Sustainably Packaged – This Is How You Show It To Your Customers
4 Tips on How to Communicate Your Environmental Awareness When Packaging
“Do good, talk about it” This is a well-known principle. This also applies if you pack sustainably. Show your customers your environmental awareness and score with them for a competitive advantage. But how do your customers discover that they trust sustainability? Our four tips will help you!
Our tips
- Pack with renewable raw materials
- Send a message
- Inform your customers
- Act sustainably together
1. Pack with renewable raw materials
At first glance, how do you show your environmental awareness? Choose a natural look for your packaging. In many people’s eyes, the respect for the environment is mainly brown paper and cardboard, even if the white paper is equally sustainable. If you want to trust your customers’ first impression, it is best to use brown cups, bags, bowls, or plates. Advantages to the environment: its packaging is made of renewable raw materials.
In addition to paper and cardboard, other plant-based packaging materials are also visually attractive in terms of sustainability. For example, wooden bowls look particularly “natural” because they have not been processed into paper fibres. Solutions made from bagasse, bagasse, bamboo or hemp also have a natural appearance. Hemp is an ideal thermal packaging and even smells like hay naturally; in this way, it conveys the material’s natural characteristics not only visually but also in other senses.
These “pure” natural materials also highlight the high quality of their craftsmanship and the products they sell.
2. Send a message
Not only the material itself but also certain printed symbols that can quickly show your customers that the packaging is environmentally friendly. For example, the PEFC ™ or FSC © seal certifies that products made from wood, corrugated cardboard or paper come from sustainably managed forests. If your customers see the corresponding symbol on the packaging, they will immediately understand the respect for the environment. Even if recycled materials are printed on the packaging, you will get extra points.
Information on how to handle packaging is also helpful. In the case of double-sided paper, paper and plastic can be easily separated from each other; for example, it is particularly useful to use a label to indicate this possible separation. In this way, you show that the conscientious use of resources is important to you. Your customers can do what they can.
If the packaging is particularly innovative in terms of sustainability, it is ideal if there is adequate information. For example, at RAUSCH, there is a “natural” bag made of 100 Cellulose, which is even suitable for most items. The printed matter informs the end consumer and states that the bag is compostable. In this way, the packaging can also be handled properly.
You will sometimes find such “messages” on products within the scope of the RAUSCH standard. However, if you print the packaging separately, you have more options. Include sustainability, product or disposal information in your design to convince and inform your customers in a compelling way.
3. Inform your customers
In addition to packaging, use all your communication channels to convey your sustainability information to your customers, whether on the counter, billboard or online. This is an ideal choice, especially when sustainable benefits cannot be seen immediately (for example, if the material is not displayed visually or the corresponding impression is impossible).
For example, PET or PLA acts like traditional plastics, but they are more environmentally friendly because they contain recyclable ingredients or renewable raw materials.
However, your customers will not know unless you tell them. If not on the packaging, handling instructions are also very important. Taking bagasse as an example, it can be pointed out that the material can be composted. If the packaging helps keep its contents fresh for longer, please let us know! In this way, your customers pack what they buy, reducing the waste of one kind of food or another.
You can place this sustainable information in many ways: You can use a display or information booklet at the counter or in the store. You can also integrate it into your advertising materials, such as brochures or posters. This information can also be easily placed on your website. If visitors want to learn more about your business online, they will read it immediately and leave a good impression on you. Social networks are also ideal in this regard. Always plan appropriate posts on these topics and let your fans know the sustainability of your packaging.
4. Act sustainably together
Last but not least, you can involve your customers in sustainable actions and integrate you into their environmental activities. For example, your guests can enjoy their bagasse snacks on the spot and set appropriate processing options. If you collect them separately, you can throw them into the organic trash can.
If you have reusable containers, please encourage them to do so. If you use hemp packaging, your customers have many options for reusing this material: from insulating wool for plants to bedding for rodents. Even if high-quality gift packaging is used, its double benefits are worth noting.
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