The plastic cable ties used to hold products in place on a paperboard card may seem like a negligible amount of packaging, but according to Wire Cabling, as many as 100 billion of these non-recyclable cable ties are produced worldwide annually. In its journey to reduce 40% of its plastic packaging content by the end of 2024, baby lifestyle brand Munchkin, Inc., owned by WHY Brands, Inc., realized this small but consequential packaging component had to go.
Van Nuys, Calif.-based Munchkin, launched more than 30-plus years ago with a focus on innovative baby products and now a leading children’s lifestyle brand, has a storied history when it comes to developing packaging that is kinder to the planet—and to animals, in particular. In 2021, when news that a stray kitten had become entangled in a plastic ring used for its Any Angle trainer cup, the company not only paid for the kitten’s medical expenses, but it also redesigned its entire line of cup packaging to ensure no other animal would face the same plight. After a year of R&D, Munchkin introduced a paper packaging solution for its 500 cup SKUs that is animal safe and reduces its use of plastic by 643,630 lb annually.
