In December 2017 we shared our 2018 goals with you and one of our main focuses of this year was to reduce our carbon footprint. We’ve always wanted to have eco-friendly & recyclable packaging but the process can be complex. However, we think that being environmentally friendly is paramount as a company in the 21st century and that goal is one step closer to becoming a reality.
As some of you may be aware, we ran a New Year, New Packaging survey at the beginning of 2018 where we asked you, our loyal customers, to help us redesign our acupuncture needle packaging. We received a large number of great responses that cemented the fact that our customers are in favour of eco-friendly and recyclable packaging. We would like to thank each and every one of you that took the time to complete our survey. As our customers are at the forefront of Phoenix, we would like to share the results with you.
The Results
As you can see from the above pie charts, recycling and eco-friendly packaging is extremely important for our customers and 78% of you are willing to pay a little bit extra to ensure the packaging is recyclable. We also found that a high percentage of customers would not be willing to separate recyclable and non-recyclable packaging in the clinic. We understand that practitioners are extremely busy and rarely have spare time to spend sorting plastic so we will do our best to find the most efficient solution
The appearance of needle boxes is also important to our customers, with the majority of you favouring packaging that combines bold and neutral colours. Aside from the recyclable packaging, practitioners also prefer coloured boxes to distinguish different needles, as well as tamper-evident packaging. We also found customers favoured the slanted opening of our current boxes rather than a tucked tab as we want to ensure the box is of the highest quality, as well as the needles and their outer-packaging. We have taken all feedback on board regarding the appearance of the packaging and we hope to represent that in the finished product.
The Future
It appears that we are not alone in wanting to save the planet. We were recently informed of a change.org petition, campaigning for better packaging for acupuncture supplies. The petition aims to see all packaging and boxes 100% biodegradable and recyclable. If you would like to support this movement, please sign the petition.
As previously stated, redesigning packaging and ensuring it is eco-friendly and recyclable is a complex and lengthy process. However, that does not deter us. We pride ourselves on quality, safe and efficient products and we would also like that to apply ideology to our packaging.
We are currently in the process of redesigning our packaging, using the feedback we received from the survey. If there are any other ideas you would like to provide regarding our packaging, or any of our products please contact us at info@phoenixmd.co.uk.
This is amazing. Do you have any suggestions for what I can do at the moment with the tubes and tabs?
Hi Katy, thanks for your comment! Unfortunately as they aren’t certified recyclable, the only thing you can do is put them in the bin. We’re in the process of designing our new 100% recyclable packaging, so we haven’t got long to wait! Laura
Amazing news!!