Eco-friendly packaging for a small business comes down to three things: use less material, choose materials your customers can actually recycle or compost where they live, and size every box to the product inside it. The biggest wins are rarely exotic. A right-sized recycled cardboard mailer, paper tape and paper void fill beat a custom compostable box that ships half full of air. Specialty materials such as jute, cork and mushroom packaging have their place, mostly as premium touches or protective inserts, but they work best on top of those basics, not instead of them.
This guide covers 10 sustainable packaging ideas a small Shopify store can put into practice, how the common materials compare, and how to talk about them without greenwashing. It’s written by the team behind Send Invoice, a Shopify app for invoices, packing slips and the other paperwork that travels with an order, so we’ve also included the paper you can take out of the box altogether.
Key takeaways
- Right-sizing is the biggest single win. A smaller box uses less material and less void fill, and it often costs less to ship because carriers bill by dimensional weight.
- Corrugated cardboard is already a success story. In the US, 96.5% of corrugated boxes were recycled in 2018, according to the EPA.
- “Compostable” only helps if it gets composted. Tell customers whether a mailer needs a home compost bin or an industrial facility.
- Specialty materials are finishing touches. Jute, cork and mushroom packaging suit premium or fragile products, not every order.
- The greenest insert is the one you don’t print. Email the invoice and keep the box for the product.
What makes packaging eco-friendly?
Packaging is eco-friendly when it does its job, protecting the product in transit, with as little material as possible, and when whatever is left over has somewhere useful to go. That usually means one of three routes: it gets reused, it goes into a recycling bin the customer already has, or it breaks down in compost.
The scale is worth knowing. The US Environmental Protection Agency counted 82.2 million tons of containers and packaging in municipal waste in 2018, 28.1% of everything Americans threw away. Only 53.9% of that packaging was recycled. Paper and paperboard did much better at 80.9%, and corrugated boxes best of all at 96.5%.
That gap is the whole story for a small store. Materials that already have a working recycling system, like cardboard and paper, stay out of landfill. Materials that need special handling often don’t, however green they sound on the supplier’s website.
10 eco-friendly packaging ideas for small businesses
1. Right-size every box
An oversized box wastes cardboard, needs more void fill to stop the product rattling, and takes up more room on the truck. It can also cost you more. Most carriers bill by dimensional (DIM) weight, which is length × width × height divided by a set number. UPS and FedEx commonly use 139 for US daily rates, in inches and pounds.
57% less billed weight Same 2 lb product, same protection.
Start with your ten best-selling products and find the smallest stock box or mailer that fits each one with a little padding. Most small stores find three or four sizes cover nearly every order.
2. Switch to recycled corrugated mailers
Corrugated cardboard is strong, cheap, printable and, as the EPA figures show, the packaging material most likely to actually be recycled. Look for mailers with a high recycled-fibre content and, if you want certainty about the virgin fibre, an FSC label. Die-cut mailer boxes that fold shut without tape are faster to pack and open more neatly too.
3. Use letterbox-friendly packaging for small items
If you sell anything flat or small, such as jewellery, socks, prints, tea or skincare minis, a slim mailer that fits through a letterbox saves material and saves the customer a trip to collect a missed parcel. In the UK a Royal Mail Large Letter can be up to 35.3 × 25 × 2.5 cm and 750 g, which fits a surprising amount. Design the product and the mailer together: a flat pouch or a slim tray often lets a product that normally ships as a parcel go as a large letter instead.
4. Replace plastic tape with paper tape
Plastic tape left on a box contaminates cardboard recycling, and most customers don’t peel it off. Water-activated kraft tape bonds to the cardboard fibres, is recyclable along with the box, and is harder to tamper with without leaving a mark. Self-adhesive paper tape is a cheaper step if you don’t want a dispenser.
5. Swap bubble wrap for paper void fill
Crinkle paper, honeycomb paper wrap and kraft paper cushioning protect most products as well as bubble wrap and packing peanuts, and they go in the same recycling bin as the box. Honeycomb paper is the closest replacement for bubble wrap: it stretches into a cushioned mesh and holds fragile items like glass and ceramics in place.
6. Choose certified compostable mailers for soft goods
For clothing and textiles, a compostable mailer made from plant-based film is an alternative to a polythene bag. The catch is how it breaks down. Some are certified for home composting (for example, TÜV Austria’s OK compost HOME), while others meet industrial standards such as EN 13432 or ASTM D6400 and only break down properly in a commercial facility. Few customers have access to one, so print clear instructions on the mailer and prefer home-compostable certification where you can.
7. Give jute and cotton bags a second life
Jute is a fast-growing plant fibre that needs little water or fertiliser, and jute packaging is strong, biodegradable and looks handmade in the best way. It is heavier and costs more than paper, so it works best as product packaging the customer keeps: a drawstring bag for coffee beans, soap bars, candles or a gift set. A bag that becomes a pantry or travel bag is reuse, which beats recycling.
8. Use cork for premium and fragile items
Cork is harvested from the bark of the cork oak without cutting the tree down, and the bark grows back, usually over about nine years. It is light, naturally cushioning and water-resistant, which makes it good for lids, stoppers, jewellery boxes and inserts that hold a bottle or jar in place. Like jute, it is a premium material. Use it where the packaging is part of the product’s appeal.
