As packaging experts you already take on a lot: working with hard to please CEO’s, consumers and marketing people, whose ideas are often easier expressed than executed. So, it’s understandable that one more thing added onto your ever expanding plate might seem undoable but this “thing” is vital—it’s repurposing your packaging.
For many packaging designers, our products have one intended use. Our packaging –which we’ve spent many hours designing, redesigning and so on—is meant to showcase products to the world.
The problem is, once the retail bags are emptied or the custom restaurant packaging no longer holds scrumptious food, that’s the end of the line for its “usefulness”. Of course, some of the merchandise bags and custom paper shopping bags get recycled but the majority does not. It heads off to the landfills and with it, all the effort you’ve put into creating your brand equity.
So, what’s the solution? Designing for upcycling. Whereas recycling takes your packaging and breaks it down so its’ base materials can be remade into a new product, often of lesser quality, upcycling doesn’t break down the materials. Instead, upcycling often refashions the original into something else useful –typically of the same quality as the original. Upcycling helps you retain brand equity over an extended period of time as your packaging takes on more usefulness.
If you’re looking to make a positive impact on your financials and the environment, reuse will ensure both and extend the presence of your packaging in a consumer’s life.
Looking for better packaging solutions that use less and save more? Contact the packaging specialists at Morgan Chaney. From retail bags to custom restaurant packaging, our full range of competitively-priced custom products are sure to meet your needs. Call Morgan Chaney at 866-637-2270 to get started today!