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Like many modern businesses, big or small, DHL is deeply committed to running an eco-friendly operation that paves the way for a greener future for all.
Ireland is on a transformative journey to become more environmentally-focused. The enterprise sector is under pressure to reduce emissions by the year 2030, while there has been a visible societal shift towards taking the necessary steps to protect the planet’s health.
As a business owner, there’s a major responsibility on your shoulders to adapt, and to continue your efforts if you’re already of a sustainable outlook. One area that can be a boon to your business in this regard is the nature of packaging, so let’s break it down and understand the importance of sustainable packaging for Irish businesses.
Think of ‘green’ as a quick catch-all term for ‘sustainable’, ‘environmentally-friendly’, and ‘eco-friendly’ - it all means the same thing. And what it means for you and others is of the utmost importance. When it comes to green packaging, the goal is to use and promote packaging that has the least damaging effect on the environment. The positives of adopting this approach are many.
Let’s look at the environmental impact and advantages of sustainable packaging practices.
First and foremost, it’s a good idea to look after the world we live and work in, not just for us and right now, but for future generations. A survey conducted by UNDP and University of Oxford shows that almost two-thirds of people across the globe believe that the climate crisis we currently face is a genuine emergency. Research and headlines are increasingly stark, and the onus is on us as individuals to do our part.
As a business owner, you’re a big part of the conversation here. By introducing / normalising green packaging, the environment will benefit from the use of biodegradable, recycled and multi-use materials, resulting in a reduced carbon footprint.
You want to be responsible, but you also have to balance the books. The good news is you can do both. Greener packaging uses less resources, thus shouldn’t cost as much to produce as more conventional packaging means.
Increasing focus on regulations could mean penalties and legal issues where more environmentally-harmful packaging methods are concerned - a greener system removes the potential risks here, and any associated financial hits. Minimalist design should also give you the chance to save on space, freeing up room in your inventory to house more goods, plan accordingly for peak season traffic, and reap the rewards.
As noted, we all have a responsibility to commit to creating a greener future, so you’re keenly aware of the social responsibility aspect here. Given that eco-friendly business practices represent a growing consideration for many people, it’s reasonable to expect your customers to take notice of your attitude on this issue.
75% of consumers in the UK alone are on record that a company’s environmental commitment is important when making shopping decisions. According to Forbes, 87% of consumers will have a more positive image of a company that prioritises social and environmental issues, while 88% are more loyal to that business.
Think of your brand image - you don’t want to lose out on business over this.
As stated up top, Ireland is hastily engaging with climate responsibility, with the country as a whole under demand to reduce carbon emissions by 51% by the year 2030.
Sustainability is a core business issue for many companies across the country. “We will see a continued focus on fuel efficiency, driver training, increased use of technology to measure and provide insight into efficiency and continued investment by businesses and the Government in lower carbon infrastructure as the most immediate of actions to take on our decarbonisation journey,” Brian O'Kennedy, chief executive of Clearstream Solutions, told the Irish Times in 2020.
The future is never easy to predict, but green-tinted trends continue to mete that out. In terms of packaging, it’s clear that Ireland needs to make substantial changes. According to the Environmental Protection Agency, Ireland generated 1.2 million tonnes of packaging waste in 2021 - a 120,000-tonne increase on the previous year.
In 2021 Ireland also recycled more tonnes than ever. That’s good. However, packaging waste generation is increasing faster than recycling. That’s bad. In 2021, Ireland achieved the current recycling targets for paper and cardboard, plastic, glass, wood, metal, and textiles. We’re already on-target for the 2025 target for glass and wood. The 2025 target for everything else, however, looks unlikely to be met. Plastic, in particular, is a huge area of concern - just 28% of plastic packaging waste was recycled in 2021. The 2025 target is 50%.
The EPA (Environmental Protection Agency) continues to push an urgent message about sustainable packaging in Ireland:
“We need to intensify efforts to avoid unnecessary packaging use in the first instance,” notes an official statement from August of 2023. “Packaging waste can be avoided and reduced by replacing single use with reusable packaging, current examples include pallets, boxes and trays, and through better product design such as lightweighting packaging.”
The Irish Government’s 2024 Climate Action Plan, meanwhile, has prioritised prevention methods in the use of packaging, plastics, food, textiles, and construction waste. The Deposit Return Scheme was introduced at the beginning of February 2024, in a bid to encourage the public to increase recycling of bottles, cans, and containers.
The Climate Action Plan outlines the aim to achieve the following by 2030:
Recycle 70% of packaging waste
Recycle 55% of plastic waste
Reduce food waste by 50%
90% collection of plastic drinks containers
Ensure all plastic packaging is reusable or recyclable
Various sustainability grants are available if you need help in this area - view our guide here.
Your customer cares about how the day-to-day running of your business impacts the environment. A 2021 market research report in Ireland found that 77% of fashion consumers want as little packaging as possible, with two-thirds of those listing a preference for packaging that can be recycled.
A 2022 report revealed that 80% of Irish people have a desire to live more sustainably, with 75% admitting that it’s difficult to adapt to such a lifestyle, directly calling on businesses to help them.
Thankfully, there’s a wide range of sustainable packaging options available to you and your business - see which best suits you from the list below:
A more sustainable alternative to Styrofoam, which has been banned in many countries due to its negative environmental impact. One of the more traditional packaging materials, Styrofoam cushions against shocks and helps prevent products moving while in transit.
