Eco-Friendly Ideas For Sustainable Packaging

When Sun Basket's head of user experience, Tyler MacNiven, found out that "90 percent of Sun Basket's packaging was not being returned and was ending up in a landfill," he knew he had to do something about it. The company wanted to offer an easy way for customers to recycle and compost the products at home without sacrificing freshness and quality of food.

Hence came the invention of fully recyclable and compostable packaging solutions, including new insulation, ice packs and compostable bags. The new insulation liner is made from a polyethylene terephthalate (PET) fiber, and the ice packs are filled with 98 percent water and 2 percent non-GMO cotton. Even if the compostable ingredient bags "do" end up in a landfill, they are suitable for anaerobic breakdown, which means they will decompose.

The zero-waste movement has been picking up speed as more companies and organizations seek new ways to reduce waste. You might recall Walmart's commitment to selling slightly damaged fruit or Starbucks' announcement to trial fully recycled coffee cups in its UK shops.

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Now, Sun Basket is "taking significant steps toward providing the most eco-friendly packaging to [its] customers," Adam Zbar, Sun Basket CEO and founder, says. According to a release, the company "is expected to divert over five million pounds of waste from municipal landfills within the first twelve months." That is some serious sustainability power.