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If you want to make your business more sustainable, biodegradable packing peanuts and other eco-friendly packaging solutions are a good place to start.
Most packing peanuts are made from styrofoam and take centuries to decompose. That means they&#;ll just sit in landfills, contaminating the ecosystem and harming wildlife. But if you switch to a biodegradable solution, you&#;ll eliminate all that extra plastic and pollution.
Here&#;s our list of biodegradable packing suppliers to get you started&#;plus more ways to reduce your brand&#;s environmental impact.
Biodegradable packing peanuts (or packing noodles) are lightweight tubular forms that fill packages to protect fragile items. They&#;re usually made of cornstarch and dissolve in water without generating any toxic waste.
Most packing peanuts are made from styrofoam, which makes recycling and decomposing them extremely difficult. They&#;re a big risk to wildlife, especially birds, whose digestive systems can easily become clogged by this packaging.
The packing peanut looks like a marshmallow and is used as a cushioning void filler to protect fragile items during shipment.Amazon alone ships over 7 billion packages every year. Those packages are mostly made out of plastic and cardboard and are non-biodegradable.
One of the biggest benefits of biodegradable packing peanuts is that they break down easily without harming wildlife. However, they&#;re not that widely produced yet so they can be more expensive than traditional packing peanuts. Here are a few more pros and cons.
Biodegradable packing peanuts can be dissolved in water or composted.
Source: Michael Casagrande on Youtube
*How do we know? Well, we compared the weight per cu. ft. of three different biodegradable vs. non-biodegradable brands. The non-biodegradable ones are around 0.25 lbs per cu. ft., while the biodegradable ones are 0.45 lbs per cu. ft.
Styrofoam packing peanuts are still pretty common, so it&#;s not easy to find biodegradable alternatives. To get you started, here&#;s a list of top-rated biodegradable packing peanuts and alternative green packing options on the market.
BlueRose Packaging offers odor-free biodegradable packing peanuts in bulk. These are made from non-toxic packaging materials and are decomposable after disposal. The price per cubic foot is only available by custom quote.
BlueRose customers value that they&#;re a reliable supplier and that shipping is always on time. &#;We have zero hassles in sourcing shipping and packaging supplies,&#; explained Sophie Belmore. &#;We are able to save a lot of time and also a lot of money with the help of this dependable supplier. They have a very responsive customer service team and they always deliver the orders on time.&#;
U-Haul has its own brand of biodegradable packing peanuts that are 100% dissolvable and non-toxic. By changing their styrofoam peanuts for eco-friendly ones, they&#;ve helped keep over 7.7 million cu. ft. of this type of plastic off of landfills. That&#;s 600,000 cubic feet per year. Each bag comes with 1.5 cu. ft. and costs $5.95.
Customers who have tried these peanuts found they offered good value and met their expectations. &#;Awesome product. Totally worth my money and fulfilled my expectations when shipping orders for my shop. 11/10 would recommend,&#; said Biance A.
These packing peanuts are eco- and fragile-friendly. TheBoxGuy is one of the only brands that makes water-repellent packing peanuts, so they won&#;t shrink in humid environments. Plus, the 14 cu. ft. bag is sold for $35.57 ($2.54 per cubic foot), so it&#;s one of the least expensive brands on the market.
Clients like TheBoxGuy because of their low prices and highly responsive support. &#;We compared prices to other suppliers and The Box Guy was about 25% less,&#; said Miranda March. &#;We received the order in 48 hours and it was exactly what we needed. Plus their customer service is stellar.&#;
Based on more than 90 reviews, this seller has a rating score of 4.3/5 on Amazon. However, some customers said this product has a strong popcorn smell. This product comes in two bags of 1.5 cu. ft. each and costs $25.99 ($8.66 per cu. ft.).
