Question 1

On your website you mentioned “Carbon Neutral Footprint”. What does this mean?

Accepted Answer

Co2 neutral means that the impact of the packaging itself is neutral in terms of Co2 equivalents, so it has no impact on the environment. How do we do that? First, we  look at how to minimize the packaging impact, so it has as little Co2 equivalents as possible. However, there are certain specifics you have to keep an eye for. For example; plastic impact on marine life cannot be expressed in Co2 equivalents, hence, we prefer  to not use plastic for disposable packaging. Furthermore, we compensate what impact is left by planting trees in deserted area's. We make sure that the impact that we inevitably have to make is cancelled out.

Question 2

Your philosophy is ‘Rethink, Recycle and Regenerate’. What does this mean and why is it different from what your competitors do?"

Accepted Answer

Our philosophy entails a critical look on all aspects that contribute to the packaging impact. The first phase is to Rethink: this means that we take a detailed look at the design of the packaging and the supply chain. We make calculations to find immediate and efficient ways to improve the process, which often also result in lower costs and shorter lead times. We use LCA software in the design proces and study multiple possibilities and types of material, minimise material usage and study if materials are truly sustainable. There is a substantial difference for the environment whether materials are home compostable or industrial compostable, with the former being the better option. We take a look at what can and will be recycled and we compensate the remaining impact by our planting program. We not only plant trees, but we also maintain them for over 30 years, to stimulate biodiversity. Many competitors simply buy CO2 certificates to compensate for their impact. However, there are all kinds of certificates on the market, varying greatly in reliability. There is a great uncertainty of what truly happens behind the scenes.

Question 3

What does “greenwashing” mean?

Accepted Answer

Although the terminology of greenwashing indicates that you are taking steps in the right direction, in reality this is not true. In fact, in some cases it could even be true that you are making things worse. Greenwashing often happens when companies focus on looking sustainable,  but forget to actually be sustainable. For example, a company can have very low CO2 emissions, but still contribute to the pollution of the ocean by using a lot of chemicals and plastic.

Question 4

What is the biggest misconception about sustainable packaging?

Accepted Answer

There are many misconceptions one of them is Oxodegradable plastic, it appears to be biodegradable because of its name, but they have little metal in the plastic, which breaks the chains of the plastic and breaks it apart into small particles. That is actually much nastier because you get microplastic and that continues for hundreds of years. On the outside the problem has been solved, but it is actually still there. 
 
An other misconception is plastics that are (partially) covered with paper to make it look like paper, for the customer it looks more sustainable. Often the plastic  is covered with brown paper, to make it look even more sustainable. But in reality the paper makes it very hard or impossible to recycle the plastic, and makes it more difficult to recycle the paper, so it only makes things worse, it can also be seen as some type of greenwashing.

Question 5

The media tells us Plastic is the absolute root of all evil and we should get rid of it all together. Is this true? And if so, what is a good alternative?"

Accepted Answer

There is more nuance in that statement. As long as plastic is a mono material and the collection is well organised, the Co2 impact is very low. The question is how end customers dispose the packaging and how easy it is for the end-user to get the material recycled 100%.

Question 6

As a consumer, what should you pay attention to when you want to find out whether a company uses sustainable packaging?"

Accepted Answer

Many companies go “plastic free” which is a claim easy to explain for the brand owner and easy to understand for the en end customer.
 
You can buy plastic free, but if it has been shipped from China or another far away destination by plane, it is still not environmentally friendly. As Zero Packaging, we provide insights into those processes by calculating the impact with LCA software and proposing alternatives including the cost effect, for instance by studying local production. Next to that, logo’s show that chosen material, a all paper solution with FCS logo can be easy to understand and easy to recycle for end customers.

Question 7

What are the economic reasons I should purchase from companies who use sustainable packaging?

Accepted Answer

The obvious answer is less materials means less material costs. But less material often also means less transport costs, because more units fit on a pallet or the package is lighter/smaller. On top of that local production can reduce costs, the less transport the less impact on the environment and the less costs. It is our task to show you the impact and cost per packaging design and per production location.

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