An Aussie start-up is leading the way in compostable parcel packaging with the hopes of tackling the astonishing 65 billion bags generated by plastic packaging each year that end up in landfill.
Horrified with the utter scale of waste generated by product packaging from e-commerce each year, Kate Bezar and Rebecca Percasky set out on a mission to find the world’s most sustainable packaging solutions, and to make it affordable for SMEs.
Having worked for years with couriers and e-commerce brands, the duo were determined to make a dint in the astonishing amount of waste generated from the process, with the Great Pacific Garbage Patch three times the size of France and growing.
“We could see the extraordinary growth of e-commerce and at some point we started thinking about the repercussions of that in terms of packaging waste,” says Bezar.
After 18 months of research into zero waste products, the pair developed an innovative solution to tackle the enormous e-commerce waste footprint with their business the Better Packaging Company.
The company now supplies a range of zero waste recyclable and home compostable packaging to e-commerce brands across the globe―from Marcs to Maybelline.
With more of us shopping online, Bezar says that more sustainable behaviours in the e-commerce sector have the potential to make a huge dint in levels of plastic pollution.
“Our compostable satchels in particular are what’s called a bio-plastic and that doesn’t mean plastic per se but they behave like a plastic but the components are partially made from plants and the rest is bio-engineered to degrade like any other organic matter would,” she says.
Not only this, but as major retailers like Coles look to reduce single use plastic bags, retailers and consumers are increasingly looking for a sustainable experience.
“Everyone is looking at ways can they can be more sustainable and this is a really easy substitution,” she says.
In just a few years eco-friendly solutions like the Better Packaging Company’s sustainable parcel bags will completely dominate the market, according to Bezar.
“I think within a couple of decades we will be all using reusable courier packaging and there won’t be any single use disposable bags,” she says.
And the pair has no plans to slow down anytime soon, positioning the company at the leading edge of sustainable materials technology, with the goal of continuing to invest in zero waste technology that’s affordable for businesses of all sizes.
“A really big part of our mission is to make the latest in sustainable tech affordable and accessible to businesses of all sizes.”
The company has seen huge success in recent years, working with some of the biggest brand names across Australia including Marcs, David Lawrence, Karen Walker, Incu, Roxy, Buddy Franklin, WelleCo, Spell and the Gypsy Collective, RipCurl, Sendle, Quay eyewear, Tigerlily, Assembly Label, L’Oréal, Garnier and Maybelline.
“We have seen extraordinary growth at 15 per cent month on month,” she says. “We are getting a huge amount of interest globally and for now it’s about expanding that network and doing that in the most environmental and economic way possible.”
By Georgia Clark
This article first appeared on retailbiz
