Plastic packaging is a great expense. The expense is not for businesses that benefit from the cheap packaging solution that plastic packaging offers, but rather there is an expense to the environment. Plastic packaging covers the natural environment with plastics that can take thousands of years to degrade, and for this reason efforts have been made to introduce biodegradable plastics into the production cycle for a large number of products.
Biodegradable packaging is made from a number of materials that are easily broken down through natural processes in the environment. Another name for biodegradable packaging is compostable packaging, for this very reason. Organisations can use the packaging and dispose of it by composting it where its compostable components integrate with the natural soil in the environment.
Most of the biodegradable packaging is made with biomass material nowadays. That means any agricultural waste, usually in the form of corn, wheat or sugar cane waste, is used in its production. The fibres in the packaging, because they’re natural, break down just as the vegetation would do.
So biodegradable packaging may be sustainable and environmentally friendly, but is it affordable for every business? Well, that entirely depends on what kind of packaging you’re using. There are recycled paper/cardboard products on the market that are cheap to use, and a few sugar cane fibre products that are also cost-efficient, but when looking for a plastic substitute the costs can be drastic. Polylactic Acid (PLA), a biodegradable plastic polymer made from biomass, is very expensive. Furthermore, the energy required to convert biomass into an easily biodegradable plastic means that its production is not as environmentally friendly as first conceived.
In conclusion, recycled paper and biomass fibre packaging is cost effective and easily made, as well as being safe for the environment. However, there is no sustainable method of creating PLAs, and the products are so expensive that only the most exclusive brands use the material for packaging.
If you are looking for recycled paper and cardboard packaging products, then make sure you contact Design Packaging & Tapes today.
