Decarbonization strategy: what is it?

Overpackaging, or the excessive use of materials to package a product, is one of the most pressing environmental and economic challenges facing businesses today. It increases production costs, generates more waste, and often results in a higher price for the end consumer. Yet avoiding unnecessary materials is possible—and beneficial for everyone. Overpackaging: Sustainable Packaging Starts with Simplicity. Fortunately, Italy can rely on one of the most efficient packaging recycling systems in Europe, with more than 75% of materials being recovered. This achievement has already enabled the country to exceed the environmental targets set by the European Union for 2030. However, there is still room for improvement. According to estimates, excessive packaging can increase a product’s cost by up to 30%. At the same time, consumers are becoming increasingly willing to pay more for products packaged in a sustainable way. You may also be interested in: “Packaging Cost Optimization 2025: Strategies for Efficiency, Sustainability, and Cost Savings” Why Is Overpackaging a Problem? Whenever a product is wrapped in more layers than necessary, valuable resources are consumed, including plastic, wood, energy, and water. The environmental impact increases significantly, leading to higher CO₂ emissions and an excess of materials that are not always recyclable. The habit of over-packaging products, often driven by marketing requirements or preservation needs, results in avoidable waste. From an economic perspective, excess packaging comes at a cost. More materials mean higher expenses, increased transportation weight, more storage space requirements, and greater complexity in managing the packaging life cycle. It is an approach that is no longer sustainable in today's market. How to Reduce Overpackaging Without Compromising Quality Today, companies have the opportunity to rethink the way they design packaging. A good example comes from an Italian pasta manufacturer that removed the traditional plastic window from its packaging and replaced it with a paper label. The result? 50 tonnes of plastic saved every year and an extremely positive response from consumers, who are increasingly attentive to sustainability values. Optimizing packaging does not simply mean making it lighter; it also means making it smarter. Companies can develop more compact and lightweight solutions, use biodegradable or recycled materials, and adopt intelligent formats that reduce the space required during transportation and storage. Corrugated cardboard, in particular, is perfectly suited to these needs: it is lightweight, durable, fully recyclable, and versatile enough for a wide range of industries and products. The Most Effective Solutions An effective strategy to combat overpackaging is based on five key principles: Designing essential and functional packaging, reducing size and weight without compromising product protection; Prioritizing eco-friendly materials such as paper, corrugated cardboard, or bioplastics; Choosing reusable or easily recyclable packaging solutions; Communicating the company's commitment to sustainable packaging in a transparent manner; Encouraging customers to make responsible choices through incentives and information. Cart-One’s Role in Cleaner Packaging Cart-One supports companies that want to make a difference. We provide corrugated cardboard packaging solutions designed to reduce material waste and improve efficiency throughout the logistics process. Our goal is simple: to help businesses combine environmental responsibility, functionality, and value, even through small changes that generate significant results. With tailor-made corrugated cardboard solutions, Cart-One is the ideal partner for companies looking to embrace essential, efficient, and sustainable packaging. Would you like to reduce waste and make your packaging truly sustainable? Contact us and let’s develop the right solution together. Read also: “Towards Decarbonization: The Italian Paper Industry and the Challenges of the Green Transition”

In a previous article, we introduced the UNI EN ISO 14001 certification, which defines the standard and requirements for an “Environmental Management System”. We continue our deep dive into the ethical and environmental recognitions acquired over the years by the Cart One Group, introducing specifically the following certifications: The SA 8000 ethical certification Workplace Condition Assessment (WCA) SEDEX Ecovadis In detail, Cart-One Salerno achieved the SA8000 certification and Cart-One Parma achieved the WCA. Sedex and Ecovadis are shared by both companies. The purpose of ethical certifications is to create a virtuous chain involving suppliers, employees, collaborators, and final customers in order to increase their satisfaction and loyalty through socially responsible behavior. What is the SA 8000 Ethical Certification? The SA8000 Ethical Certification is an internationally recognized reference standard created with the aim of guaranteeing optimal working conditions, encouraging and helping organizations to develop and apply socially acceptable practices in the workplace. A management system that holds this certification proves effective for the proper management and constant monitoring of all related activities and processes affecting workers' conditions (human rights, development, empowerment, professional training and growth, health and safety, non-discrimination). These requirements also extend to suppliers and sub-suppliers. WORKPLACE CONDITION ASSESSMENT (WCA) Following an Ethical Audit commissioned by a partner company, the Cart One Group satisfied all the necessary requirements to obtain the WCA certification: Workplace Condition Assessment (WCA) Achievement Award. A valuable award in the Human Resources field, which evaluates the overall Quality of work through a series of indicators. These include: Quality of work, wages, and hours: verifying working hours, employee salaries, and benefits; Health and safety at work: inspecting machinery safety, emergency management, accident prevention, and any related health risks in the workplace; Management systems and Environmental impact: assessing environmental management systems, emissions, waste, and all related activities carried out to develop environmental sustainability. An important recognition aimed at certifying how much our Group cares about the well-being of its employees and the environment. SEDEX Certification Sedex is a non-profit organization committed to the development and dissemination of ethical principles across global supply chains, representing the largest platform in Europe that collects and processes data on the ethical behavior of supply chains. The Sedex methodology proposed and developed the SMETA procedure, namely: “Sedex Members Ethical Trade Audit”, to provide a best-practice framework for conducting audits and compiling related ethical and social reports. The beneficiaries are all stakeholders involved in the process: retailers, manufacturers, and (generally) suppliers. EcoVadis Certification EcoVadis aims to improve and enhance the environmental and social practices of companies by leveraging the influence of global logistics chains. EcoVadis operates the first collaborative platform enabling businesses to monitor the Sustainability performance of their suppliers across 150 sectors and 110 countries. Take a look at our CERTIFICATIONS.

