October 15th has been designated as Blog Action Day. It is an effort by a group of influential bloggers to get the entire blogosphere to blog about one topic on one day. It is going to be an annual event and the topic this year is the environment. So in honor of Blog Action Day, today I am going to be writing about the environment and labels.
The environmental impact of packaging has been in the news a lot lately. Walmart have their packaging scorecard which evaluates suppliers on the sustainability of their packaging. Coke announced last month their plans to recycle or reuse 100% of the plastic bottles they produce. Many companies such as Green Mountain Coffee, Biota bottled water, and the UK company Sainsburys have adopted sustainable packaging materials in their products. But what about labels?
Most people focus on the impact of the product container and not the label, but the label is an important part of the packaging. Here are three things you can do to be more environmentally responsible in your labeling:
- Choose the smallest label size that will work - you want the label to do its job by promoting your product and providing all the necessary information but do you really need a 4" x 6" label? Maybe a 3.5" x 5" label would work just as well. By choosing a smaller label you are using less label material, and best of all you will pay less for your labels.
- Print your labels on sustainable materials - there are now new label materials that are environmentally friendly - here at Lightning Labels we are proud to offer EarthFirst PLA material, which is made from corn, an annually renewable resource.
- Order only what you need - there is no need to buy a year's supply of labels, you don't know what will happen in the coming year and you may be left with labels you cannot use.
If do these things you will be lessening the environmental impact of your label purchases. Happy Blog Action Day.
