by Laura Sherman

Created on: July 02, 2009

Discarded packaging materials accounts for 32% of the landfill trash. This shouldn't come as a surprise considering that Americans go through 100 billion plastic shopping bags annually! Cutting down on packing material would go a long way to making a difference.

Let's start with plastic bags, since that is such a major problem. Retailers spend about $4 million a year on plastic bags. What if you could find another solution that would reduce the landfill and save you money at the same time? What more could you want? But wait there's more! What if you could get free promotion at the same time?

Create your own reusable cloth bags. Make them colorful and fun, with your logo design. Sell them at cost or mark them up a bit and offer discounts to customers who use them. You are now advertising that your company cares about the planet, which bring you a new slew of green conscious clients.

Another area you can save on is packing material for shipping. Do you use Styrofoam peanuts? Don't! They degrade into little plastic pieces that continue to be toxic for hundreds of years. They can not be recycled and are hard to store. In addition sea and land animals will find and eat them. Plastic bubble wrap is a far better solution. It is less expensive and is easier to store and reuse. If you are set on peanuts, find the biodegradable kind.

Cadbury recently launched a new eco-friendly campaign designed to save 247 tons of plastic and 115 tons of cardboard. What did they do? They redesigned their packaging. Instead of selling their famous Treasure eggs in boxes, they are simply foil wrapped. These new eco-eggs will save 2000 trees this year! Cadbury is a leader for Easter confections and they know that a green move like this can only boost sales.

Your suppliers are very eager to please you. Express your desire to have them reduce their packaging and use recycled boxes and packing material. Walmart now offers choice, eye-level shelf space to suppliers who ship green. This is quite a popular incentive.

Another tip is to find the right sized box for the item being shipped. How many times have you ordered something online and received your small item in a huge box? What a waste! Or maybe you went to a department store to buy a pair of socks and were given a giant plastic bag? Next time this happens, complain. If enough people do this the company will listen and improve their packaging methods.

HP recently came out with a brilliant and revolutionary "HP Protect Messenger Bag" for their notebook, replacing the cardboard, Styrofoam and plastic packaging that used to follow the customer home. This stylish bag is made with 100% recycled materials and cuts back on 97% of wasteful packaging materials. It saves resources, but it also conserves fuel and reduces CO2 emissions as it also reduces transportation needs. Of course Hewlett Packard couldn't buy the good PR it will get from this breakthrough packaging.

There are many creative solutions for reducing your business's packaging. The key is to reuse as many boxes, bags and packing materials that you currently have. Then the next step is to move to a more green way of packaging. Save the planet and save money at the same time!

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