Why Today’s Customers Prefer Planet-Friendly Paper Products
The world is rapidly changing. Whether better or worse, no one is exactly sure but one good thing about today is how more younger consumers are opting to take responsibility for the environment– something the previous ones seemed to have forgotten about.
In this era of pandemics and climate change, jumping aboard the sustainable development bandwagon seems like the only solution we can all do to reverse the effects of wanton waste disposal. Globally, people generate over two billion tonnes of municipal waste with a third of that number not being managed properly and seeping deep to contaminate the soil and groundwater where we grow food and take water from. In the country alone, Filipinos produced over 21.4 million metric tons of waste last year.
Despite all of our efforts to manage the world’s waste properly, such viruses as the coronavirus will continue to emerge if we do not get our act together. With the increase of food deliveries during lockdown periods, more paper packaging with limited sustainable benefits are being generated in Philippine households and ending up unrecycled or incarcerated to pollute the air.
Thanks to companies with a heart of the environment such as Ezee Prints, a Manila-based packaging solutions which uses eco-friendly materials in its product, rethinking how to manufacture paper packaging and spreading the word on proper disposal are enlightening more consumers about sustainable development.
Taking baby steps toward zero-waste
More companies are going green today and the reasons are obvious. With more consumers preferring environmentally and socially conscious brands in the market globally, the shift to more sustainable paper packaging is driving higher sales for more companies. In the U.S. and Canada, 70% of consumers say they buy eco-friendly brands, with 69% of the respondents willing to shell out a little premium spending for recycled products.
Similar initiatives have already been taken abroad as early as 2007 with stores in San Francisco encouraging their customers to use paper bags instead of plastics. Here at home, Republic Act 9003 or the Ecological Solid Waste Management Act of 2001 was enacted to address the growing wanton disposal of solid waste in the country.
However, it was only later in the past decade that the law developed some form of political will when local government units (LGUs) showed leadership in implementing zero-waste targets in their locale. San Fernando City in Pampanga was one of the earliest achievers of this goal when it reinforced its recycling and composting efforts for a 78% waste diversion record in 2017 from a measly 12 % five years prior. The highly urbanized area of Fort Bonifacio in Taguig has also reported that 92% of the waste they generate is properly managed during the same period and many more LGUs are now emulating the same model.
The advantages of going for paper-friendly packaging
For paper producing companies, there are a few challenges to consider when going green such as printing, the procurement of more sustainable raw materials, and overhead cost in producing them. While investing in machinery that produces more planet-friendly paper products can cut quite a slice in a company’s budget, the returns are still promising in the long run.
Below are just some of the advantages green brands get to enjoy by cutting down on their carbon footprint and investing in sustainable paper packaging:
Responsible business
Now that even small sellers via the internet are considered legitimate businesses, investing in green marketing is one of the best ones you can take for both environmental and industrial responsibility. Today, more ordinances at the local level are being implemented, mainly with single-use plastics being scratched out of the market for food deliveries and packaging of goods from brick-and-mortar stores.
Adopting a more environmentally friendly business model also has its long-term advantages for micro-small-medium enterprises (MSMEs). For one, it promotes brands as socially responsible business entities that address the pain points of today’s largest consumer groups who choose sustainable brands over signatures for more online marketing engagement, following, and conversion.
Green Marketing
Even large-producing companies are also expected to align themselves with the Road Map Process set by the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) to drive the Green Economic Development (GED) goals across all industries. Ezee Prints is one such company that heeds the call for the GED goals by practicing the responsible use of natural resources and by integrating sustainable efforts in its production of paper packaging products.
From the company’s range of planet-friendly products for an array of uses that include banners, signages, business cards, tickets, invitations, stickers, paper packaging, and other marketing materials, Ezee Prints continue to observe and develop their ecological best practices in their operations and logistics. These sustainable investments also translate to bigger sales for their wide clientele who also opt to go green by increasing their sales and online presence through better branding. Best of all, the consumers they influence with their initiatives that benefit the environment all have the potential to become walking billboards for their brands.
More green returns
In every business, the issue of overhead costs is always a huge matter and going green is not at all cheap. However, contrary to what many think and as stated earlier, investing in planet-friendly paper packaging can have promising returns in the long run.
Internationally, studies confirm that companies that are considered environmental leaders outperform the general stock while also increasing their respective revenues. With the now stronger political will on environmental laws and programs by the government, it’s not at all far-fetched that businesses that follow the same route can experience significant gains into the future.
To sum it all up and as in all types of business, spending some green (as in money) for more green (as in profit) is the typical cycle. On the other hand, when you adopt a more environmentally friendly operation, spending green (money) on green initiatives (planet-friendly products) can triple your green receivables (profit) way more significantly as you progress your business into the future. And that’s undeniably a win-win deal for both your business and the planet that’s worth taking.