People who have bought these peanuts appreciate the price-value relationship. &#;I do a ton of shipping for my business and I&#;m always in need of packing peanuts,&#; wrote Amazon user, Euclides Lugo Jr. &#;Getting them from other shipping suppliers has been overly expensive. I&#;m very happy with the quality and price of these and also the fast shipping on the seller&#;s part.&#;
These Etsy packing peanuts are made of starch and recycled materials which makes them biodegradable and compostable. They come in bags from 1.5 to 5 cu. ft. The price per cubic foot varies between $5.22-5.54 depending on the size of the bag.
Customers love the fast delivery and versatility. &#;Fast delivery. Perfect void filler for small, big, single or multiple items,&#; shared Etsy user, Kit.
These biodegradable packing peanuts are also available on Amazon. They&#;re made of cornstarch and come in a bag of 7 cubic feet. This supplier offers two-day shipping and the bag costs $46.99 ($6.71 per cubic foot).
Customers like Lorimar because the peanuts are truly biodegradable and work as compost. &#;I used them for my move. When I was done moving, I placed them in my garden,&#; shared Amazon user, S.A.Tech. &#;When it rained, it dissolved and ended up being compost. It&#;s great for reuse. I was really surprised at how great this product works.&#;
Everything you need for packing a product can be replaced with an eco-friendly solution. Just check out these brands.
Cocoform is tailor-made natural packing that&#;s 100% biodegradable since it&#;s made out of coconut fibers. It&#;s a super durable material that can be reused multiple times before naturally decomposing. You can get cocoform from Enkev, a company focused on natural ingredients and recycled materials.
Soaraway Packaging makes custom biodegradable materials like compostable bags, Polylactic Acid (PLA) film, or compostable cutlery. Soraway has been making biodegradable custom packaging for 12 years and uses plant-based materials.
EcoEnclose is an eco-friendly packaging company that creates green wrappers, bags, and shipping accessories that are 100% biodegradable. They make their products out of recycled materials. They also have custom packaging options available.
If you&#;re using biodegradable packing peanuts for the first time, you should follow these best practices to use, store, and dispose of them properly.
Since cornstarch packing peanuts are a bit less resistant, heavier products can break them down. To ensure your product gets delivered in perfect condition, you should use more biodegradable packing nuts than you&#;d use if they were made out of styrofoam.
Unless you&#;ve purchased water-repellent eco-friendly packing peanuts, you shouldn&#;t store them in humid places as they might get wet, dissolve, and damage the product they&#;re supposed to protect.
If you&#;re using biodegradable packing materials, you should let your customers know. That way, they can properly dissolve the cornstarch peanuts using water and add the resulting liquid to a compost pile.
Some products, like electronics, require static-free packaging. Unlike polystyrene packing peanuts, biodegradable ones don&#;t have an electrostatic charge. Also, these eco-friendly void fillers don&#;t stick to clothing either.
If you want to implement greener alternatives in your supply chain, you should consider these eco-friendly shipping options:
For more popcorn as packing material wholesale dealsinformation, please contact us. We will provide professional answers.
It&#;s not easy to change your operations, invest in sustainability, and become 100% eco-friendly. But for an easy way to start, you can pair your biodegradable packing efforts with carbon-neutral shipping.
Route makes the post-purchase experience a green one. We have an afforestation project in place to neutralize your carbon shipping emission when customers choose &#;Green Package Protection&#; at checkout. Carbon-neutral shipping is included with shipping insurance for your customers in case their packages are lost, damaged, or stolen.
Route helps you care for your customers&#; parcels and offset your carbon emissions without lifting a finger.Businesses of all shapes and sizes should take climate action to reduce their carbon footprint. There are different ways to do it:
Going green with your business can have a bigger impact on climate change that you believe. In fact, just by changing your packing peanuts to biodegradable ones, you can save the world 500 years of non-degradable waste.
Offer Route&#;s &#;Green Package Protection&#; to empower your customers to take climate action with just one click. For every package protected against loss, theft, or damage, we offset your carbon emissions so you can protect the planet and your parcels all at once.
