• On the go

    Packaging that goes everywhere

    In your daily routine of work, school and social activities, getting from one location to another takes up a lot of your time. That’s why many companies offer products specifically designed to make them easy to consume on the go. Packaging lets you carry the product in your bag from point A to point B and is often reclosable to avoid waste if there’s still some left.

  • At home

    Solutions for the whole family

    Products used at home meet a lot of different needs and consumption habits. Companies therefore offer a whole range of sizes adapted to the situation, regardless of family size or type of housing.

  • Away from home

    At work or at school

    Preparing lunches can be a real puzzle. To make everyone’s life easier, some companies package their products in single-serving sizes that preserve freshness. An eco-responsible way to solve the problem is to buy a larger size and divide the product into smaller reusable containers.


Buy

At the store, choose products with eco-responsible packaging. Don’t forget to bring your reusable shopping bags! Be sure to clean the bags from time to time and avoid buying too many of them, as their production consumes significant resources and energy. If you’ve forgotten them home, plastic bags provided at the cash register may be later reused to collect kitchen waste or animal excrement, or bagged together and placed in the recycling bin.

Use

If you know you can use up all the product, choose larger sizes instead of single-serving containers. That way, you will reduce the quantity of packaging placed in the recycling bin. In some cases like yogurt, the larger size container is recyclable, while the single-serving is not necessarily so.
Of course, it’s always better to buy a smaller size that meets your needs if the extra product in a large one will end up as waste. You may also consider freezing that extra product to extend its life.

A second life

Many items you use every day are made with recycled materials. The containers, packaging and printed matter you place in your recycling bin are collected, sorted and processed by materials recyclers. Manufacturers then use the “new” materials to make other packaging, printed matter and sometimes whole new products such as clothing, furniture or construction materials.

Did you know that companies finance materials recovery?

In Quebec, companies who market containers, packaging and printed matter (which Quebecers eventually place in their recycling bins) finance the municipal services that collect recyclable materials from homes and public places.

Download a summary to help you choose eco-responsible packages.