Subscribe

Tag: e-commerce|packaging|sustainability

Meeting the demand for sustainable e-commerce packaging

Posted on by David Priestman

Packaging machinery specialist Hugo Beck is seeing a strong demand for its servo X e-com range. The combination of high speeds, ease of operation, optimised machine accessibility and the flexibility in processing a variety of film types, together with the ability to minimise material usage make it a firm favourite with e-commerce, mail order and logistics customers.

Whether dealing with the direct dispatch of individual goods, packing multi-pack products, or meeting the complex requirements of returned goods packaging, the servo X e-com ensures products are packed with the lowest amount of material needed, automatically adjusting the film bags with four sealed sides to the product’s length. As an addition, the servo X e-com fit model also adjusts the bag size to the product’s width, to support the precise fitting of shipping bags.

Meeting the shift in demand for sustainable film packaging, the servo X e-com is capable of processing a diverse range of recyclable material types, from PE flat films from 30 to 100 μm thickness, through to recycled content films which can often contain for example up to 80% Post-Consumer Recycled (PCR) material.

“With sustainability now a key driver in the packaging industry, manufacturers in the e-commerce sector are looking for reliable film packaging systems which can optimise the efficiency of their operations and thereby save on resources,” says Timo Kollmann, Managing Director of Hugo Beck.

Various types of packaging

“At Hugo Beck, we realise that with certain applications, film packaging remains the best material of choice – hence why we wanted to make sure the servo X e-com can handle various film types including recycled content film. As more customers seek out alternative materials, at Hugo Beck this switch has never been easier. Films with a high percentage of recycled material can still be processed just as efficiently, making it simple for those looking to alternate between different film types without complication. This, combined with our paper packaging machines, ensures e-commerce customers have access to high-functioning, sustainable automated packaging solutions.”

Another valued feature is the servo X e-com machines’ outstanding accessibility and ease of operation. As packers only have a short window of time to fill packages with individual or multiple products, it is vital that each manoeuvre is executed precisely. High efficiency is achieved through the servo X e-com’s built-in scanner with a controller for product detection and creation of a shipping label, which is continuously dispensed directly onto the film without an external applicator, whilst maintaining high speeds. This labeller is movable, along with other easily accessible machine parts.

At the same time, the servo X e-com packaging machines include the option to add an easy-opening perforation to the bags as well as inserting a double-sided adhesive tape for resealing a bag for returns as well as adding a carry handle.

Additionally, the servo X e-com is industry 4.0 ready and syncs seamlessly with ERP or control systems enabling the easy integration within a production line. As an option, it can be supplied with the Hugo Beck Cockpit software which monitors and analyses the machine’s performance and operating data.

Handling the entire bagging process in one unit, from barcode scanning to product measurement, bagging and sealing, to application of corresponding shipping labels, the servo X e-com range is ideally equipped to provide secure but appealing shipping bags that are ideal for the fast-paced e-commerce industry.

 

eCommerce packaging with the ‘wow’ factor

Posted on by David Priestman

Smurfit Kappa says it aims to find the perfect packaging solutions for all kinds of businesses, no matter how big or small. From major brands to innovative start-ups, it offers customers support, creativity, and inventiveness to help create a packaging solution that meets their every need, which was the case when MESSIAH and EVE came to Smurfit Kappa Beacon for help with its DTC shipping packaging.

MESSIAH and EVE is a new multi-award winning vegan body care brand specialising in elevated fine fragrance body care essentials. It sells a range of body-dedicated creams and cleansers, hand wash and bath oil. As an eCommerce retailer, packaging is one of the most important parts of its product range.

Its products are purposefully and intentionally crafted to have a positive impact on the skin, the planet, and the communities within it. MESSIAH and EVE says it is committed to a journey of consideration in everything it does, and its packaging is no exception. It approached the Smurfit Kappa Beacon team hoping to find a supplier who could assist it in creating packaging which could safely ship its eCommerce orders and speed up its fulfilment production line, while also fitting with its company ethos.

