5 Sustainable Uses for Your Plastic Food Packaging

September 20, 2024

Three of the most important ways we make plastic sustainable are to reduce, recycle, and reuse. While the amount of plastic used in injection molded food packaging can be reduced with modified designs, and most packaging can be recycled, as manufacturers, we don't always examine ways food packaging can be used to make it more sustainable. Choosing packaging designs and materials that encourage reuse is a great way to promote sustainability. Here are just a few of the many ways your food packaging can be reused with sustainability in mind.

1. Milk Jugs in the Garden

Traditional milk jugs and other large beverage containers are found in most homes. After they've finished delivering milk, their bottoms can be cut off, so they can be reused in spring gardening to protect young plants from animals and harsh weather until they are large and strong enough to survive on their own.

2. Small Item Storage

Food packaging with wide openings and lids designed to open and close repeatedly can be reused as perfect storage spaces for small, loose items such as coins, rubber bands, screws, nails, paper clips, and countless other small parts. 

3. Mini Greenhouses

Rotisserie chicken and similar food packaging can be reused to create mini-greenhouses, either for entertainment, or to grow windowsill herbs, sprouts, or other small plants. They can also be reused to start seeds in the spring before planting them outside.

4. DIY Bowling Pins

Numerous kinds of plastic bottles, filled with sand, rice, or even water, can be reused in matching sets to make a fun, easy, impromptu set of bowling pins.

5. Storing Leftovers

Packaging which closes tightly can frequently be repurposed for storing leftovers in the fridge. Clear packaging is especially helpful, making it easy to see what's inside.


At Bennett Plastics, we take sustainability seriously, and offer materials, techniques, and expertise to help you design and manufacture sustainable plastic products with us. Contact us today to learn more about our full range of capabilities. 

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