How Businesses Can Improve Their Environmental Impact Through Recycled & Sustainable Packaging Materials
Your packaging is doing more than protecting products, it’s telling your brand story. But generic, wasteful packaging creates problems: disappointed customers, increased disposal costs, and reputational risk as sustainability becomes a buying filter. The good news is practical fixes exist that both cut environmental impact and improve the customer experience without breaking the budget.
Keep reading to learn some simple, scalable steps to switch your business to recycled and sustainable packaging materials this quarter. You’ll get a clear roadmap: which materials to test, design and supplier considerations, quick pilots to run, and the KPIs to track so you can prove impact and unlock cost and marketing benefits.
What recycled and sustainable packaging really means
Recycled packaging contains material reclaimed from post-consumer or post-industrial waste and reprocesses it into new packaging. Sustainable packaging goes beyond recycled content and considers material sourcing, production energy, transport emissions and end-of-life recovery through recycling or composting. Together these approaches reduce resource extraction and landfill, and often improve circularity.
The Ecommerce industry in particular has grown significantly over the past 10 years, leading to a large amount of waste, but sustainable packaging materials offer a solution, with 82% of consumers willing to pay more for products with sustainable packaging.1
Common recycled materials and uses
- Recycled corrugated cardboard for transit boxes and mailers
- Recycled paperboard for retail cartons and sleeves
- Recycled plastics (rPET) for rigid inserts or transparent windows
- Moulded pulp inserts and compostable fibre padding for protection
- Certifications and claims to verify
- Look for FSC, PEFC or verified recycled-content labelling
- Distinguish post-consumer from post-industrial recycled percentages
- Check whether “compostable” or “biodegradable” applies in your local council system
Why sustainable packaging is good business
Switching to recycled and sustainable packaging delivers clear environmental benefits and direct commercial returns. Today’s customers reward responsibility with greater loyalty and advocacy, and sustainable packs can strengthen brand positioning without relying on expensive finishes. At the same time, smarter packaging choices reduce costs: right-sized, lighter boxes cut freight bills; purpose-designed packs reduce returns and damage; and short-run production prevents over-ordering and excess storage. Together these outcomes improve margins, enhance the unboxing experience and create more shareable moments that amplify organic marketing.
If you want to test changes without a big upfront commitment, Boxes To Go’s short-run production service can help you pilot sustainable options and measure results before scaling.
Practical steps to adopt recycled and sustainable materials
Adopting sustainable packaging is best done in stages: audit, trial, measure and scale. Prioritise high-volume SKUs and seasonal lines, test alternative substrates and track performance before rolling changes out.
Step 1 - Audit current packaging and waste
- List pack types, materials and volumes for your top SKUs
- Track damage rates, returns and customer complaints linked to packaging
- Calculate current packaging weight per order and disposal costs
Step 2 - Trial alternatives and short runs
- Order recycled corrugated and paperboard samples to test fit and print quality
- Try moulded pulp or kraft void fill instead of plastic bubble wrap
- Use short-run production to validate costs and customer response
Step 3 – Scale sustainably
Boxes To Go can assist with eco material samples and pilot runs so you can test without large minimums.
Choose a packaging supplier to scale sustainably
Ensuring you have good eco-friendly materials is one thing, but often even the best choices can become less than ideal when looking to scale your production.
It is always a good idea to also look at your design process as good design can lead to reduced materials and improved recyclability.
Some design principals to follow include:
- Right-size packaging to minimise void space and materials
- Choose inserts that protect without excessive bulk
- Choose mono-materials to simplify recycling streams
- Avoid mixed laminates, metallic finishes or multi-material windows that hinder recycling
You also want to choose a packaging supplier who provide recycled-content data and can run short, scalable production.
Sustainable Packaging Supplier Checklist
- Can the supplier run short production and scale volumes?
- Do they provide certification and recycled-content documentation?
- Are print techniques suitable for recycled stocks (e.g. water-based or soy inks)?
- Can they talk to you about scaling production sustainably?
If you need tailored custom boxes or inserts to protect delicate goods while improving sustainability, explore Boxes To Go’s custom shipping solutions.
Measuring impact and sharing results
Track simple KPIs to measure progress and build a credible story. Use clear, verifiable language when communicating to customers and include disposal instructions to help them recycle correctly.
KPIs to monitor
- % recycled content used across packaging SKUs
- Packaging weight per order and % reduction vs baseline
- Returns and damage rate changes after redesigns
- Customer feedback and social shares tied to unboxing
Communicating sustainability
- State facts like “Made from 70% post-consumer recycled corrugated” and show certification badges
- Put simple disposal steps on packing slips and on-pack messaging
Quick wins you can implement this quarter
Not every improvement needs a full redesign. Here are immediate actions that reduce impact and improve customer experience.
Low-effort changes
- Replace plastic tape with paper tape and remove inner plastic wraps
- Switch to recycled mailers and recycled tissue paper
- Print simple recycling instructions inside each pack
Mid-effort changes
- Implement right-sizing or on-demand box cutting to reduce voids
- Add simple branded inserts for protection and messaging
- Run A/B tests on recycled stock to assess returns and customer feedback
Long-term changes
Standardise SKUs and move to mono-materials to simplify recycling
- Negotiate recycled-content guarantees with suppliers
- Publish verified impact data and obtain relevant certificates
If you’d like expert help implementing these actions, explore Boxes To Go’s ecommerce packaging services.
Benefits at a glance
Switching to recycled and sustainable packaging is a practical way to reduce environmental impact while improving customer experience and the bottom line. By auditing current packs, trialling recycled materials on short runs, redesigning for right-sizing and mono-materials, and tracking straightforward KPIs, businesses can cut waste and costs, strengthen brand trust, and boost organic reach through shareable unboxing moments.
Start small, measure results and scale what works, the cumulative gains in sustainability, customer loyalty and efficiency make the effort worthwhile.