The practice aimed at encouraging the sustainable use of recoverable materials is now increasingly widespread, focusing attention on respecting the Planet and adopting increasingly eco-sustainable practices. Recyclable, compostable, biodegradable: what are the differences? In modern society, there is an increasing focus on the health of the Planet thanks to good daily practices related to the correct management of waste recycling, but also to the knowledge of certain terms that concern precisely these actions. Terms such as biodegradable, compostable, recyclable, and non-recyclable materials are used. Having greater knowledge and awareness of these now commonly used terms means understanding what the real differences are in product disposal, in order to select and purchase objects, packaging, and materials knowing their disposal cycle in advance. So let's discover all the details.   Read also: “Environmental labeling in packaging: what Italian regulations say”   What recyclable means A recyclable material is a waste material that can be used again in production processes, such as glass, paper and cardboard, aluminum, plastic, and wood. In this regard, Directive 94/62/EC 17 recognizes the social and economic function of packaging. Packaging, in fact, must be designed to allow the recycling of at least a percentage of the materials used in compliance with European Community regulations, based on specific criteria concerning all stages of the packaging life, the so-called Life Cycle Assessment (LCA), the life cycle analysis that evaluates the environmental footprint of a product or service. In recent years, the percentage of recycled waste was recorded at 63% of national production; according to the 2021 Urban Waste Report, paper and cardboard account for 19.2% of the total. A figure that demonstrates how necessary it is to continue on this path, increasing the recovery of packaging as much as possible, making them more performing, reusable and, above all, recyclable.   “The term recyclable is constantly used to define materials and products without a defined and shared reference. But the recyclability of a product goes beyond being technically recyclable: consumers must have access to a collection and recycling system, a recycler must be able to treat the material, and an end market is needed for the regenerated materials”. (Steve Alexander, President of The Association of Plastic Recyclers)   The recycling of these materials has become possible only thanks to a correct and conscious waste separation operation, which allows these waste elements to be transformed into a resource, giving them new life, thus reducing materials that end up in landfills.   Non-recyclable materials This refers to dry waste, also called unsorted or residual dry waste, waste products that cannot be recycled in any way. On the contrary, they must be disposed of in landfills, in a waste-to-energy plant, or in a facility where refuse-derived fuel is produced. Non-recyclable dry waste includes, for example: diapers, sanitary pads, cotton swabs, cotton, plastic objects that are not packaging, objects composed of various materials that are not easily separable, cash receipts, ceramics, ballpoint pens, dirty paper, sponges, etc.   What compostable means A compostable material, after degrading, is transformed into compost, a substance rich in nutritional properties usually used as a fertilizer to enrich the soil. According to the UNI EN 13432 standard, a material is compostable if it is: biodegradable; disintegrable, meaning it consists of fragments smaller than 2 mm; free of eco-toxic substances; low in heavy metals and fluorinated compounds; with pH, nitrogen, phosphorus, magnesium, and potassium values below the established limits.   Always according to European regulations, a product can carry the word “compostable” if it is biodegradable within just 3 months and if it passes ecotoxicity tests as proof that it cannot exert any negative effect on the environment. A classic example of compost is pruning waste and fruit and vegetable leftovers.   What biodegradable means Biodegradable is defined as waste consisting of materials that decompose thanks to the action of microorganisms and bacteria, sunlight, or other natural atmospheric agents. Degradation can occur under two different conditions: Aerobic - in the presence of oxygen: the substance produced can be used as a fertilizer or substrate in agriculture and floriculture; Anaerobic - in the absence of oxygen: the substance produced, in addition to agriculture, can be used as a gaseous fuel.   A material can be defined as biodegradable if it is able to transform within six months; this means that what remains of the object must be able to be absorbed into the ground in the form of water, carbon dioxide, mineral salts, and other elements.   Difference between compostable and biodegradable From what has been said so far, it is clear that for waste to be defined as compostable, it must inevitably be biodegradable and, conversely, a biodegradable material is not necessarily compostable because, for example, it might not disintegrate sufficiently during a composting cycle. The main difference between the two types of material therefore lies in the degradation speed, but also in the complete non-toxicity and chemical composition: this means that what is compostable returns to the earth as a nutrient substance in the form of compost, while the biodegradable returns to nature in the form of mineral salts and other simple elements.   Cart-One's eco-sustainable commitment The main problem, until a few years ago, was the inability to dispose of packaging, containers, and other plastic objects made of non-recyclable materials, which therefore ended up in unsorted waste. Today, thanks to new circular economy models, it is possible to produce ecological, safe, and advantageous materials for the environment, health, and the economy. Cart-One, for example, has decided to invest more and more in sustainability and innovation, with great sensitivity towards environmental protection policies. Always a promoter and implementer of the circular economy, Cart-One has adopted the produce-consume-regenerate-recover model, thanks to which production waste becomes a reel and then a box again. In the packaging universe, these actions translate into the use of clean and innovative technologies, an eco-design understood as a packaging design that pays maximum attention to raw material savings, and with the continuous improvement of production processes aimed at reducing water, air, and soil impacts. ECOGRIP, for example, is the corrugated cardboard alternative to plastic shrink film, developed by the joint experience of the Paneuropean Alliance Blue Box Partners (BBP) of which Cart-One is a member. ECOGRIP eliminates the need to use a single-use plastic shrink wrap when transporting multiple bottles. It provides 100% biodegradable packaging, designed to fit any type of bottle on the market.   You might also be interested in: “Packaging Trends 2023: all the new packaging developments”   Cart-One produces and develops innovative corrugated cardboard packaging that meets the specific needs of every product sector, thanks to active collaboration with customers, but also to a flexible and efficient service with eco-sustainable projects and concrete examples of cost reduction. Contact us to receive all information.