Reusable

Why choose it

Reusable packaging can be a worthy gesture when considering exactly how a product fits into a customer’s lifestyle. This consideration can build brand loyalty and make your product easier to use. Consider frozen food that ships with a cooler bag for easy travel, or a set of toys that comes with a cotton drawstring bag to keep all of the pieces together, long after it ships.

Why not choose it

Manufacturing reusable packaging typically has a higher upfront cost and environmental impact than a single-use alternative. To reduce the overall environmental impact it is therefore essential that the item is actually reused in practice².

Material footprint is the primary tradeoff when choosing any reusable alternative to single-use packaging. For example, equipping plastic bags with thicker material or zippers increases the material footprint of an item. Alternatively, fabric bags last longer, though it should be noted that the environmental impact of fabric is so high that it must be reused hundreds of times before it meets the environmental impact of plastic¹.

A 2018 study by Denmark’s ministry of environment and food found that a standard cotton bag would need to be reused 52 times to match the climate change impact of an LDPE bag. That number goes up to 7,100 times when accounting for water use, and energy use¹. Because fabrics like cotton draw heavily on resources, this investment can end up becoming an unnecessary drain on your budget and the environment.

If the packaging is ultimately not reused, the added material and energy is adding up to a footprint that’s likely higher than that of a single-use alternative. Messaging is essential to ensure that reusable packaging lives a long life.

For certain products, opt-out options may also be applicable so that customers can decide for themselves what they can and can’t use.