How to turn e-commerce circular with reusable packaging

With reusable packaging, any e-commerce retailer in 2024 has the opportunity to be right at the forefront of powerful and meaningful change by being actively involved in the construction and implementation of a new circular, global economy.

The Circular Economy isn’t just about creating sustainable products and services. It is about extending the life of these products by keeping them in circulation for as long as possible. Of course, this doesn’t just mean the items consumers order online (for example, there's been an encouraging upwards surge in the secondhand fashion market in recent years). No, we're talking about the boxes and mailers in which these products are delivered, as well as the way in which they are delivered, returned and then re-delivered.

Ecommerce retailers have already embraced eco-friendly packaging. They’ve eschewed single use plastic for biodegradable cardboard and swapped polystyrene packaging peanuts for void fill manufactured from compostable materials. Packaging companies have listened to their feedback (as well as that of consumers) and in many cases spearheaded the drive to ensure that the stock on offer is produced from sustainable sources, that trees are replanted, that carbon footprints can be made as small as possible, that anything going to be thrown away is biodegradable and compostable.

Recyclable packaging materials, however, are only the tip of the iceberg. They're one end of the chain as it were and to close the chain's loop, to be truly sustainable, e-commerce - working closely with the packaging industry - must redefine its returns processes. This doesn’t just apply to those companies with a high percentage of returns, i.e., the fashion industry, it’s applicable to any business that sends their customer a product in a box, mailer or envelope.

Why is sustainability surrounding the returns process vital for circular e-commerce?

Let's take a look at the reasons why a sustainable returns process is vital if a truly circular e-commerce model is to be achieved.

To reduce waste

Globally, the amount of packaging thrown away annually is enormous and, as it currently stands, a significant amount of what is thrown away is single use plastic. Even if a percentage of packaging is reused by the consumer in what has come to be termed as opportunistic re-use and even if it isn't single use plastic and biodegrades naturally without harming the environment, it’s a fact that once taken out of circulation, this packaging still qualifies as ‘waste’. Someone has to get rid of it and someone else has to replace it.

For a successful circular economy, steps must be taken to reduce waste significantly and if possible, eliminate it entirely. Reducing waste by establishing infrastructures to strategically reuse, recycle, refurbished and repair would mean far less reliance on raw materials (oil, gas, wood, etc.) and fewer carbon emissions (typically, recycling a used product consumes less energy than producing a 'new' one).

To improve environmental impact

Waste leads neatly onto environmental impact because the two are inextricably linked. Even if waste is disposed of correctly, it will end up in large landfill sites. Additionally, it places huge stress on infrastructures that are already outdated, overburdened and inadequate.

It's a worrying fact that many countries have been getting rid of their waste problem by offloading it onto other countries and most of these countries are even less equipped than the place of origin to deal with the sheer amount and complexity of waste products. This leads to both short and long-term negative effects. As a last resort, rubbish is often simply dumped. Ecosystems, air and water quality as well as soil health are compromised. Pollution and toxins leach into the soil and pass through waste water treatment systems, impacting marine life, plants, livestock, cattle and ultimately, human beings.

This is why it is not enough to produce packaging that is recyclable or recycled. After all, what is the point of a product being recyclable if there aren't universal systems in place to recycle it? In order to conserve, protect and nurture eco-systems, protect the health and wellbeing of diverse peoples across the globe, as well as that of our planet, the answer is simple: we must throw fewer things away.

To increase profitability

Reducing waste not only causes less harm to the environment, it also protects a company's own bottom line. Streamlining a returns process, even by as little as 5%, has been shown to impact profitability significantly. This profitability can, in turn, be put towards improving methods of packaging, systems infrastructures and employing the most up to date digital technology, all of which have the power not only to reduce waste considerably, but also enable a business to continue to offer incentives like free returns, thereby also keeping customers happy and loyal.

The single use issue and the current returns process

Product returns in the world of e-commerce have become a huge source of waste (additional or unnecessary packaging and increased carbon footprint), inefficiency (time and labour spent) and frustration (customer). Unfortunately, returns are inevitable and customers have come to expect that they will be both free in terms of financial cost and free in terms of hassle.

The returns process traditionally used by e-commerce businesses has come about as the result of two phenomena.

Roundabout the middle of the last century, consumers were encouraged to embrace a single-use, throw away culture. Partly a marketing ploy to overburdened housewives and partly as a result of the manufacture of materials such as plastic, single-use was our friend, not our enemy and it made our lives easier, cleaner and less expensive due to lower manufacturing costs.

Then, in recent years, there's been the e-commerce boom and the industry's attempt to establish and improve their foothold in competitive sales' marketplaces as well as their desire to entice and retain customers - especially those favouring bricks and mortar shops. The promise of a simple return is one of the ways in which e-commerce demonstrates to consumers that buying online can be more convenient and cost-effective.

