Bedding packaging: 3 reasons to switch to eco-friendly packaging
Bedding packaging : 3 reasons to switch to eco-friendly packaging
Thanks to its countless benefits – malleability, durability, aesthetic properties – plastic had become unavoidable in the packaging industry. According to the Plastics Europe’s Market Research and Statistic Group study, plastic demand for the European market in 2019 had reached 50.7 million tonnes. No surprise, it is in the packaging sector the demand is the highest with 39.6% of total demand.
But we can no longer turn a blind eye to the negative impact of plastic pollution on our environment. Given the huge utilization of this material in the packaging sector, it is necessary to rethink how we use it and find more sustainable alternatives.
At Accent Diffusion, creating and developing home textile and bedding packaging (quilts, pillows, blankets…) is our core business since 1994. Strong of this experience and convinced that we can contribute at our level to have a positive impact, we developed WOOPAK® – a range of eco-friendly packaging. More than ever, implementing in your business sustainable packaging solutions will be essential for the following reasons:
The regulatory trend is moving more and more against plastic packaging and single use
Recently, several measures had been taken to regulate the use of plastic on the European Union market. At this time, only single-use plastics are concerned. The Single-Use Plastics (SUP) Directive approved in May 2019 aims to reduce pollution from single-use plastics items most found in the environment and our oceans. Single-used goods are products only used once or for a short period of time, before being thrown away. To achieve this target, a dozen of single-use plastic products (plastic cotton buds, straws, plates, cutlery…) will be progressively banned between mid-2021 and 2026. Reuse systems and reusable alternatives will be encouraged to replace these products. All European countries are expected to adapt their national laws to be conformed to the SUP Directive by the next coming years.
How is this impacting home textile and bedding packaging?
This highlights that from now, the industry will have to consider 2 new key parameters when conceiving a packaging:
- It should last and be reused
- It should be made in more sustainable materials
The total removal of the packaging could be the most eco-friendly solution in some sectors. But for the bedding market, the difficulty to correctly wash pillows and quilts without damaging them and for hygienic reasons, this solution is not the most appropriate.
Some retailers have already been further than limitating only single-use plastics. They had anticipated the changes. In their supermarkets, pillows and quilts packaging in plastic had been switched this year by sustainable alternatives made in kraft or bio-based materials.
Consumer behaviour toward packaging is going more eco-responsible
At a consumer’s level the willingness to use more sustainable and eco-friendly packaging is clearly increasing. According to a study from Two sides on European Packaging Preferences published in 2020 :
"70% of consumers are actively taking steps to reduce their use of plastic packaging"
"48% of consumers would avoid retailers that are not actively trying to reduce their use of non-recyclable plastic packaging"
Consumers are more and more aware of ecological issues and will therefore be more and more sensible to the kind of packaging provided to them. Offering them reusable, recyclable packing bags and made from eco-friendly materials could really make the difference for the most eco-conscious consumers. They don’t want to choose between their ecological convictions and a packaging. A sustainable packaging could be a strong advantage to make a difference toward the market.
Sustainable material alternatives suitable to bedding packaging are now existing
Environmental awareness has positively led to a race for innovation in various sectors.
Since a few years, plenty possibilities had appeared on the market to replace plastic packaging in a more sustainable way. Our challenge at WOOPAK® was to identify the ones suitable to our specific’s products. To package mostly pillows and quilts, the material we used is required to be of course sustainable but also resistant to the weight of the products, tear-resistant and if possible customisable. The results of our research based on our expertise had focused on the following solutions:
- Bio-based materials also called plant-based materials. They are derivative from an organic organism - mostly plants - that had been highly processed. For our purposed, we worked mostly with cellulosic materials such as kraft or biodegradable wood fibre cellulose. The main reasons are because they are easily recyclable in our existing paper recycling industry and it is possible to functionalise cellulosic fibres to give them plastic-like properties (resistance, possibilities to be stitched and add a zip) without impacting their recyclability.
- Natural fibre such as organic cotton is a really good alternative for a reusable packaging with a natural component with a high durability
- Recycled RPET. Nothing is all white or black with plastic material. Plastic should still be considered as a solution if it is a recycled and recyclable plastic. It will contribute to reduce the carbon footprint of the packaging and participate in the development of a circular economy. Its choice will mainly depend on the local market habits and its capacity to well recycle and manage the end of life of the product.
At WOOPAK®, we think that all these solutions are complementary and depend on several factors – the products, the customers behaviour, the capacity of the country where the product is implemented to recycle the material used.
We are working to disrupt the classic bedding packaging and propose innovative and sustainable packaging bags that will contribute actively to face tomorrow’s challenges.
Don’t hesitate to discover more about our WOOPAK® eco-friendly and 2.0 packing bags just here