Plastic Free July gets the framing backwards for manufacturers.
The campaign asks: how do we remove plastic? For a business, the question that actually matters is: does removing it lower our carbon footprint, or just move the problem somewhere less visible?
These aren't the same question, and treating them as one leads to swaps that look good on a label and do nothing (or actively harm) on paper.
Three examples where "plastic free" and "lower carbon" diverge:
- Paper packaging. Paper often needs significantly more material by weight than plastic film to provide the same protection. Add in the water and energy intensity of pulp production, and a straightforward plastic-to-paper swap can land close to carbon neutral, sometimes worse, depending on the specific grade and weight involved.
- Bioplastics. Some compostable or bio-based plastics carry heavier processing emissions than the conventional plastic they're replacing, particularly when industrial composting infrastructure isn't available locally and the material ends up in general waste anyway. "Plant-based" doesn't automatically mean lower impact.
- Glass. Removing plastic in favour of glass often means removing lightness. Glass is heavier to transport, and for anything shipped any real distance, that added transport weight can outweigh the benefit of avoiding plastic entirely.
Why this matters beyond July:
None of this is an argument against reducing plastic. It's an argument against assuming. A genuine Life Cycle Assessment models the full picture, raw material extraction, production, transport, use, and end of life, so you can see whether a substitute actually reduces your footprint or just relocates it to a part of the supply chain nobody's measuring.
This is also increasingly not optional. Under the EU's ESPR, environmental claims on products will need to be backed by verifiable data. A packaging swap that "feels" more sustainable but was never measured is exactly the kind of claim that gets challenged.
Before you announce a plastic reduction this July, run the comparison. Not gut feel, an actual LCA against your specific packaging weights, materials, and shipping distances. Sometimes the plastic option is the lower carbon one. The only way to know is to measure both.
Have you actually measured your plastic alternative against the material it's replacing, or is it still an assumption?
#PlasticFreeJuly #LCA #Sustainability #EPD #ESPR #Below280