Are packing peanuts biodegradable?
Not all packing peanuts are biodegradable. If you are thinking of buying biodegradable packing peanuts, you should look for the ones that explicitly say so in their description. You can find biodegradable options on U-Haul, Amazon, TheBoxGuy, and Etsy.
What are the benefits of using biodegradable packing peanuts?
There are several benefits to using biodegradable packing peanuts:
They&#;re water soluble and generate zero toxic waste.
It&#;s safe to consume them. There&#;s no risk if an animal or person eats them by accident.
These can be used as compost.
You don&#;t need additional plastic or cardboard containers to throw them away.
Producing biodegradable peanuts generates fewer greenhouse gasses than styrofoam.
What is the difference between biodegradable and traditional packing peanuts?
Biodegradable packing peanuts are made out of cornstarch or plant-based materials. That makes them easy to degrade and non-toxic for the environment. Traditional packing peanuts are made out of styrofoam and aren&#;t degradable (unless you use a solvent). These take over 500 million years to decompose and are highly polluting.
What company makes biodegradable packing peanuts?
There are a few companies that make biodegradable packing peanuts. These are amongst the most common ones:
U-Haul
The Box Guy
BlueRose
Every day, hundreds of millions of single-use containers, cans, trays, and cutlery are thrown away around the world. While packaging is an essential component of the food sector and the only solution we have to facilitate food transportation, food packaging waste is also one of the most harmful aspects of this industry. We outline the advantages and disadvantages of the most popular materials used to wrap groceries and takeaway foods and explore innovative sustainable food packaging that could revolutionise the market and protect the environment.
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In ancient history, humans used to consume food from where it was found. There were no grocery shops, takeaway and delivery services, and almost no imports and exports of food on a global scale. But things changed rapidly in the 20th century. Suddenly, countries began shipping produce from one end of the world to the other; supermarkets in the US started selling Southeast Asian tropical fruits; China depended on Brazil for its soybean supplies; and European countries were importing coffee from Africa. The emergence and subsequent surge in international shipping of food staples led to a revolution in the packaging sector.
Since food needed to travel long distances to keep up with global demand, it became crucial to find ways to ensure food remained fresh and undamaged at the time of consumption. Packaging turned out to be the best way to extend food shelf-life as it retarded product deterioration, retained the beneficial effects, and maintained the nutritional values, characteristics, and appearance of foods for longer times.
Materials that have been traditionally used in food packaging include glass, metals (aluminium, foils and laminates, tinplate, and tin-free steel), paper, and paperboards. Plastic, by far the most common material used in food packaging today, is also the newest option. Since the plastic boom in the early s, new varieties of this material have been introduced in both rigid and flexible forms, slowly replacing traditional materials due to their versatility, easy manufacturing process, and cheap price. Of all plastics produced worldwide today, nearly 40% are used for food and drink packaging.
But food retailers are not the only industry that contributed to the rapid acceleration in plastic and packaging production. Consumer habits changed drastically within the restaurant industry too. The first takeaway options were already available in the s, but it was not until after World War II that consumers started appreciating the convenience of drive-throughs and other take-home options. In America, fast food chains such as In-N-Out Burger and McDonald&#;s were responsible for the industry&#;s boom and with the expansion of the transportation industry, delivery options also began expanding around the world. This inevitably led to a massive influx of food packaging solutions that allowed consumers to pick up pre-cooked dishes and consume them elsewhere.
Most of the containers that we have today are single-use, non-compostable, and difficult to degrade because of food contamination. Both the restaurant and retail industries are major contributors of food packaging waste. Finding a balance between food protection and environmental consciousness undoubtedly requires huge efforts. Given the increasing consumer (and manufacturer) awareness of the environmental and health impacts of non-degradable packaging, in recent years the packaging industry has been seriously looking at alternative, more environmentally friendly materials as well as ways to reduce packaging where it is not absolutely necessary. Restaurants, in particular, have seen sustainable packaging options widely expanded to include compostable and recyclable packaging. According to Globe News Wire, the biodegradable packaging market will reach a value of USD$126.85 billion by .
