polystyrene Tag

04 Dec 2008 In a Rotten Economy, Green Packaging Is More Important than Ever

Some fear that a rotten economy will spoil the green packaging movement. The thinking goes, if people must choose between saving the world and saving their business, they'll save their business. That's true. However, the underlying assumption there is that green packaging is more expensive and therefore bad for business. That assumption is incorrect. Green packaging is (or should be) less expensive, and therefore more valuable than ever in times of economic hardship. It's important to distinguish between a packaging product's purchase cost and cost in use. Some green packaging carries a higher purchase cost than the non-green alternative, and some green packaging doesn't. Recycled packaging papers are less expensive than virgin equivalents. Recycled plastic materials can go either way, but are generally lower priced. What's more significant is the cost in use of green packaging. A green packaging strategy (and it's important to think about packaging as a whole, not look at packaging components individually) should reduce overall cost -