Smurfit Kappa took on the challenge of producing the perfect packaging solutions for MESSIAH and EVE products, with the goal of creating sustainable eCommerce packaging which would ‘wow’ its customers and create a memorable unboxing experience. Not only that, but it was conscious of the speed of packing and ease of opening for their consumers. It needed packaging which would be super-easy to seal during the packing process and double as suitable gift packaging should its  customers be gifting orders.

One of the biggest challenges Smurfit Kappa faced when it started working on this project for MESSIAH and EVE was the sustainability element of the packaging. It knew this was a key focus for the brand, so it just had to get it right, but in a way that would not compromise on quality or customer experience. Smurfit Kappa considered the option of using 100% recycled board, but soon realised this would not be suitable with the high-end print design and self-seal tape to speed up the packing process.

Smurfit Kappa opted for a more premium board grade which was still sustainable while also offering a super high-print finish. The end packaging solution looked the part while also being FSC Mix and 100% recyclable: fitting hand -in-hand with its brand ethos. As well as being easily recyclable through household recycling channels, the MESSIAH and EVE packaging delivered the ‘wow’ factor during unboxing and perfectly encapsulated the luxury of the products inside.

As fast fulfilment packing was a priority for MESSIAH and EVE, Smurfit Kappa incorporated self-seal tape which allowed for a quick production line and created a secure postal solution for its products. The tape and rippa opening design offers a more modern experience than some of the other considered options, and creates an unboxing experience similar to other high-end eCommerce packs from worldwide brands. Self-seal tape is very simple for customers to open when their new items arrive on their doorstep and makes it easier for consumers to return products using the existing packaging. This reduces the amount of waste material, giving the packaging another purpose.

The finished product ticked all of MESSIAH and EVE’s boxes, and Smurfit Kappa says it delivered packaging which was not only a functional option but also a key marketing tool for the eCommerce brand.

Kite launches 100% translucent paper bags

Posted on by David Priestman

Kite Packaging has launched a range of 100% paper glassine bags. Clear bags have long reflected professional presentation when used as internal packaging, particularly in the fashion or textile industries. Traditionally, a high-clarity transparent bag would have to be made from plastic, though glassine paper can now offer a sustainable alternative thanks to its glossy, translucent finish.

Manufactured from wood pulp, glassine is a recyclable and biodegradable paper that can be put out for kerbside collection in the same way as any other paper or card products. This makes it a highly unique eco-friendly packaging innovation by marrying plastic-free sustainability with a see-through texture.

Kite now supplies these bags in five different sizes all with 40gsm. Therefore, they are suitable for separating individual clothing or accessory items within a larger mailer or granting an extra layer of protection to specific parts of a package.

The glassine bags are grease-, moisture- and dirt-resistant, serving to maintain the pristine condition of the contents. By selecting a bag that will closely fit the contents, clothes can keep their neatly folded configuration to create an aesthetically pleasing unboxing experience. Furthermore, they offer increased reassurance that external elements of wind and rain, for example, cannot damage your products.

With a range of competitive wholesale prices, Kite’s new range can equip both large and small businesses wishing to elevate the professionalism of the packaging without compromising their environmental standpoint. Eco-friendly plastic-free packaging materials act as a strong marketing tool in the current ecommerce climate. The translucent pouches are an eco-friendly alternative to polythene bags by being both recyclable and biodegradable, while maintaining the see-through quality previously only achieved with plastic products.

These bags are professional forms of internal packaging boasting moisture and grease resistance to protect clothing and textile items without harming our planet.

eCommerce packaging “must change to meet COP26 objectives”

Posted on by David Priestman

The recent COP26 summit has focused new attention on the contribution that supply and distribution chains, especially in e-commerce, make to greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and other environmental ills, writes Jo Bradley, Business Development Manager, Sparck Technologies (formerly Packaging by Quadient). Many leading companies have publicly committed to change but, as consultants McKinsey note, “In many instances net-zero commitments are running ahead of companies’ own plans to meet them”.

Clearly, it will take years, and much innovation and investment in material production, product design and distribution technology, to deliver net-zero supply of the products that consumers want and need. But one step that ecommerce businesses could take, economically, effectively, and right now, is to stop delivering what consumers neither want nor need – excess packaging.

If businesses are serious about aligning their policies to COP26 objectives, then simple, obvious steps to reducing waste should be taken now.