Single-use packaging is taking a huge toll on our environment. Almost all food containers we see in grocery stores &#; typically made of glass, metal, plastic, or paperboard &#; cannot be reused for their original function, such in the case of aluminium cans and most plastic bags. However, food contamination is a big consideration. Though some types of packaging might be suitable to be reused, some experts have raised hygiene concerns in replacing single-use food service ware with reusable items, both within the food retail and the restaurant industries.
Another big hurdle that companies studying sustainable food packaging alternatives are trying to solve is over-packaging. Nowadays, food retailers tend to encase products in multiple layers. More often than not, food items such as fruit and vegetables are placed on a tray, wrapped in paper or plastic, and then placed into a paperboard box. On top of that, consumers might opt for a plastic bag to carry groceries home, adding to the already huge pile of waste generated from a single trip to the supermarket. Additionally, conventional materials are still extremely widespread worldwide despite a multitude of new sustainable alternatives entering the market every year. A survey found that over 80% of food packaging examined is not suitable for recycling.
Detail-oriented societies such as Japan &#; where quality, presentation, and customer satisfaction are particularly valued &#; are among the biggest culprits in terms of unnecessary packaging and waste generation. The United States alone produces an estimated 42 million metric tons of plastic waste each year &#; more than any other country in the world. Most of it occurs in grocery shops. A Greenpeace UK report found that every year, seven of the country&#;s top supermarkets are responsible for generating almost 60 billion pieces of plastic packaging &#; a staggering 2,000 pieces for each household. And in the European Union, the estimated packaging waste per capita in was 178.1 kilogrammes (392 pounds), with paper and cardboard making up the bulk of it, followed by plastic and glass.
While grocery stores are a major contributor to food packaging waste, the bulk of it is actually made up of waste from meals to go and restaurant delivery services. The takeaway industry is notorious for generating huge amounts of unnecessary waste. Eateries often wrap their food in aluminium or plastic foil or opt for Styrofoam containers, while beverages often come in their own carrier bags. In addition, most takeaway food comes with plastic cutlery, napkins, and straws. All these single-use plastics and packaging make up nearly half of the ocean plastic, a study found.
Several experts also point out that packaging waste from disposable takeaway containers and cutlery skyrocketed during the Covid-19 pandemic, as restaurants stepped up delivery services during the long months of lockdowns imposed around the world. In Hong Kong &#; a city with a population of nearly 7.5 million people &#; the pandemic outbreak in fuelled the use of more than 100 million disposal plastic items per week as food orders surged 55% compared to figures. In the US, plastic waste increased by 30% during the pandemic. This extensive increase in plastic consumption has resulted in an estimated 8.4 million tonnes of plastic waste generated from 193 countries since the start of the pandemic, 25,900 tonnes of which &#; equivalent to more than 2,000 double-decker buses &#; have leaked into the ocean, according to recent research.
What&#;s more, the issue with food packaging does not stop with waste generation. To produce plastic food packaging and drink bottles, gases need to be fracked from the ground, transported, and processed industrially, contributing millions of tons of greenhouse gas emissions. A large portion of which is methane, a greenhouse gas that is 25 times as potent as carbon dioxide.
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As we have mentioned before, plastic is by far the most popular food packaging material and yet aluminium, glass, and paper are still widely used. But why is there such a big variety and how do these types of packaging compare to each other?
Plastic is not only the most inexpensive and lightweight packaging material on the market, but because of its chemical composition, it can also easily be shaped into different forms and thus accommodate a huge range of food items. While some types of plastic packaging can be reused, styrofoam-like containers &#; mostly used in restaurants for takeaways and deliveries &#; are often impossible to recycle because of food contamination. Furthermore, most plastic items are designed for single-use, which makes this material even more problematic.
