choosecartons.com – Packaging Really Does Matter!

Cartons Because Packaging Really Does Matter!

I like to think of myself as an eco-friendly, love the earth kind of woman.  I’ve been called a tree-hugger by quite a few people and I try to do my part wherever I can to lower my carbon footprint.  I’m always learning new tips and tricks about recycling and which containers are the most eco-conscious. The packaging you choose for your foods makes a huge impact on the environment.  This tree-huggin’ Momma learned a thing today!  Read on!

Evergreen Packaging recently launched choosecartons.com, an informative and fun interactive website designed to educate consumers on the eco-friendly attributes of the product packaging they buy.  I don’t know how many times I’ve rejected a product because it was “over-packaged”.  It just seemed incredibly wasteful to me to see all that plastic surrounding a tiny product.  So I decided to forgo the product!

Evergreen Packaging goes even further!  They are raising the awareness of the environmental benefits of paper carton packaging and promoting carton recycling at the same time.  In the past, when I had a choice I would always choose plastic over a carton container for my dairy or refrigerated items because I thought that plastic was easier to recycle and being the tree-hugger that I am I thought that paper products required cutting down a tree. I’ve been very foolish!

My area like over 41 million households in America has access to carton recycling, and that number is increasing.  In addition, cartons are made from renewable materials; more than 70% of the carton is made from paper, all from trees from responsibly managed forests.  After my cartons are tossed in the recycle bin they are recycled at my community recycling facility and the paper fiber is used to make products like tissues, office paper, wall boards, and building material.

I went on a little ‘fridge hunt’ and took stock of what types of packaging my food was contained in. My fridge is pretty bare as you can see from the photo.  It’s getting pretty close to shopping day.  Most of my items were contained in glass or plastic packages and that’s because I have a huge amount of condiments.  I like my food highly seasoned as you guys already know. Yogurt, cheese and a few containers of juice were in plastic cartons. A few of my dairy and soy products, plus drinks and vitamins were packaged in paper cartons.  As you can see I don’t have a lot of paper packaging in my fridge.

Purchasing soy milk in cartons is really convenient as is the heavy cream that Hubby uses for his ice cream.  Egg Substitute has always come in a paper carton and so do many of the juices the baby drinks.  Now that I know that paper cartons are an environmentally friendly choice I think I’ll be making the switch to paper!  It just makes sense!

Some interesting facts about paper cartons

• Packaging plays a very important role in keeping food and beverages fresh. The environmental impact of a package is just as important as the contents inside.
• Cartons are recyclable where facilities exist. The paper fiber contained in cartons is valuable. Recycled cartons are used to make products such as tissue, office paper, wall boards and other building materials.
• Cartons are made with renewable energy. More than 50 percent of the energy used to make the paper in Evergreen Packaging’s cartons comes from biomass.
• Responsible forestry promotes new forest growth, and these forests help to diminish greenhouse gases. Forests remove carbon from the atmosphere and store it in trees. In the US, due to both increases in the total area of forest land and increases in the carbon stored per acre, an additional 192 million metric tons of carbon are sequestered each year through responsible forest management programs nationwide. This offsets roughly 11% of the country’s industrial greenhouse gas emissions, the equivalent of removing almost 135 million passenger vehicles from the nation’s highways.

I LOVE COMPANIES THAT GIVE BACK
Evergreen Packaging is making a donation to Habitat for Humanity® and it’s easy peasy for you to help through tweets and Facebook Posts! All you need to do is Share the Story with a simple click and Evergreen Packaging will donate $15,000 to the Habitat for Humanity. Every carton fact shared on Twitter using the hashtag #ChooseCartons helps raise money!

To learn if your community accepts cartons for recycling, please visit www.recyclecartons.com or check with your local recycling program.

CONNECT WITH Evergreen Packaging ON THESE SOCIAL MEDIA
Choose Cartons on Facebook
ChooseCartons on Twitter

I wrote this review while participating in a campaign by Mom Central Consulting on behalf of Evergreen and received a promotional item to thank me for taking the time to participate.