What is the true cost of packaging to the environment?

A brown paper box conveys a sense of sustainability, glass a natural and high-quality feel, while plastic has become a symbol of our throwaway society. But which material is actually more environmentally cost of packaging friendly?

The answer doesn't just depend on whether something is recyclable. A meaningful analysis begins with the extraction of the raw material and extends through manufacturing, transport, and lifespan to the question of what actually happens to the material at the end of its life. Furthermore, there's an aspect that's often overlooked in traditional comparisons: What happens if the packaging isn't disposed of properly and ends up in the environment?

From raw material to waste

Every material has its strengths and weaknesses. Paper requires wood, energy, and water for processing. Glass is made from abundant mineral resources, but requires high temperatures to melt and is heavy. Primary aluminum production begins with the mining of bauxite and is extremely energy-intensive, but it has excellent recycling potential.

Plastic, in turn, is lightweight and can be produced and transported efficiently. However, these very properties have contributed to the fact that plastic is used worldwide in gigantic quantities for short-lived, single-use products. If it enters the environment, it can remain there for a very long time and eventually break down into ever smaller plastic particles.

Cork works differently: The bark of the cork oak can be harvested repeatedly without felling the tree. The material is lightweight, elastic, shock-absorbing, and durable. Untreated natural cork is also of biogenic origin and biodegradable.

Our Eco-Matrix: five materials cost of packaging comparison

The following matrix is intended to clearly illustrate the different properties. Five stars represent a comparatively favorable ecological property, one star a disadvantageous one.

The Eco-Score is a simplified editorial guideline and not a scientific comparative life cycle analysis. The actual environmental impact depends on the specific application, amount of material, energy source, transport distance, service life, recycling rate, and disposal infrastructure.

Why glass and aluminum perform so well in recycling

That glass and aluminum are rated better than cork at end-of-life may initially seem surprising. The reason lies in their technical recyclability. Glass and aluminum can be collected and reused as raw materials. This is particularly relevant for aluminum because recycling requires significantly less energy than producing primary aluminum.

Cork has other strengths. Used cork products can be shredded and reused for insulation, flooring, or pressed cork, although the original cork bark does not regenerate. However, untreated natural cork is biodegradable and does not create the same persistent waste problem as conventional plastic.

The plastic problem doesn't begin in the ocean.

In our matrix, plastic deliberately does not receive a similarly high overall rating as glass or aluminum. While plastic is lightweight and therefore performs exceptionally well in transport, a purely CO₂ or weight-based perspective is insufficient.

The enormous quantity of short-lived plastic products has become a global environmental problem. Plastic waste ends up in soils, rivers, and oceans, where it can remain for very long periods. Larger pieces increasingly break down into smaller fragments and eventually microplastics. Therefore, for us, a holistic assessment includes not only the question of how efficiently packaging can be produced and transported , but also the consequences that can arise if it deviates from its intended disposal route. This is precisely where, for example, a discarded plastic package differs fundamentally from a piece of untreated natural cork.

The biggest advantage of cork is often overlooked

In all these material comparisons, we usually automatically ask the question: Which packaging should we use? Perhaps the first question should be: Do we even need additional packaging?

Cork offers a significant advantage in suitable products. The material is robust, lightweight, and shock-absorbing, and can therefore provide protection itself. A cork sleeve can thus be an integral part of the product itself, rather than simply packaging that is discarded immediately after purchase.

Biork shows what that means.

With the Biork deodorant crystal, the cork casing serves as protection, a holder, and a permanent component of the product . This eliminates the need for additional traditional retail packaging made of plastic or cardboard. This is ecologically crucial.

Even highly recyclable packaging must first be produced, processed, transported, collected, and recycled. Additional packaging that isn't needed in the first place doesn't generate this material flow at all.

This is precisely why cork performs particularly well in our Eco-Matrix: not because cork would automatically be the most sustainable material in every conceivable application, but because it can combine raw material quality, low weight, durability and packaging avoidance .

Conclusion: It's not better to throw things away, but to consume less.

Paper, glass, aluminum, plastic, and cork cannot be judged solely by a recycling symbol. Glass and aluminum have excellent recycling potential, but this comes at the cost of energy-intensive production or high transport weight. Plastic scores points for weight and processing, but at the same time represents one of the biggest persistent waste problems of our time.

Cork takes a different approach. The material becomes particularly interesting when used not as short-lived packaging, but as a durable component of a product , thus eliminating the need for additional packaging. That is precisely the idea behind Biork.

Because in the end, the most sustainable packaging is not necessarily the one that is easiest to recycle.

It's the one we don't need at all.