Sustainable Trends

Sustainable is smart and all because of eggs…maybe?.
In 1911 Joseph Coyle invented an egg carton made of paper that kept the eggs safe. Similar technologies are still used today not just in the food industry but it’s now moving deeper into packaging and other industries.
I just can’t help but feel bad about how many packaging materials get wasted, thrown in the trash can because you can’t recycle it from home. Unfortunately, people are just too lazy to deliver them to those designated recycling places.
On the other hand I feel good every time I receive a sustainable package that I can easily recycle. I’m glad the industry is choosing greener approaches to packaging and not only that but they are starting to use it as a graphic element that in my opinion looks very fresh and modern yet sustainable.

Here are some examples:


Pangea Organics: IDEO together with UFP Technologies, Inc. developed this sustainable branding approach to its packaging.


Pangea Organics packaging is not only made using zero-waste process with 100% post-consumer paper, but they also managed to trow organic seeds in the mix so you can plant your box and a nice little plant would grow out of it.

Greenbottle: A cardboard outer that is made from pulped recycled cardboard – using egg carton technology with an inner sleeve of compostable plastic made from corn starch.


Aveda: Aveda design team members used Aveda’s core principles to develop the Uruku Lipstick Package. Using sustainability concepts of recycled, reuse, natural, and renewable, the Uruku molded pulp outer package is made from 100% recycled newsprint, with a soy-ink printed, 100% post-consumer recycled (PCR) content paper sleeve.

Additional information:
Joseph L. Coyle
Molded Pulp
International Molded Fibre Association
Advanced Paper Forming
EnviroPak
UFP Technologies, Inc.

Author: Javier

Javier Garcia is a graphic designer and collector living and working in the San Francisco Bay Area.