Sustainable Packaging: A Renewable Resource
August 10, 2023 by Mary-Ellen Lovinsky
What is sustainable packaging?
The words sustainable and sustainability are being used in the packaging industry to describe materials that are being used to make packaging for shipping and presentation. It is a word that is being tossed around, but the meaning of it is often unclear in how it relates to packaging. If you look up the root word “sustain” in The Synonym Finder by J.I Rodale, like I did, it has multiple synonyms: maintain, keep alive, conserve, validate, prove, give evidence to, certify, vouch for. Here is a simple definition to start this conversation for using this word to describe packaging material according to my thinking:
Sustainable Packaging is responsibly sourced with particular attention paid in order to maintain and support the environment and eco - systems that the materials are coming from.
Why poplar wood is a sustainable choice to make Sylvacurl
There are many different types of packaging materials, each with a different function. Sylvacurl is a packaging loose-fill, or void-fill, meaning that is fills the space around an object inside a box. It is simply made, using only Poplar wood shavings manufactured with a uniquely patented design to create curls.
Poplar has a modest price point
It is high in cellulose fiber content
We can use it as a green wood (not kiln dried first)
It has a good conversion rate, meaning that each tree makes a lot of wood curl packaging material
It doesn’t have a competitive market - according to the United States Forest Service (USFS) poplar is a tree that is used to make match sticks, paper, pallets, boxes, inexpensive trim, and biofuels.
Using poplar helps the Vermont forest economy and supports healthy forest management. We work with a local family run sawmill to source wood for our curls. The Bend Sawmill buys the wood from responsible loggers thinning and cutting mature trees so that longer living tree species can grow and so that they can work to make a living in a rural environment. Loggers work with landowners which adds value and income to help to keep forests growing and fields open and conserve natural resources. Using poplar helps to maintain healthy forests and our rural economy.
Poplar is fast growing, with a natural lifespan of only thirty-forty years. Poplar grows like a weed, some even refer to it as a weed species. If unmanaged, a poplar tree will simply die when it has ireached the end of it’s lifespan. If it is cut, more shoots called coppice growth sprout from the roots to “re-populate,” which actually creates many more trees. It is also what is known as a pioneer species, which means that it grows in open areas rather than in established forests.
It naturally grows wild (like what we harvest and use for Sylvacurl) but it can also be intentionally cultivated, which is done in other countries, for example India, which grows it mostly to be used for biofuel.
Poplar grows in large regions of North America. It is plentiful in Vermont. It is a renewable resource.