9. Replace foam inserts with molded pulp or mushroom packaging
Expanded polystyrene foam is light and protective but rarely recycled at the curb. Molded pulp, made from recycled paper and shaped to the product like an egg carton, does the same job and goes in the paper bin. Mushroom packaging is grown from mycelium and farm waste in a mould, and can be broken up and composted at home. Both are worth pricing for electronics, glassware and anything that currently ships in custom foam.
10. Take out the paper you don’t need
Look at everything that goes in the box besides the product. A printed invoice, a marketing flyer, a duplicate order summary and a returns leaflet add up to four sheets of paper on every order, most of which the customer throws away unread. Keep the inserts that earn their place, such as a packing slip and a thank-you card, and send the rest by email. We cover which inserts are worth it in package inserts: what to put in every Shopify order.
Sustainable packaging materials compared
No material is green in every situation. This table compares the common options on what matters most for a small online store: where the material goes after the customer opens the box.
| Material | After use | Best for | Watch out for |
|---|---|---|---|
| Recycled corrugated | Curbside recycling almost everywhere | Most shipments | Plastic tape and labels left on the box |
| Kraft paper mailer | Curbside recycling | Flat and soft items, letterbox mailers | Bubble-lined versions that can’t be recycled |
| Paper void fill | Curbside recycling or home compost | Filling gaps, wrapping fragile items | Using it to fill an oversized box |
| Compostable mailer | Home or industrial compost, depending on certification | Clothing and textiles | Customers putting it in the recycling |
| Jute or cotton bag | Reused by the customer, then biodegrades | Premium and giftable products | Weight and cost per order |
| Cork | Reused, or collected by cork recycling schemes | Lids, jewellery, bottle inserts | Cost; best as part of the product |
| Molded pulp | Curbside paper recycling | Electronics, glass, bottles | Tooling cost for custom shapes |
| Mushroom packaging | Home compost | Replacing custom foam | Lead times and minimum orders |
How to avoid greenwashing on your packaging
Customers notice when a “planet-friendly” mailer turns out to be unrecyclable where they live, and regulators notice too. In the US, the FTC’s Green Guides say you shouldn’t call packaging recyclable unless recycling facilities are available to a “substantial majority” of your customers, which the guides define as 60%, and they warn against unqualified “biodegradable” claims. California goes further and restricts the chasing-arrows symbol on items that aren’t widely recycled in the state.
Three habits keep you on the right side of both:
- Be specific. “Box: 90% recycled cardboard, recycle at home” beats “eco-friendly packaging”.
- Give disposal instructions for each part. Recycle the box, compost the mailer in a home bin, keep the bag.
- Keep your supplier’s certificates. If you claim FSC or home-compostable, you should be able to show the certificate.
Where to start if you pack orders yourself
You don’t need to change everything at once, and throwing away packaging you’ve already bought is the least sustainable move of all. A realistic order of work for a small store:
- Measure your top ten products and pick three or four right-sized boxes or mailers.
- Swap tape and void fill for paper versions as your current stock runs out. These are the cheapest changes.
- Move the paperwork to email. Send invoices and receipts to the customer’s inbox instead of printing them.
- Trial one specialty material on the product where it fits best, such as a jute bag for a gift set.
- Tell customers what changed on a small card or your product pages, with disposal instructions.
Send invoices by email, not in the box
Many stores print an invoice for every order simply because nobody set up an alternative. Send Invoice builds a branded, numbered invoice from each Shopify order and emails it automatically when the order is placed, paid or fulfilled, or on a daily to monthly schedule. The customer gets a PDF they can keep and forward to their accountant, and your packing table loses a printer job.
What you still print can be lighter too. Packing slips in Send Invoice have no prices and come in paper sizes down to 4×6 inches for thermal label printers, so a slip can be a single small label rather than a full A4 sheet. See how automatic sending works.
FAQ
Is eco-friendly packaging more expensive for a small business?
Some of it is, some of it saves money. Right-sized boxes and less void fill usually cost less and can lower shipping through dimensional weight. Paper tape and paper fill cost about the same as plastic. Specialty materials such as jute, cork and mushroom packaging cost more, so use them where they add to the product.
What is the most eco-friendly packaging for shipping products?
For most products, a right-sized box or mailer made from recycled corrugated cardboard, closed with paper tape and padded with paper. Corrugated boxes have the highest recycling rate of any packaging in the US, 96.5% in 2018 according to the EPA, so they are the most likely to actually be recycled.
Are compostable mailers better than recycled plastic mailers?
Only if they get composted. A home-compostable mailer is a good choice when customers have a compost bin. An industrial-only compostable mailer usually ends up in landfill, where a mailer made from recycled plastic may do less harm. Check the certification and print disposal instructions.
Can I call my packaging recyclable or biodegradable?
Only with care. In the US, the FTC's Green Guides say a recyclable claim needs facilities available to at least 60% of your customers, and they warn against unqualified biodegradable claims. Be specific about each part and how to dispose of it, and keep your supplier's certificates.
Should I put a printed invoice in the box?
For most consumer orders, no. Email the invoice so the customer can keep it and forward it, and keep the box for a packing slip and one useful card. B2B buyers are the exception, since their receiving teams often want the invoice in the box as well.
Read next: Package inserts: what to put in the box · Ecommerce packaging and the unboxing experience · Why invoice delivery matters