Sustainable Packaging Strategies Are Missing the Forest for the Trees

It has become commonly accepted that paper packaging is always better than plastic, and some emerging legislation is pushing this narrative. One example is California’s recent policy expanding its single-use plastic bag ban. In July, the Biden administration announced its plastic pollution strategy and commitment to phasing out single-use plastics in federal operations.

Unfortunately, many of these policies take a simplistic view of a complex environmental system and end up increasing demand for alternative materials, many of which carry their own sustainability burdens. To effectively tackle these plastic bag bans, I’d like to see bans also include fees imposed on the use of virgin paper.

Single-use plastic packaging is terrible for our oceans and wildlife, and there’s no denying that the consumption of fossil-fuel-derived packaging needs to be slashed. Banning plastic bags, a packaging solution that is hard to recycle and can readily leak into our natural environment, could be a powerful step forward.

But environmental issues are deeply interwoven. You can’t make forward progress unless you address all the moving parts.

Recyclability is only part of the story

Policies tend to zoom in on packaging’s end-of-life, but they often miss the bigger picture. For most packaging, well over 85% of the environmental impact comes from the early stages of its lifecycle, so an exclusive focus on disposal is misguided. End-of-life needs consideration, but in many cases policies that exclusively address recyclability and compostability only tell a portion of the story.

Outlawing a single material or packaging solution inevitably pushes up demand for others. When responding to single-use plastic bans, brands and retailers often turn to paper packaging, believing it to be the best alternative. 

We’ve seen this at my company, EcoEnclose, where we help brands implement sustainable packaging solutions that align with their broader business objectives: More and more businesses are going plastic-free and turning to paper. But while paper can be a great option, it carries its own ecological downsides. It is well documented that paper bags consume more resources and emit a higher carbon footprint than the plastic bags they are replacing. 

However, less is written about the pressure paper packaging puts on forests.

Three billion trees are cut down each year to produce paper packaging

Every second, 95 trees are cut down for paper packaging. Over a year, that’s three billion trees, and if you were to clear those trees from one patch of land, the area would be nearly as big as the whole of Germany. 

At the same time, overall deforestation rates are climbing globally. Protecting our world’s primary forests is one of our best and most cost-efficient strategies for curbing climate change. I’m fully aware that logging for paper is only one of the contributing factors to these accelerating deforestation rates; nonetheless, it plays a part. 

The world cannot and should not halt its use of virgin paper completely — paper can’t be endlessly recycled, so you need to introduce virgin paper into the stream at some point. However, we can reduce our reliance on trees by maximizing our use of paper made with post-consumer waste (PCW) and diversifying the paper fiber basket.

Fees on virgin paper use would address this. 

Businesses would be incentivized to drive up their recycled content levels, hopefully with a particular focus on PCW. Additionally, I hope they would be incentivized to pursue promising next-generation alternatives to trees. There are some groundbreaking innovations out there that can help fill the gap, from agricultural waste such as wheat straw and cotton linters to on-purpose crops like hemp and miscanthus, where production has been shown to strengthen soil.

Looking beyond material innovations

Our options aren’t limited to material innovations, either. Launching responsible reuse and refill models is another example of a packaging alternative that can mitigate the production of single-use plastic without placing more pressure on other raw materials. Of course, these models must demonstrate enough use cycles to produce a clear, positive environmental impact and be more than a marketing ploy, but I have seen how effective these initiatives can be when done right. Brands are attracted to responsible, well-rounded packaging policies.

All-in-all, policies that address the negative impact of one material, but don’t do enough to encourage positive innovations and sustainable solutions, fall short. 

Encouragingly, we have seen the beginnings of plastic ban policies that prioritize boosting recycled content. In California, for example, paper bags must reach a 40% recycled content threshold. Still, for plastic policies to have the genuinely positive environmental impact we desperately need, they must go further.

Coupling plastic bans with fees on the use of virgin paper would encourage businesses to scrutinize their packaging more closely and take a thorough, step-by-step approach when shifting away from plastic. This is pivotal — companies need to consider their packaging choices alongside their other core priorities. Through EcoEnclose, I’ve seen how transformative this can be in a brand’s journey toward sustainable packaging — a holistic approach, with proper interrogation of packaging materials, can make all the difference.

Reasons to be optimistic

There is cause for optimism. With increasing PCW and recycled content thresholds, and materials like seaweed, agricultural waste, and on-purpose crops to transform packaging solutions, the future has great potential. 

But, to get there, national and state legislators must look again at their approach to sustainability policies, particularly when it comes to material bans. We must take a systems view, considering the resulting uptake in alternative materials, and interrogating the entire lifecycle of any packaging solution. 

As for the policies already in place, like single-use plastic bag bans, let’s roll out fees on the use of virgin paper. Our primary forests are one of our most precious tools in the fight against climate change — we can’t be reckless with that.