Furthermore, its production contributes high quantities of pollutants to the environment. For every kilogramme of fossil-based plastic produced, there are between 1.7 and 3.5 kilogrammes of carbon dioxide released into the atmosphere. Plastic production utilises 4% of the world&#;s total fossil fuel supply, further emitting planet-warming greenhouse gases.
Glass guarantees protection and insulation for food items from moisture and gases, keeping the product&#;s strength, aroma, and flavour unchanged. It is also relatively cheap and easily reusable. However, the fact that it is easily breakable, heavy and bulky, and thus costlier to transport, makes it a less favourable alternative to plastics.
Glass containers used in food packaging are often surface-coated to provide lubrication in the production line and eliminate scratching or surface abrasion and line jams. While the coating increases and preserves the strength of the bottle, fossil fuels that drive this process as well as evaporation from the glass itself release polluting particles and CO2 gases into the atmosphere.
Aluminium is a great impermeable and lightweight packaging material, yet it is more expensive, requires hundreds of years to break down in landfills, and is more challenging to recycle than other alternatives because of the chemical processes it undergoes to be laminated, which make material separation an intricate operation.
Aluminium is commonly used to make cans and bags of crisps as well as takeaway items such as trays, plates, and foil paper, but various nonrenewable resources are required to create the material. Its production is the result of mined bauxite that is smelted into alumina through an extremely energy-intensive process that also requires huge amounts of water. Emissions deriving from aluminium production include greenhouse gases, sulfur dioxide, dust, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, and wastewater.
Despite no longer being the most popular food packaging materials, paper and paperboard are still widespread mainly because of their low cost. However, while there are some great reusable and often biodegradable packaging options, paper containers are nearly impossible to recycle when used to wrap food items. Not only because they lose strength from food condensation, it is also less safe to do so due to food contamination.
Surprisingly, paper requires even more energy to produce than plastic, sometimes up to three times higher. It takes approximately 500 kilowatt-hours of electricity to produce 200kg of paper, the average amount of paper that each of us consumes each year. That is approximately the equivalent of powering one computer continuously for five months. Furthermore, various toxic chemicals like printing inks, bleaching agents, and hydrocarbons are incorporated into the paper during the packaging&#;s development process. These toxic substances leach into the food chain during paper production, food consumption, and recycling through water discharges.
As we have seen, despite the advantages that make it extremely convenient for food suppliers to use them, some of the most popular food packaging materials are undoubtedly detrimental to the environment. And yet, it is not all bad news.
According to the latest Eco-Friendly Food Packaging Global Market Report, the global sustainable food packaging market is expected to grow from USD$196 billion in to over USD$210 billion in and up to USD$280 billion in . Indeed, an increasing number of companies and startups &#; mostly located in North America &#; are investing time and resources in the development of alternative packaging materials which are easy to recycle, reuse, compost, or biodegrade and thus have a very minimal environmental footprint.
As is the case in many other sectors, the food industry is undergoing a revolution in terms of finding sustainable solutions to reduce its impact on the environment and meet sustainable consumer demands. Startups and packaging companies have developed incredibly innovative and sustainable solutions to the classic food packaging materials and while they are still used in very small quantities around the world in comparison to glass, plastic, and paper, they have the potential to radically transform the sector.
Some examples include sustainable food packaging made with cornstarch, popcorn, and mushrooms, as well as innovative and biodegradable cutlery, plates, and containers realised with agro-industrial waste such as avocado pits.
EO&#;s Position: We have all the instruments we need to drastically reduce the detrimental impact of the food packaging industry on the environment. While consumers can do their part by shopping more consciously at grocery stores and bringing reusable containers when getting takeaway food, the situation will not change unless food retailers and restaurants step up the game as well. If we want to cut packaging waste, we need big companies to take the lead and make the necessary switch to more sustainable food packaging alternatives.
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