One of our far-reaching goals here at Diaper Dabbler is to run an Earth-friendly, sustainable business. This is a pretty lofty goal. Believe it or not, there is a lot of time, energy and effort that goes into sourcing recycled or eco-friendly packaging for a small business. There is a delicate balance between making sure your products (ie. Diapers) are well-protected and packaged, and using packaging that meets your environmental standards. Obviously, the priority is in protecting and showcasing our product, but everywhere we can, we look to sustainable options in packaging.
To be transparent, the products that we sell might not be “green” (although we do love our lineup of eco-friendly disposable diapers), but we strive to use environmentally responsible packaging wherever we can.
I wanted to share with you what we’ve done so far in creating Earth friendly packaging, and what we are still working on. None of the links below are affiliate links. I don’t get paid to talk about these green packaging products. I’m just sharing the love, and maybe hoping to inspire others.
What we use:
We have used 100% recycled boxes from Pratt Plus Packaging. They hold up just as well as cardboard boxes from virgin sources (a.k.a. cutting down more trees), and look nice also. You can see just a few “flakes” in their boxes to let you know they are recycled, and I like that look. These boxes do cost a little more than “virgin” boxes, but the cost is well worth it.
We are currently testing a few other vendors for boxes. We are looking for recycled content in the cardboard boxes.
We use white tissue paper at PaperMart made from 60% recycled fibers. Recycled tissue paper looks exactly the same as virgin tissue paper, but made from (you guessed it) recycled paper.
Labels are a well-used product in packaging our products. The Diaper Sample Packages are labeled (twice), the packages are labeled, and the boxes are labeled for shipping. We go through a lot of labels! The labels we buy from OnlineLabels.com are made from recycled paper. I cannot see or tell the difference in the labels as far as the color, and they print just as great as their non-recycled counterparts.
When an order is small enough to fit in a padded envelope, we use recycled padded paper mailers from Papermart. Padded with paper pulp, this bag is made out of 77% recycled paper fibers and 62% post-consumer material.
The plastic bags that we seal our diaper samples in are virgin cello bags available from Papermart. I have not found a recycled content product that can safely, effectively and aesthetically showcase our Diaper Sample Packs. Cello bags, even as they are made from virgin materials, are plant-based and biodegradable!
We are intentional in the products we choose for shipping, but we also look to the products we receive from manufacturers with a sustainable eye. All packaging is evaluated to determine if it can be reused or recycled in some form. Packaging filler we receive is often reused in outgoing packages (as needed). Cardboard boxes can sometimes be reused and always recycled (shout out to my kid’s school paper drive!). Plastic diaper packaging is recyclable with household plastic shopping bags.
I don’t love getting packages with 25 pounds of extra garbage in them. Does anyone? You know the packages you get with all the extra mailers, and catalogs, and packing slips, and discount cards. Have you thought about how many trees that demolishes? Yikes. In your Diaper Dabbler package, you get your order. All prettied up, wrapped in tissue and lovely. You also get a Diaper Brand Rating Card, useful and simple. If your order is a gift, you may have requested a gift note with it. Nothing else. We do not ship our orders with a packing slip. If you don’t remember what you ordered, you can look it up online. No sense in wasting paper.
One thing you will get with you order is a free sample of eco-friendly baby wipes. How’s that for a useful, ecofriendly packaging filler?!
What we’re looking to in the future:
Gift wrap. Currently we use non-recycled beautiful white gift boxes and bows. They look great to give as a gift. But not so eco-friendly. We’ll be looking at adding in a recycled product to our gift wrap options in the future. Probably Kraft (brown colored) boxes with raffia bows/ribbon, but I’m open to inspiration. We’ll likely offer both options (traditional white box/colored bows and recycled Kraft box/raffia bows) to meet the needs of all gift-givers. Watch for this in the future. You can always sign up for our emails if you want to keep up to date on the latest updates to our product lines or follow us on Facebook or your favorite social media channel.
Paper. It takes a lot to admit it, but I don’t have recycled paper in my office. I know, how could that be?! I always buy in bulk (less packaging, less transportation resources), and that case of paper lasts a LONG time! Next box will be recycled content, I promise. Also, our Diaper Brand Rating Cards are printed on “normal” paper. Next time I order, I’ll be inquiring about recycled content paper for the cards.
We are working on using up our inventory of non-recycled packaging. If you place an order today, not all of your packaging may be up to our ideal environmental standards, because we have to use up the stock of what we already have. It is unwise (financially and ecologically) to just throw away product for no good reason. So, as we work through our stores of packaging products, please give us a little leeway in the green packaging department.
For all that we get right in our ecofriendly packaging, there is more that we can do. I always have an eye out for new or existing products that would fit our vision for eco-friendly packaging. If you know of any great eco-friendly packaging products, share it! If you sell them, I’d love to hear from you also. And thank you to all the businesses that make and use environmentally responsible packaging. We are making a difference in the world together.