The cardboard box is a wonderful invention, but the commonplace experience of receiving small items in grossly oversized packaging often filled with non-recyclable polyethylene or polystyrene void fill, has moved from amusing, through annoying, to downright scandalous. This is a wasteful act that undermines efforts to attain a net-zero future.

As a material, cardboard packaging may be far more environmentally acceptable than its petrochemical-based alternatives, but it is still a valuable resource that should be used as thoughtfully and sparingly as possible. Making and recycling paper and cardboard is an energy-intensive process using significant amounts of hot water, so keeping the amount of cardboard we use to an absolute minimum is an important step on the journey to achieving a net-zero supply chain.

The ecommerce sector has an opportunity, indeed, a duty, to use available technology to make right-sized packaging for each individual ecommerce order. Sparck Technologies offers CVP Automated Packaging Solutions that create ‘right-size’ boxes in seconds by scanning and measuring the goods – single or multi-item orders – cutting and erecting the box, sealing, weighing, and labelling. Interestingly, multiple corrugate feeders are becoming more popular with ecommerce businesses as different widths of cardboard can be selected automatically by the machine to minimise off-cuts – and branded board is also an option.

By minimising corrugate use, cardboard consumption reduces by 30% on average and void fill is virtually eliminated, significantly reducing packaging material costs. And as businesses are well aware, cardboard is under significant upward price pressure.

Furthermore, using smaller boxes means a greater density of product per truck or van load. A reduction in volume for a given quantity of goods of up to 50% potentially reduces the number of trucks required on trunk routes, and the empty running caused by ‘last mile’ vehicles having to return to depot to reload in mid-shift – both of which can significantly reduce transport GHG emissions and costs, as well as other environmental harms, from noise pollution to congestion.

CVP packaging solutions also conserve other scarce resources. Labour shortages are driving up staffing costs in the logistics industry, but right-size packaging can help reduce the requirement for drivers and staff within the warehouse – a CVP machine can typically replace between 8 and 20 manual packing stations. Up to 500 shipments an hour can be produced by the CVP Impack machine, and 1,100 packages an hour on the CVP Everest. They can also save on another resource that is becoming increasingly expensive – warehouse space.

Many net-zero strategies are widely believed to reduce consumer choice, or impair productivity and profit, or require large upfront investment for slow and uncertain gain, or require wholesale change to products, processes and business models throughout the supply chain. However, CVP Automated Packaging Solutions offer a compelling economic case by improving productivity while reducing transport, labour and material costs, along with an immediate and verifiable improvement in the supply chain’s carbon footprint.

Importantly, far from adversely impacting consumers, more efficient packaging will be immediately noticed and valued by the half of consumers who rate over-size packaging as one of the most annoying features of e-commerce, and the 77% who believe that the packaging a brand uses reflects its environmental values.

Right-sized packaging offers a net-zero contribution that is environmentally effective, commercially attractive, and available right now.

Returnable bags made from recycled material

Posted on by David Priestman

Kite Packaging has released returnable mailing bags, now available in an economical polythene material with 30% recycled content. The lightweight and compact construction conserves vehicle space, enabling more packages to be transported per truck, hence minimising the overall carbon footprint.

Returnable postal packaging appeals to the growing demand for quick and easy returns processes when shopping online. Given the unavoidable uncertainties of ordering items such as clothing from e-Commerce sites, a user-friendly procedure for returning goods is essential for securing both the initial sale and repeated purchases.

The double peel and seal strip allows the mailer to be fastened a second time after the easy-tear perforation is torn. The durable polymer construction supports the design by having suitable strength to last the multiple transit journeys.

Kite Packaging already supplies a recyclable kraft paper returnable mailing bag, but the polythene version provides a low-cost solution without gusseted seams for smaller and lighter products. The company continually expands its online product range to suit the requirements of almost all businesses and budgets to the point where it is now the largest online packaging distributor in the UK.

Eco-friendly e-commerce mailing bags launched

Posted on by David Priestman

The rapid growth of e-commerce has caused an inevitable soar in demand for easy returns. By reusing the original packaging, the environmental impact of a return is reduced by a minimum of half; Kite Packaging has launched sustainable kraft mailing bags to diminish this impact even further.

