—and incentives—onto producers. As of 2024, 91 countries have enacted plastic bag bans, with more on the way.
Across all these regulations, formats must be able to sort correctly, recycle cleanly, and prove recycled content. Packs that don’t fit real recovery systems increasingly face higher fees, restrictions, or penalties. Additionally, they run a greater risk of limited market access or rejection by recyclers or retailers.
Source: EcoEnclose
Benefits of Sustainable Packaging for Brands
Sustainable packaging solutions deliver measurable benefits that impact your bottom line, brand reputation, and long-term resilience. From cutting costs to future-proofing your supply chain, here’s why it’s worth the switch.
Stronger Competitive Advantage
If you’re weighing the advantages of sustainable packaging, consider brand impact. How does sustainable packaging affect branding? It signals values at unboxing and reduces “waste guilt,” which lifts purchase intent.
In a 2024 PwC survey, consumers said they’d pay about 9.7% more for sustainably packaged products. Translation: higher conversion, stronger loyalty, and better long-term positioning when execution matches the claim.
Lower Operational Costs
Right-sizing the box lowers what you buy (less corrugate and filler) and what you ship (a smaller exterior size). Because many carriers price by dimensional weight—volume ÷ 139 in most guides—shrinking L×W×H reduces billed weight and often moves you to a cheaper rate tier.
At the same time, tighter cartons cut “shipped air.” Many e-commerce parcels contain up to 40% empty space, so right-sizing reduces filler, improves pallet density, and can even reduce trucks.
On the materials side, lightweighting corrugated packaging delivers measurable savings. IFT cites a ply swap that achieved 25% paper savings while maintaining performance. Together, smaller cubes and a lighter board produce durable per-order cost reductions without sacrificing protection.
Higher Supply Resilience
Designing for real recovery builds dependable post-consumer recycled (PCR) supply and reduces exposure to virgin-material swings. As recycled-content targets and retailer standards expand, PCR demand becomes steadier, improving availability and planning. Qualifying multiple materials or converters widens your supplier bench when markets tighten.
Fewer Damages
Breakage is usually a movement problem. Packs that actually fit—and use purpose-built cushioning—keep products stable through shock and vibration. Fewer breakages mean fewer replacements and reships, less reverse-logistics handling, and fewer refund write-offs, which protects both margin and review scores.
Faster Fulfillment
Simple, right-sized formats move faster on the floor. They need less tape and filler, slot predictably on lines and in racking, and cut down on “try another box” repacks. The result is shorter pick/pack cycles, easier training for seasonal staff, and steadier throughput at peak—benefits you’ll see in service level agreement (SLA) performance.
Source: EcoEnclose
Common Sustainable Packaging Materials
Materials like recycled paper, corrugated cardboard, glassine, kraft paper, bio-based inputs, and recycled plastics consistently reduce waste, support circularity, and perform reliably across industries.
Recycled Paper
Paper substrates—from kraft paper to corrugated cardboard—are low-impact when they use high recycled content, especially post-consumer waste (PCW). Common across mailers, cartons, and inserts, they’re generally curbside recyclable, made from renewable inputs, and naturally biodegradable. Top-quality custom corrugated boxes, such as those from EcoEnclose, are made from 100% recycled content (up to 95% PCW) to maximize circularity.
Recycled Plastics
Similarly, LDPE and HDPE films also perform best from a sustainability standpoint when made with high recycled content and the highest feasible levels of PCW. These are common in poly mailers, bags, and other sustainable packaging products.
Thanks to lightweighting and right-sizing, recycled LDPE/HDPE can often beat paper, metal, or glass on GHG for equivalent protection. And although most aren’t curbside recyclable, many can be recycled through thin-film drop-off programs, extending their useful life.
NOT COMPOSTABLE
Recycled plastic mailers and bags are not compostable—and that’s okay. They're meant to be recycled to keep materials in circulation.
→ To understand how recyclable and compostable packaging compare, read: What’s the Difference Between Recyclable and Compostable Packaging?
Glassine
Another crucial green packaging solution is glassine. Although recycled paper is the go-to for many packaging needs, some applications call for glassine's polish and scuff-resistance. Known for its smooth, glossy finish, it provides lightweight wrapping or inner packaging protection when presentation matters.
Note that glassine is typically produced from highly refined, uniform virgin chemical pulp to withstand the supercalendering process. If virgin fiber is unavoidable, specify pulp with authoritative sustainable packaging certifications—for example, FSC®—to support responsible forestry and lower deforestation risk.
Biobased Inputs with Potential for Regenerative Impact
Emerging materials like mycelium, seaweed, and algae push the boundaries of what sustainable packaging feedstocks can look like. Early studies suggest that these feedstocks can lower impacts and help sequester carbon.
Packaging made from these feedstocks is often compostable (especially early on when they lack scale for recyclability) and offers brands a unique landscape of options beyond paper and plastic.
Here, future-forward sustainable packaging companies are leading the way. For instance, EcoEnclose partners with Sway to explore seaweed-based alternatives to plastic and uses algae-based inks. These strategies help ensure that both the material and the graphics reflect lower-impact choices.
Source: EcoEnclose
Top Sustainable Packaging Trends
Staying abreast of innovation in the sustainable packaging industry is critical. Policy is tightening, retailer specs are rising, and customers reward packaging that’s provably recoverable—not just “green” by claim. Keeping up with sustainable packaging news and compliance requirements can help lower costs, reduce compliance risk, and strengthen brand credibility.
Below are some of the key sustainable packaging trends shaping the industry.
Verification & Data-Ready Specs
Claims are giving way to proof: retailers and regulators expect auditable PCR, credible recyclability labels, and component disclosures (inks, coatings, adhesives). Keep sustainable packaging certifications handy—being “verification-ready” is now part of the job.
