There are 3 main ways to help our environment, reduce the amount of packaging you use, reuse the packaging you have, and finally recycle packaging so it can be used again.  Far and away the best way out of these 3 is reducing the amount of packaging.  Just today, P&G was promoting the fact that they have developed a retail package for razors that uses 57% less packaging than earlier designs.  That's huge!  Further, many of these reductions aren't coming with radical redesigns such as taking something in heavy gauge plastic and then using a completely different type of packaging.  

In regards to stand up pouches, stock and plain or even custom and printed, often companies assume they need a 5 mil or thicker pouch for stability and strength.  However, because stand up pouches, also known as stand up bags or stand bags, are made with different layers or laminated films, reducing the mil thickness without compromising quality can be engineered.

Let me explain.  There are 3, 4, 5, and sometimes 7 different layers of highly engineered barrier film laminated together then converted to create a stand up pouch.  Each of these layers serve a purpose, some for strength, some puncture resistance, some odor protection, etc based upon what the client is packaging, where it is being stored, how it is being shipped, and so on.  Individually these films don't do much, but the magic happens when they are joined together.  Your stand bag supplier quite possibly could trim a little of each of these layers without losing any of the barrier properties and frankly without you or your customers noticing.  With this being said, a 5 mil bag could be reduced to 4.88 or even 4.5 mil thick.  While it won't seem like much, over time and several thousand pouches this reduction can turn out to be significant.

So, as much as you may want to radically re-design your packaging for environmental reasons, sometimes a simple reduction in what you are currently using could be extremely effective. Want to learn more?