Every time you shop, no matter how you try to live with a lighter footprint, you don't have much control of the packaging the company gives you the product in. Plastic containers, plastic tag holders (?), plastic bags...
I think a lot about this, and so I use packaging that is as eco friendly as possible within my budget. A couple of big elements in packaging artwork are bag to protect from moisture, and tapes to hold things in place. There are environmentally friendly tapes available, from tapes made of paper, which has been around a long time, to biodegradable & compostable tapes.
Bags though, are a bit tricky to find. I use clear cellophane bags for products up to A4 size, and cellophane sheets for bigger artworks. But I needed to be diligent that I was purchasing "true" cellophane, because a lot of times so called cellophane is actually plastic. So what's the difference? Often marketed as cello bags, cello wraps, or even cellophane, is actually polypropylene, plastic. "True" cellophane, however is made from cellulose derived from plants such as wood, cotton and hemp, and is biodegradable.
My bags and sheets are all tear & burn tested to make sure I wasn't sold a fake cellophane. Cellophane, unlike plastic, tears, and plastic stretches. Cellophane burns without foul smell and plastic melts.
To leave as little footprint as possible where I can, my art is created in the least toxic (to humans or the planet) method, and packaging is environmentally friendly.
My artwork in my shop will be packaged in environmentally friendly materials.