When you pair this established single-use mentality with the huge rise in e-commerce sales and demand for goods with next day delivery, it's not surprising that single-use packaging has proved so popular.

What is single-use packaging?

By definition, single use packaging is designed to be used once; it makes one trip where it is used and that's it. It's then recycled (often opportunistically) or disposed of. Its trajectory or purpose is a straight line: factory to end-user. What happens after that isn't guaranteed.

This might be a good time to point out that motivation behind the creation of single use packaging and indeed, the single use item, wasn't malign. The concept wasn't developed by a shadowy faced megalomaniac stroking a white cat in order to encourage us to be more wasteful.

It actually arose out of a common desire to make our lives easier, more hygienic, less expensive. Let's look a (very) quick look at three examples: household products, medicine and packaging. In terms of household products single use means less washing up (think disposable cutlery, plates, cooking trays, food containers, etc.). In terms of medicine, it means less cross contamination and therefore higher levels of patient safety as well as less time, energy and resources needed to re-sterilise effectively. And in terms of packaging - what concerns us in this article - it means reduced inventory and storage costs as well as lightweight and cost-effective but robust, secure containers.

So, single use is by no means bad and we should resist the temptation to make its definition wholly nefarious. It's a fact that single use products have improved many facets of existence. But... when we talk about throwing away after use, what we need to accept is that there is no 'away'. It all has to go somewhere. So, as habits shift and the percentage of shoppers buying online steadily increases, it is imperative that we address rapidly growing levels of waste caused by the issue of single use packaging.

Luckily, consumers are also becoming wise to the part they need to play. After all, the idea isn't an entirely alien concept. Lots of reusable packaging is already successfully in use, take Tesco's plastic creates for food deliveries, for example, or the mesh bags you put your loose vegetables in at Aldi. There's been a resurgence of milk deliveries so once again the sight of glass bottles on the doorstep are familiar and we all know how beer is transported to pubs. The transport industry has always reused wooden pallets, dunnage and containers, as have the automotive industries, it's nothing new. With creativity and innovation, anything is possible.

Overhauling the returns process

There are a few conventional solutions to overhauling the returns process. Any e-commerce business can do an audit and in-depth analysis to see where to streamline for profitability, sustainability and accessibility.

Options might include incentives, partnerships, donation programmes, all to make it worth customers' while to cut down on waste. Businesses might decide to resell returned products at discounted prices rather than simply disposing of anything that isn't in tip top condition. They may use digital technology, i.e., automation, to monitor their impact on the environment and see where they can make even minor improvements and adjustments.

However, perhaps the single biggest thing e-commerce companies can do in the transition towards less waste and a circular economy - the step that is the most vital - is to re-define (and re-name) their single use or single ship packaging.

The True Solution

To reach a true solution, creativity and innovation is needed to come up with a form of packaging that can exist - robust, hygienic and sustainable - as it travels in a continual loop between e-commerce business and consumer.

As already stated above, reusable packaging has been used very successfully in specific cases and although these examples lend themselves to the back and forth (groceries to customer, back to shop, etc.), the trick is to come up with an option which demonstrates to e-commerce and its consumers that it is possible (and cost-efficient) to turn all single ship packaging into that which is reusable.

Now, of course, the material this packaging is made from is important, so all the work that's gone into compostability and biodegradability hasn't been in vain by any means, but now, in order to be wholly circular and to come up with a solution that isn't a knee-jerk reaction or a marketing gimmick, delivery systems need to be developed that can be used multiple times over a lengthy time span before being recycled.

The circular collapsible box

At RepeatPack we've developed an innovative solution which can be used with existing systems making single shipment packaging options returnable. Products can be dispatched in a protective paperboard mailer specifically developed with circularity in mind.

Now when the consumer receives their parcel, the packaging doesn't need to be recycled. Instead, a deceptively simple design means the mailer collapses flat becoming a fraction of its original size. This is pivotal because it means that it's able to be returned back to the e-commerce business for the lowest possible postage fee. And of course, once returned - and sanitised if necessary - the box can be reused. It will be cost neutral by the third return, saving the e-commerce business money from then on.

To conclude

In spite of being produced increasingly from environmentally-friendly 'green' materials, the single use packaging issue will be a thorn in the side of e-commerce industries if it's not addressed.

For all its initial good intentions, single use packaging must now evolve to offer a solution fitting for a circular economy and in order to reduce waste and lessen the impact on the environment, it's imperative that packaging is as reusable as the products it's transporting.

But it's not all stick. As we've shown, there's lots of carrots too. The materials, technology and innovation needed to develop and manufacture such packaging solutions already exist. The packaging already exists. Boxes and envelopes that can be reused time and time again won't just protect the planet, they will also save money and reduce inefficiency thereby boosting profitability and consumers will be impressed too.

It really can be as simple as eat, sleep, package, repeat. Contact RepeatPack today to find out how we can help you turn your e-commerce business circular, and join the reuse revolution for a more sustainable tomorrow.