The amount of waste we generate day to day is unsustainable. It’s as simple as that. Gargantuan piles of discarded items fill our landfills to the brim and pollute our waterways, making it impossible for marine life to thrive. As these harmful materials — plastic in particular — continue to accumulate, the toll on the environment may soon reach a point of no return.
What are we to do? While there is much we could do as individuals to limit waste and reduce our carbon footprints, manufacturing organizations hold the key to real, impactful change. How so? A considerable contributor to plastic waste is packaging. By altering the way in which items are manufactured and packaged, it can help drastically decrease plastic use at the source.
In other words, instead of relying on strict recycling practices or changes in consumer behavior to catalyze improvement, less plastic should be produced and distributed. While all this is easier said than done, that doesn’t mean it’s unattainable. More and more companies are switching to eco-friendly manufacturing practices, sourcing biodegradable materials, and creating more sustainable packaging designs — all while remaining profitable.
One way to reduce plastic waste is to modernize equipment. Choosing to upgrade to leading-edge manufacturing equipment and practices sooner rather than later could more than make up for the cost to invest. For instance, ultrasonic sealing could be used to secure paper packaging instead of traditional, wasteful methods. Another example could be to employ software designed to analyze every aspect of production and offer insight into how to manage waste streams more effectively, thus diminishing environmental impact.
As technology advances, the ways to enhance manufacturing and limit plastic waste become practically endless. All that’s left is for those in charge to make the decision to change.
Want to learn more about the problems plastic packaging creates? Check out the accompanying resource for further information.
Infographic created by Herrmann Ultrasonics, an industrial plastic welding company
