How to Make Your CPG Business More Environmentally Friendly?
Think of an average day. What is your paper consumption? Do you hand out business cards? Insert thank you notes in your deliveries? Print out your purchase orders? While very common for CPG businesses, these tasks can damage the environment.
According to The World Counts, "93% of paper comes from trees, 50% of businesses' waste is paper, and packaging makes up one-third or more of our trash. An increased paper production will also add further pressure on the world's forests, which are already in a critical state - and constantly worsening. From 2001 to 2019, 386 million hectares of forest were lost globally (in all forest types combined). This loss represents an almost 10 % decrease in tree cover since 2000."
So as CPG entrepreneurs, what can we do? Here are some recommendations:
Two for One: Instead of using paper inserts in product packaging, invest in soil paper, which can be used to write "thank you" notes and then planted.
Reduce Fuel Emissions, Ship in Bulk: Shipping products is costly for the entrepreneur, customer, and environment. If e-commerce is a significant business component, consider selling in bundles instead of shipping one product, the same fuel can be used to deliver 30 items.
Digital Business Cards: According to CleanTechLoops, almost 90% of business cards are discarded a week after being handed out. Each year 100 billion business cards are produced worldwide, leading to the potential loss of approaching 6 million trees." Check out HiHello, a digital business card and contact software.
Get Consumers Involved: Take suggestions from your followers, who can provide tips on alternative options. Ask how they reuse your product – maybe turning a beverage bottle into a vase.
Learn: Subscribe to green newsletters, follow sustainable influencers, and check out websites dedicated to making CPG more eco-friendly. Check out "How CPG Products Can Be Sustainable" for ideas.
In "Entrepreneurship – A Sustainable Career in More Ways Than One," we highlighted women entrepreneurs selling products with the environment in mind. However, we took the conversation one step further in this blog post. We asked fellow founders how business owners can incorporate eco-friendly practices in their day-to-day operations.
Here are their responses.
"In today's world, eco-friendly involves a shift in the mindset. We have all advanced towards a very fast-paced life that needs more and more convenience and accounts for the single-use culture and the environmental damage. But honestly, consumers are not to blame as they will constantly adapt to the most available, accessible, and convenient. Hence, it is up to us brand creators to be mindful of our practices and innovate to add convenience and allow consumers to move to more sustainable and circular formats.
Three suggestions
Switch to minimalist and recyclable packaging.
Become B Corp Certified
Partner with environmental organizations like 1% for the Planet
Ultimately, we all must learn to be mindful of our choices. Everything we do or buy impacts the world we all live in, and everyone must make the right choices and contribute to a sustainable future."
Vandita Joshi, ZYLCH
"As a CPG company, we are conscious of our products' environmental impact. Therefore, we encourage reuse whenever possible. We offer mini bottles and sampler sizes perfect for reuse when eating, traveling, at work, or enjoying nature. Refill the miniature bottle with your regular size and take it on the go. Additionally, we are exploring a bring back program where customers can bring back their empty container, receive a discount and get a refill (instead of discarding the original plastic bottle)."
Makieda Hart, SGT. Hart BBQ Sauce
"The best tip I ever received in trying to be more sustainable is to learn about the science of materials. So many conventional materials marketed as the 'best' option are synthetic and toxic. It's our job as entrepreneurs to do the due diligence on all the materials we are using. For example, we make biodegradable menstrual pads. We had the option to use a super absorbent gel inside. However, after learning the gel was not plant-based, we did not use the super absorbent polymer (SAP). We are now trying to find other plant-based materials safer for the Rif care pads!"
Val Emanuel, Rif care
"We faced a dilemma when we launched Shiki Wrap - a startup on a mission to change gift giving for good with sustainable gift wrap. How do we package our product when it is focused on diverting packaging from landfills? We were very intentional and decided to use water-activated tape from EcoEnclose.This tape is super strong, customizable, and easy to apply. This is an easy switch you can make in your packaging today to communicate to customers that you value sustainability without sacrificing utility."
Meagan Downey, Shiki Wrap
"Let's go beyond just reducing plastic waste and consider the impact of toxic waste on our planet. Sustainability means ensuring that every aspect of our lifecycle - from the ingredients we source to how our products degrade - has a minimal environmental impact. At Pure Mitti, we believe nature has provided us with everything we need for survival. That's why we only use natural ingredients in their raw form to ensure maximum efficiency and potency. For example, our natural hair products are composed of only herbs that cleanse, nourish, condition, and promote hair growth. They come in glass jars, which reduces plastic waste, and when rinsed off, the herbs are wholly septic-safe and encourage microbial life in the soil.”
Suniti Ramanujam, Pure Mitti
"Reduce food waste in production, whether through composting or upcycling. Upcycled products prevent food waste by creating new, high-quality products from surplus food. Check out Upcycled Food for more information. Food and beverage companies also buy ingredients from suppliers, prioritizing sustainable practices. Remember, no brand is perfect, but sharing your sustainability story is important. Consumers, especially those that are considered Millennials or Generation Z, value transparency in the products they purchase. Progress is better than perfection. Never stop growing and continue to research ways to do better."
Reyanne Mustafa, 2021 Pitch Competition Runner-Up
What unites these entrepreneurs is the courage to challenge the status quo, innovative thinking to solve a problem, and a purpose of making money, but not the determinant of the environment. Here are three additional ways CPG businesses can reduce their carbon footprint.