Safer Chemistries & PFAS Limits
Specs are tightening around PFAS and other chemicals of concern, especially in food-adjacent packaging. Treat safer ink and coating systems as default choices, not upgrades.
Compostables with Tighter Guardrails
Compostables are being right-sized to places with real organics infrastructure and clear “compost where accepted” labeling. The direction is less hype, more fit-specific use and compliance.
Film Take-Back & Store Drop-Off
Where curbside film recycling lags, take-back networks and store drop-off programs are expanding. Use them as a bridge strategy while curbside acceptance evolves.
EPR & Truth-in-Labeling Momentum
State-level EPR and recyclability rules are moving from headlines to line items that affect material fees and label language. Designing for actual recovery (not theoretical) reduces risk and cost.
Reuse & Refill Systems
Durable shippers and refill formats are gaining traction in controlled channels like subscriptions and short-haul B2B. Success hinges on return rates and reverse-logistics math—pilot before you scale.
Source: Unsplash
Making the Switch to Sustainable Packaging
Whether you're shipping 200 orders a month or 20,000 a week, making the cost-effective move to sustainable packaging takes more than swapping in a new box. Here’s how that shift starts, no matter the size or complexity of your business.
1. Conduct a full packaging sustainability audit
Start with a simple packaging audit by listing your main materials—boxes, mailers, tape, labels, and inserts. Track what each is made of, how often you use them, and how they’re disposed of (recycled, composted, or trashed). Include any packaging from partners like co-packers or 3PLs. This focused audit highlights your most significant impact areas and quick wins to reduce waste and cost.
→ Quick tip: Don’t skip labels, adhesives, and coatings; small items can tank recyclability and yields.
2. Define clear sustainability priorities
Set clear, focused sustainability goals—don’t try to fix everything at once. Decide what matters most for your brand: cutting plastic, reducing carbon, sourcing locally, or improving recyclability. Small brands might prioritize curbside recycling, while larger ones might want to tackle SKU consolidation or ESG targets. Whatever your size, clear priorities will inform every decision you’ll make on your choice of sustainable packaging supplies, vendors, and trade-offs.
→ Quick tip: Be on the lookout for greenwashing; match choices to real collection/recycling access, not just lofty but unsubstantiated claims.
3. Right-size and remove what you don’t need
Check your packaging for oversized boxes, excessive void fill, or redundant inserts.. Measure your top-selling products and compare them to current box sizes. Right-sizing reduces material use, shipping costs, and emissions—often without changing suppliers. Simplify wherever possible by swapping plastic wrap for paper sleeves or cutting custom fillers. The leaner the package, the lighter the footprint.
→ Quick tip: If you shrink the packaging, also choose recycle-compatible labels/inks/adhesives.
4. Focus on high-volume, high-impact components
Start where scale lives—mailers and shipping boxes. These drive most of your material use and cost, so upgrades here move the needle fastest. Prioritize high-run formats that are hard to recover (e.g., mixed laminates or non-recyclable constructions) or virgin-heavy SKUs. Where possible, migrate to recovery-ready designs with high PCR and recycle-compatible labels/adhesives/inks. One swap on a high-volume mailer delivers more impact than perfecting a low-run insert.
→ Quick tip: Consolidate overlapping SKUs and check retailer/marketplace specs to avoid reboxing, prep fees, and chargebacks.
5. Pilot new materials before scaling
Test before committing. Run small batch tests—500 to 1,000 units if you’re DTC, or a limited rollout across a single fulfillment hub if you're enterprise. Monitor damage rates, pack times, cost changes, and customer feedback, especially around recyclability or composting. Also, check if materials are compatible with your own fulfillment systems and carriers. Small pilots can save you from costly mistakes.
→ Quick tip: Involve ops early and verify recovery locally—without access, there is no recovery.
6. Work with a partner who designs for scale and impact
Above all, sustainable packaging is creating a system that scales. For small teams, that can mean low-MOQ changes (right-sized mailers, recycle-compatible labels/adhesives, higher-PCR substrates). For multi-SKU operations, it extends to portfolio audits, SKU consolidation, DIM (dimensional) modeling, and recovery-ready specs that hold up across sites and seasons.
From startups to enterprises. EcoEnclose partners with brands to select, test, and optimize packaging to meet sustainability goals and brand standards. This includes advising on recycled-content documentation and EPR/labeling as well as aligning materials, inks, and adhesives with recyclability.
EcoEnclose also supports pilots (small-run trials) and artwork/finish choices—from minimalist kraft to Algae Ink™ graphics—so the kit ships efficiently, recovers cleanly, and looks like you as it scales.
→ Quick tip: “Cheap” isn’t cost-effective if it spikes DIM charges, damage, or compliance risk—pick partners who optimize total cost (shipping, returns, fees), not just unit price.
Seal the Deal on Sustainability with EcoEnclose
Good packaging protects what you ship; great packaging reflects what you stand for. The shift to sustainable materials isn’t always simple—but it’s possible, and it matters.
EcoEnclose provides brands with truly sustainable packaging solutions—all grounded in the Sustainable Packaging Framework. From recycled mailers and customizable shipping boxes to non-toxic inks and zero-waste liners, everything we offer is engineered with both footprint and function in mind. We don’t just sell packaging—we help you build a sustainable packaging system that aligns with your values, supports your operations, and makes sustainability a lot more tangible.
If you're ready to rethink what your packaging can do, we're here to help make it work—practically, transparently, and at scale. Contact us at EcoEnclose today!
About EcoEnclose
EcoEnclose helps forward-thinking brands deliver on their sustainability goals with innovative, research-driven packaging solutions designed for circularity.