Yet, it isn’t biodegradable, nor can it be recycled economically, and it’s often found languishing in our rivers and oceans after use. While cushioning just as well as Styrofoam, biodegradable air peanuts made from natural materials are both more environmentally-friendly and cheaper.
A traditional favourite, bubble wrap helps protect fragile items during shipping. However, due to its plastic-based composition, it does not qualify as green packaging. One sustainable alternative is a wrap made from up-cycled corrugated cardboard. Rather than disposing of or recycling post-consumer cardboard waste, the material is given additional life as a cushioning agent. Small cuts are made to produce a concertina-type effect that protects against shocks just like bubble wrap.
Inflatable air pillows offer another sustainable packaging solution instead of styrofoam or bubble wrap. Available in a variety of sizes, they’re ideal for filling voids in boxes or providing cushioning around packed items. Air pillows are small bags that can be inflated, thus consisting mostly of air. This cuts down on the plastic used in their production and transport compared to other cushioning materials.
While they can be reused and recycled, it’s important to choose versions made from 100% recycled and biodegradable materials.
Cardboard boxes are ubiquitous as outer packaging. Compared to plastic, a cardboard box reduces oil and CO2 emissions by 60%. Plus, as an organic material, cardboard is 100% biodegradable and can be recycled several times over. That said, while cardboard counts as green packaging, it does present considerable environmental drawbacks.
When dumped into landfill sites, its biodegradation emits methane gas, creating a substantial carbon footprint. Moreover, it’s made of tree fibres, adding to the risk of deforestation. To mitigate this, try to source post-consumer or post-industrial recycled paper and cardboard, and look for materials that are certified to support sustainably-managed forests.
Corn starch is an organic material, made from the corn or maize plant. It has similar properties to plastic, making it an effective and more sustainable plastic alternative in many guises, from bottles to loose-film packaging.
However, as corn starch is derived from the grains of corn, it competes with human and animal food supply systems, possibly making corn more expensive. So, while it has excellent properties for packaging, you might still prefer to opt for a substitute.
If the nature of your product means you have no other choice but to use plastic packaging, at least you can choose 100% recycled or biodegradable options – although plastic can only be recycled a limited number of times before it ends up in landfill. A greener alternative would be to source biodegradable plastic materials, which can be decomposed by living microorganisms.
While there are some bioplastics that can realistically compete with human food supplies, such as those made from corn starch, sugar cane and wheat, there are also microbial polyesters, or polyhydroxyalkanoates (PHA).
PHAs are polyesters that are synthesised and stored by various microorganisms. The only downside is the cost of the additional carbon needed for the microorganisms to metabolise and produce these biodegradable polyesters – although waste cooking oils and animal oils offer promising, cost-effective, and sustainable options.
Companies who have introduced PHA plastic into their supply chain include Nestle, Pepsico and Bacardi.
Ecological textile packaging reduces waste, as it’s made from multi-use, durable materials such as organic hemp, organic or recycled cotton, tapioca, or palm leaves. All are biodegradable, so take less time to decompose naturally.
Examples of usage include organic cotton wool for cushioning, linen and poplin as anti-scratch wrap covers or bags, and hemp tape to bundle products together.
While green packaging is an increasing global trend in and of itself, and the sustainable packaging solutions discussed above are part of it, here are three other kinds of innovative packaging that could emerge as key options in the future:
As the name implies, mushroom packaging really is made from mushrooms. It uses a process that combines pre-cleaned agricultural waste with mushroom roots. This raw material is moulded into the shape required, dried, and used as packaging.
Agricultural waste can’t be used for food, so mushroom packaging avoids the ethical dilemma corn starch packaging brings with it. It also degrades naturally at a very rapid rate. Even so, despite its suitability as sustainable packaging, it is currently only feasible for smaller items.
Seaweed is a sustainable packaging solution made from agar – a gelatinous substance found in many seaweeds and algae. The agar is extracted and dehydrated to produce a material appropriate for packaging.
Being made from a plentiful, sustainable raw material, seaweed packaging could become one of the big new trends in green packaging.
Edible film is a cutting-edge sustainable packaging solution, most appropriate for food products, with a global market expected to reach $4.2 billion by 2028. Potentially, it could curb food and packaging waste, while also reducing chemical leaching from plastic.
Different natural products can be used to create edible packaging, but the most effective and widely used is chitosan, a sugar made from the chitin shells of crustaceans. This makes chitosan one of the most plentiful biopolymers – and edible packaging a much greener alternative to plastics.
At DHL, we want to help you on your sustainability journey, because we believe strongly in our own. We’re committed to an eco-friendly approach that doesn’t sacrifice on efficiency or quality. Today, we operate over 30,000 electric vehicles, obtain 86% of its electricity from renewable sources, and are committed to building exclusively carbon-neutral warehouses.
Through these initiatives, we are setting new standards in sustainable logistics for businesses of every size and status. What’s more, DHL has pledged to achieve net zero by the year 2050. Our approach to packaging is no different, with sustainable packaging incorporated into our services, ensuring that our clients and partners are making a difference.
And once the packaging is taken care of, our GoGreen Plus initiative is designed to place environmentally-positive shipping at the forefront.
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