Eco-Friendly Shipping: Shipping Safely and Sustainably Without Plastics

For as long as many of us can remember, bubble wrap has been the staple for safely shipping and receiving fragile packages. Although we may think of bubble wrap as just being fun to pop, unfortunately, this $3.5 billion industry is incredibly ecologically harmful.

Being what is considered a single-use plastic, most bubble wrap ends up in the trash immediately after a package is opened. In turn ending up in landfills, where it takes up a large amount of space, all while taking hundreds of years to eventually break down into harmful microplastics. According to EarthDate.org, about one-third of an average landfill consists of packaging material.

This amount only continues to grow, as you can imagine, given the centuries it takes for the plastic bubble wrap to break down. When plastics break down from sunlight, friction, or weather, they change both physically and chemically. Leaking toxins such as bisphenol A (BPA) and PS oligomers into the soil and groundwater while remaining forever physically present as a microplastic.

According to The United States Environmental Protection Agency, plastics are a rapidly growing segment of municipal solid waste (MSW). While plastics are found in all major MSW categories, the containers and packaging category had the most plastic tonnage at over 14.5 million tons in 2018.

So how can we reduce our plastic waste and carbon footprint when shipping? Although we can’t control what materials every company uses when shipping to us, we can choose to shop with sustainable, plastic-free shipping companies and go plastic-free when shipping ourselves.

At Flush, we do packaging a bit differently than most! All of our shipping boxes are plastic free and designed to safely ship without the need for any filler materials like bubble wrap or packing peanuts.

Each shipping box is designed around specific vessel dimensions to hold the vessel securely while shipping. So long as you’re using the vessel sizing that the box is created for, they’ll save you considerable fulfillment time and dramatically lessen the likelihood of breakage while shipping!

In addition to saving time packing orders, and saving a ton of space (as we all know, bubble wrap doesn’t just take up room in landfills), Flush Packaging customers can save more than $3 per shipment compared to other packaging and shipping distributors. This is made possible by our UPS Ground-tested shipping insert designs and strategic reduction in box size.

This unique combination enhances product protection during shipment and eliminates the need for bubble wrap, packaging peanuts, and other void-filling materials found in larger shipping boxes. Form and function, all in one eco-friendly box!

Say goodbye to plastic bubble wrap! Aside from helping save the planet, you'll also be saving yourself time, money, and space (as we all know, bubble wrap doesn’t just take up room in landfills). Make an eco-friendly difference and start shipping sustainably and plastic-free today!