The Trials of Going Green

I’m going round in circles trying to decide how to move away from traditional polypropylene (clear plastic) to wrap my cards and prints. It’s not at all straightforward:

Polypropylene pros and cons:

My usual cellophane (polypropylene) is reasonably priced, it works really well and lasts for years. It is also recyclable with other bags at supermarkets. However, it’s more carbon intensive to produce and can only be recycled a few times. Also, nobody seems to know that it can be recycled, and even if they do, nobody seems to do it. Most of the time the bags will go into the black bin and are taken away for incineration. I wonder if they produce more carbon than biodegradable alternatives when burnt?

Biodegradable pros and cons:

Biodegradable clear plastic wrapping does exist, and it is less carbon intensive to produce. Primarily used by florists, it is much more expensive. There are currently no affordable bags to fit my medium and large prints so I will need to buy a roll and wrap everything individually which takes time. Also, I’ve been told that the film will ruin any batch of recycling if someone puts one in their blue bin. Another problem is that after around three months the film starts to degrade and can turn yellow, so I would need to check and repackage things every so often. Finally, what’s the point if the packaging is going straight into the black bin and sent off to be incinerated?

What to do?

Instinct is telling me to ditch traditional plastic, even though it will cost me time and money. I’ve managed to find paper-based alternatives for all of my other packaging, and I really do want to keep going. If more of us can support the green alternatives they will come down in price eventually, and one day someone might even make a bag to fit my prints!

What do you think?

Am I missing something here? Do you have any thoughts/experience/information which could help me on this?! If so, please do get in touch.