Reduce & Reuse With Packaging Breakthroughs

In pursuit of the holy grail of packaging, many innovators are finding ways to eliminate packaging materials, reuse it, or create environmentally sustainable alternatives with acceptable tradeoffs on cost and functionality.  In this issue of your weekly Ubuntoo digest, we give examples of these innovations. 

PACKAGE FREE SOLUTIONS

The most eco-friendly choice apart from choosing not to consume is to consume package-free products like these listed on Ubuntoo:

• Personal products like Bite, Poppits, Nohbo, and Ethique offer toothpaste, shampoos, and soaps that require no packaging
• Package free stores are popping up all over the world, like Original Unverpackt & The Zero Waste Shop and Wally Shop.
• Water dispensers are replacing single-use packaged bottled water through solutions like Refill by City to Sea & Flowater.

REUSABLE PACKAGING

When packaging is inevitable, the next best solution is to make it reusable:

• LimeLoop and Repack are innovating with returnable and reusable Ecommerce solutions
• Ecopod, Clean Revolution and By Humankind eliminate single-use packaging in Personal products
• SolZero has industrial solutions while Revolv. focuses on consumers

FORUM DISCUSSION ON PACKAGING

Join the discussion on potential breakthroughs in packaging on our Forums. The latest conversation explores a solution that is catching attention on Kickstarter that claims to check all the sustainability boxes for beverage and liquid packaging. We would love your inputs Is this Paper Bottle the solution to the world's plastic problem? Do not hesitate to post a question  on our forum if you want to tap into the Ubuntoo crowd expertise.

PLASTIC CIRCULAR ECONOMY CHALLENGE

The CITEO International Circular Challenge is concluding in Paris on March 21st with a round of voting to determine the winner. Five of the finalists are part of the Ubuntoo community, Paptic wood fibre packaging, Ecovative mushroom-based material, Repack reusable packaging service, EcoAct beams made from waste plastic, Conceptos Plastico bricks from waste plastic.

Click hereto learn more.

MUST-READ, SEE & LISTEN

The Sustainable Packaging Coalition has released an excellent Design Guide for Recycled Content.

In keeping with our mission to scale sustainability solutions, we have started creating content featuring innovators of the Ubuntoo community. We have been overwhelmed by the positive response; hopefully, you’ll like it too:

• Our latest Ubuntoo "Rise of Ecopreneur" podcast features Tom Szaky, outlining his vision for Terracycle and Loop.

• Last week, we released our first short video showing Bloom, one of the Ubuntoo innovators.

RECYCLING THE UNRECYCLABLE (Correction) 

In our last newsletter, we did not mention BioBTX as one of the winners of The Sustainable Packaging Coalition challenge for multi-material flexible packaging recovery. Join us to congratulate them along with the other winners.

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"In Africa we have a concept known as  ubuntu,  

based upon the recognition that we are 

only people because of other people" 

– Nelson Mandela