Large shipping companies like DHL, DPD, and Hermes, as well as mail-order companies, are leading the way: environmentally friendly shipping and, of course, environmentally friendly packaging are trending. Sustainability is becoming increasingly fashionable, and many mail-order companies have now understood this and are considering the ecological footprint when shipping their goods. But what exactly is the ecological footprint? What contributes to making a shipping package an environmentally friendly package, and how can environmentally friendly shipping be achieved? We clarify these questions here.

The Ecological Footprint – What Matters

The ecological footprint generally calculates the demand for biocapacity that a person can use based on the resources our planet provides.

Something fundamental upfront: For a very long time in human history, only a fraction of the natural resources that the Earth could easily provide were used. The turning point came in the 1980s, as humanity has since consumed significantly more biocapacity than can be sustainably provided by ecosystems. The ecological footprint is expressed in "gha" (global hectares). Currently, the per capita available biocapacity is about 1.7 gha. However, since biodiversity in the animal and plant world must also be preserved, the value should actually be significantly lower. However, the global average ecological footprint is 2.7 gha. Thus, humanity uses as much of nature as if there were 1.5 Earths. Simply put, demand significantly exceeds supply.

In the industrial sector – and specifically in the area of packaging and shipping – the ecological footprint plays a crucial role. Companies have now set themselves the goal of working sustainably and ecologically. Environmentally friendly packaging and shipping make up a large part of this.

Environmentally Friendly Packaging: Reducing the Ecological Footprint

Sustainability is becoming increasingly important to consumers, which is why environmentally friendly packaging is becoming increasingly necessary for retailers. Products should not only be well protected but also packaged in a resource-conserving manner. Packaging manufacturers, in particular, face significant challenges: while material should be saved, packaging must remain stable.

Sustainable actions and, of course, environmentally friendly packaging are very important purchasing criteria for consumers today. Climate protection and social aspects play a significant role in modern buyers' consumption behavior. In addition to natural products and environmentally friendly packaging, customers also value companies' social engagement. The trend is towards ethical consumption and fair-trade goods. For packaging companies, this means developing sustainability strategies. In addition to producing environmentally friendly packaging, supporting environmental, aid, and nature organizations is also important.

Producing environmentally friendly packaging is not an easy task for packaging manufacturers. They help the industry reduce its ecological footprint by designing environmentally friendly packaging and developing production processes. Although environmentally friendly packaging should be made with fewer raw materials, stability and tightness must not suffer. Protecting the goods to be transported is always a priority. According to the European Organization for Packaging and the Environment, product losses, especially in food, due to poor packaging cause significantly higher CO₂ emissions than the packaging itself.

Many innovations from packaging manufacturers show that safety and ecology can indeed be in harmony. Environmentally friendly packaging offers high stability despite using less material. Not only materials like cardboard or paper are considered environmentally friendly packaging. Plastic is also excellent due to its low weight, as lightweight plastic packaging can also achieve environmentally friendly shipping through reduced CO₂ emissions during transport. In addition to cardboard or paper and plastic, glass, aluminum, or metal are also considered environmentally friendly packaging.

Environmentally Friendly Shipping: Minimizing CO₂ and Reducing the Ecological Footprint

Online commerce is unthinkable without logistics, as shipping is a crucial factor for customer satisfaction in e-commerce. In addition to well-known criteria such as reliability, flexibility, and speed, customers now have another demand: they want environmentally friendly shipping. For the transport of packages, long-term sustainable solutions must be found to reduce the ecological footprint even for logistics companies.

Climate-neutral and thus environmentally friendly shipping is already offered by leading parcel service providers like DHL, DPD, GLS, UPS, and Hermes.

The principle is quite simple: companies contribute to climate protection by taking a mix of CO₂-compensating and CO₂-reducing measures. For example, reduced electricity consumption in parcel centers or the use of electric hybrid vehicles contribute to environmentally friendly shipping. The compensating measures of environmentally friendly shipping are mainly characterized by financial support for various climate projects worldwide.

Currently, only about five percent of all online retailers are willing to use the services of logistics companies for environmentally friendly shipping. Customers usually receive this option at no extra cost, so a surcharge for environmentally friendly shipping is rarely required.

Alternatives to hiring logistics companies dedicated to environmentally friendly shipping include using bicycle courier services or picking up ordered goods themselves. However, these options are only partially suitable as a "shipping option."

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