Paper vs Plastic packaging
With the new Plastic Tax that came into force this year, many companies have been switching to paper packaging instead of plastic packaging. However, despite the well-known benefits of paper, it’s important to recognise that plastic may not be the enemy it’s often made out to be. Both paper and plastic have their pros and cons, and in this section we will be exploring just that.
Switching from plastic packaging to paper packaging can have its benefits but also comes with challenges too. Plastic has been the preferred packaging material for so many years for a reason. Some of the benefits include: it provides a wide range of barrier properties that protect the product, its lightweight, its production and transport has a relatively low carbon footprint compared to heavier materials, plus it’s durable, comes in a variety of colours and has countless forms. Of course, the main issue with plastic is that it can be very difficult to recycle, requires fossil fuels to produce and can take hundreds of years to decompose in landfill, which in turn creates microplastics in the environment.
As for paper, while it can be widely recycled and is renewable, it has its limitations as it lacks the barrier protection needed for products such as liquids, creams, and some oxygen sensitive goods. Without the addition of coatings like wax, lamination or other plastic materials, paper-based packaging can struggle to hold liquid products, it’s fairly fragile and can be difficult to mould into the shapes plastics can.
As an example, while it’s believed that paper bags are more environmentally friendly than plastic bags because they are made from a renewable resource, can biodegrade, and are recyclable, scientific research has shown that plastic bags can outperform paper bags environmentally on manufacturing, on reuse, and on solid waste volume. Paper products take substantial amounts of energy to make, making paper and cardboard the third largest industry use of energy on the planet! So, when looking at this, in comparison to cardboard, it can be argued plastic is lighter, more durable, and needs less energy in the manufacturing process.