Earth Day falls on the 22nd of April each year, reminding us all of our responsibilities to this planet. Here at Smart Garden Products we are passionate about the environment and doing as much as we can when it comes to important issues such as sustainability, having already taken some significant steps forward.
A few years ago we made the conscious decision to move away from single use plastic in our packaging for the Useful brand, which consists of garden sundries and accessories that help you to perform and enjoy all kinds of different gardening tasks. The areas covered include Growing (e.g. plant labels, scissors, clips and thermometers), Tying (e.g. twine, ties, ropes and wires), Fixing (e.g. hooks and tapes) and Tidying (e.g. brooms, brushes, rakes, grabbers, kneelers, seats, bags and bins).
This was no mean feat, with 100s of items belonging to the range - many of which are small and/or feature tiny pieces. Unsurprisingly, the main challenge concerned the most effective containment of the items within the packaging while keeping them visible to consumers.
Plastic can be produced as a clear material and closely moulded around objects, enabling them to be seen and fixed in position. The switch to recyclable cardboard, which would typically incorporate a box design, meant that customers might find themselves struggling to see or fully appreciate what lies inside. To address this issue and provide absolute clarity, high quality, to-scale illustrations and images are included on multiple sides of the packaging, along with viewing windows where possible.
An extra measure to improve overall visibility and communication involved the colour coding of packaging based on product function. So, when consumers are at a Useful display, it's quick and easy to filter between the four categories - Growing (green), Tying (light orange), Fixing (brown) and Tidying (dark orange).
Some of our bigger, more unusual-shaped products didn't naturally lend themselves to a cardboard box, forcing us to get creative! This was very apparent for SmartBags, where we adapted the header cards to securely hold together the products in flatpack form.
The process of removing single-use plastic from Useful packaging and replacing it with recyclable materials required a significant amount of time and effort, but is a positive achievement. Importantly, the switch to sustainable packaging has not come at the cost of clear customer communication or less impactful design. In fact, we picked up a GIMA Sustainability Champion Award and Environmental Packaging Award shortly after making the changes, so that was a bonus.
With the packaging changes to the Useful range now successfully implemented, we intend to turn our attention to other brands in the Smart portfolio. Watch this space...