Sustainable Ecological Packaging from Recyclable Materials

The days are gone when anything we ate or drank came from the garden behind the house, or from the animals in the barn. Everything that people used to take from nature, they had to return. Life was modest by today’s standards, but in harmony with the environment. And because human curiosity along with innate laziness knows no bounds, we soon realize that there is literally black gold beneath our feet.

Yes, we are talking about oil, a cheap source of energy and the raw material needed to make plastics. Plastics have become an integral part of our lives. They are cheap, they are light, they can be used for almost anything. The problem with plastics and special packaging materials is that they usually end up in a landfill after using, where they do not decompose like compost in the garden. Unlike glass, they cannot be melted down and used over and over again. So it accumulates and no one knows what to do with it.

Although it might seem that we are not involved as a manufacturer of manicures and pedicures made from glass, we also have butter on our heads. For more than ten years of our operation, we have designed a wide range of plastic packaging. Some are for transport only, while others protect the glass nail file from breaking. So how do we get rid of a plastic waste?

Plastic-Free And Zero-Waste Shops

The first assumption is not to waste! Do not use the packaging where it is not needed. This was cleverly taken over by small zero-waste shops, where people go shopping with their own bag. Even glass nail files can be without sleeve. The soft PVC sleeve does not protect the glass nail file from breaking, but on the contrary tries to protect other objects from it. The glass nail file is too hard and likes to file nails and everything around it.

Decomposable, Recyclable Paper Packaging

We put our heads together and designed a package made of natural compostable material that suits glass. Judge for yourself how you like a simple kraft cover or an elegant cover with a flap made of white glossy paper. Thus, our story about packaging materials could end in a sweet happy ending and our production would become completely recyclable. But the reality is much more complicated than it seems at first glance.

If I take into account that the production of paper packaging is 4 times more energy-intensive than plastic, it is much heavier and its service life significantly shorter, then replacing plastic packaging with paper packaging may not always have the desired environmental impact. It depends on the specific application and ultimately on the customer’s wishes.

Bioplastics PLA, PHA, PBS

Indistinguishable from the classic ones and at the same time made of corn, for example. Bioplastics serve as a degradable substitute, but that doesn’t mean we can just leave them lying around. They decompose only under certain conditions and the necessary infrastructure has not yet been built for their decomposition and sorting. It is not easy to distinguish plastic from bioplastic and even a small amount of bioplastic contaminates classic plastics for recycling. So far, bioplastics are the sustainable music of the future.

Sorting And Recycling Of Plastics

The main reason why plastic cannot be melted down and used over and over again is its cleanliness. Although there are sophisticated automatic sorters that sort individual types of plastic with high accuracy, contamination by other parts is still high. It is not possible to turn an complicated shampoo cap into an identical shampoo cap again and again, but you have to make something simpler. Chemical recycling may thus be the key to perfect plastic recycling. Sorting of plastic at the molecular level, which results in fuel and clean material.

We do not know where tomorrow’s technology will take us, but we will always take into account the environment in which we live and in which our children will live. We are not the initiator or engine of innovation in the field of recycling, we are only manufacturers of glass nail files. But we will always try to keep up with the latest trends and apply them in our production.