Today is the launch of a new movement called Slash Packaging. It's a living directory of brands that have a /packaging page on their website.
In his announcement, Stephan Ango, co-founder of Lumi and Slash Packaging shared why he believes packaging transparency is becoming essential to informing your customers and building trust with them.
Sustainability doesn't look the same for every business, and neither does a /packaging page, but a good /packaging page should answer a few key questions.
- What is your sustainability mission?
- What is your packaging made of?
- How should your customer best dispose of your packaging?
- How is your packaging optimized for low impact transit?
- What are your plans for a more sustainable future?
See how some of the pioneering brands in the Slash Packaging movement are answering these questions.
What is your sustainability mission?
There's a lot to talk about when we talk about sustainability, that's why we feel like it's best to start with a framework. Lumi created Sustainability Properties to help companies prioritize their sustainability efforts. Each property is a potential attribute to make your packaging more sustainable.
Starting with the Sustainability Properties framework can help you outline your mission and guide your packaging plan.
When you're sharing your plan on your packaging page, be open about where you're at and how you plan to keep improving, and use analytics to see how you're tracking throughout the year. Your top properties will also come in handy for sourcing. With Lumi you can select factories from the Lumi Marketplace based on sustainability properties and certifications.
Just remember that when you're choosing your top properties, prioritization is key, especially because one property may come at the expense of another. For example, if you want your packaging to be reusable and lightweight, you may not be able to keep it plastic free. Or if you want high recycled content and home compostability, there may be limitations for making your packaging reusable.
Seed: seed.com/packaging
- Right from the top, Seed lays the groundwork for their general sustainability mission.
- Throughout their business and their packaging, they're aiming for plastic-free packaging with high recycled content.
- Seed uses a refillable model. Reorders are shipped with compostable sachets.
Hungry Root: hungryroot.com/packaging
- A pledge for total honesty and transparency is a great place to start.
- Hungry Root is prioritizing curbside recyclability, volume reduction and weight reduction.
What is your packaging made of?
People can learn a lot about your packaging when they know what it's made of. It seems obvious, but it's worth digging into. The materials you choose not only inform your company's carbon footprint, they dictate best end-of-life practices.
To get customers onto your /packaging page, Lumi users can use Lumi ID. Customers scan a printed QR code to get a link to your /packaging page in addition to in-depth, manufacturer-level material specifications.
Misfits Market: misfitsmarket.com/packaging
- Misfits Market is spotlighting on every packaging item in their unboxing.
- For each item, there's material information, recovery information and a little bit about the design.
Bite: bitetoothpastebits.com/packaging
- With icons you can see, at-a-glance, which packaging items fit which properties.
- Consistent formatting makes it easy to compare each item.
How should customers dispose of your packaging?
Recovery properties — recyclability, compostability, reusability — are top of mind for most of the brands we talk to. Recovery drives big decisions around materials and messaging that could impact your overall carbon footprint. Recovery is also the phase that customers are most vocal about because they bear the brunt of the responsibility.
If sustainability is one of your brand values, your customers probably want to dispose of your packaging properly. For Lumi users, we suggest using Lumi ID to keep this information dynamic and linked directly to each item of packaging.
Keap: keapbk.com/packaging
- In addition to their composting advice, Keap offers multiple options to keep their glass vessels in use.
- Glass is infinitely recyclable and highly reusable.
Boie USA: boieusa.com/packaging
- Boie offers to take back their product from customers that may not have access to proper recycling.
- A takeback program may require beefing up your reverse logistics for bulk recycling or cleaning, but if the landfill is the most likely alternative — it's worth it!
How is your packaging optimized for low impact transit?
Shipping is where your sustainable packaging is put to work. Weight reduction and volume reduction are important ways to cut down on transit emissions, but you still have to protect your product. Lumi experts can help you find the right balance.
Even if you slim down as much as possible, you're still causing transit emissions. You may want to consider offsetting emissions from miles traveled to ship your products.
East Fork: eastfork.com/packaging
- East Fork explains how they optimize each order to ship in the smallest possible package while also protecting their heavy, breakable ceramics.
- They also mention conscious spending as part of their ethos, which leads to less returns.
Bite: bitetoothpastebits.com/packaging
- Bite toothpaste bits can ship in a small package, but they wanted to find another way to optimize.
- By sticking to existing postal routes, they're avoiding extra miles.
What are your plans for a more sustainable future?
True sustainability means replacing all of the resources that you take from the planet to run your business. That includes resources consumed to make your material, energy used to process those materials, greenhouse gases emitted in transit, and gases released in degradation. It's a lot.
Sustainability is a goal post and it takes some real effort to get there. Your customers want to hear about that effort. Outlining a plan with deadlines and strategies keeps your team on track and your customers in the loop.
Function of Beauty: functionofbeauty.com/packaging
- Over the past year, Function of Beauty updated their box design for serious print reduction.
- They also adapted their inserts to be more versatile for component reduction.
- As part of their plan for the future, they're focusing on recycled plastic bottles.
Proper Cloth: propercloth.com/packaging
Item by item, Proper Cloth presents a plan for improving various packaging pieces using language that's direct and actionable.
Transparency is the foundation of sustainability. We're excited to see more brands use these tools to create their own /packaging pages and share their journeys.
Join the movement at slashpackaging.org! Create a /packaging page by May 22, 2020 to be a pioneering member.