These packages are manufactured from FSC certified kraft which is sustainably sourced and grants the mailers superior strength to other papers. A heavy-duty material is essential for an item designed for reuse by a customer, though brown kraft is also 100% recyclable to ensure responsible disposal. This is guaranteed to significantly reduce a company’s carbon footprint while enhancing their green credentials.

The expandable gusseted sides offer extra capacity to fit a considerable range of different products while arriving flat-packed for convenient storage. To allow for effortless packing and returns, Kite’s product features a double peel and seal strip: one for securing an order to be delivered and the second should the goods need to be returned. The perforated easy tear opening provides excellent user satisfaction at the unboxing stage that is continued until the end of the transaction with this intuitive design.

Encourage consumers to shop with confidence, reassured by a user-friendly returns process that promotes repeat sales and all round positive transactions.

 

 

 

New packaging regs require greater efficiency

Posted on by David Priestman

The cardboard supply market is under stress, and forthcoming changes to the regime around packaging and waste will have further impacts. Retailers and shippers will need to act now to optimise their use of an increasingly valuable commodity, writes Jo Bradley, Business Development Manager for Packaging Solutions at Quadient.

As is well known, on-line sales, most of which are shipped in cardboard boxes, rose 74% year-on-year in 2020. The Confederation of the Paper Industries says the increase represents what had been expected for the next five years – an extra 200 million packages in the postal and courier systems, according to Royal Mail.

Covid restrictions have constrained production, and while extra mill capacity is coming on stream around Europe, it’s thought much of this is going to China and the Far East. Some 84% of European board is made from recycled fibre, but this raises other issues around availability of recyclable material.

Unsurprisingly, all this is having a massive impact on price and availability. In the early part of the year some buyers were reportedly paying £70-£160 over Autumn prices for container board, while lead times were stretched from 48-72 hours to 6 weeks.

But, critically, two separate developments in packaging waste regulations will put further permanent pressure on the board market.

The first of these, to be implemented from 1st April 2022, is a new Plastic Packaging Tax, of £200 per tonne on all plastic packaging materials made or imported to the UK that contain less than 30% recyclate. Since 44% of the UK’s plastic usage is in packaging, this drive to replace new fossil fuel derived feedstocks with recycled material is entirely laudable, reducing both the carbon footprint and the release of plastics into the environment.

However, to meet the 30% recyclate target across the board, the capacity of the plastic recycling industry would have to increase by 100%, which isn’t going to happen any time soon. So many packaging users will either pay the tax, or will have to switch to cardboard.

The second, and more profound, change is still out for a second round of consultation (closing on 4th June 2021). This is the proposed introduction, in phases from 2023, of Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) for packaging. EPR is an approach endorsed by the OECD and increasingly being implemented by countries worldwide. Under EPR, producers – which means packers, shippers and retailers as well as material manufacturers – pay the full costs of dealing with the waste they produce.

Under the existing producer responsibility regulations, which have been in place since 1997, although packaging waste recycling rates have improved from 25% to 63.9%, the regime only raises 10-12% of waste-handling costs arising, with local authorities and others picking up the bulk of the bill.

The new rules will inevitably be complex, since they are not just about raising money but about promoting recycling collection and processing capacity and markets, encouraging use of refillable/reuseable containers, reducing use of materials that are hard or impossible to recycle (such as black plastic, polystyrene, complex films) and reducing packaging use generally.

Importantly, this will affect users of cardboard boxes in a number of ways. Firstly, there will be a clear incentive to maximise the productive use of material, by for example not using over-size boxes. Secondly, because board is already fairly easy to recycle, it is likely to be treated more favourably than other packaging materials, so users are likely to switch away from plastics towards board for many purposes, increasing demand and therefore price for new and recycled pulp. This will raise the price for all paper and board products, including corrugated.

Thirdly, users will have to consider not only the cardboard box but any void fill, from air bags to polystyrene beads – again emphasising the need to ‘right-size’ boxes and cartons.

Traditionally, packing lines use box preforms in one or several standard sizes. An automated line may use just one size, regardless of the volume of goods to be packed: a manual packer will doubtless try to use the most appropriate size but, given the difficulty of predicting need in a complex fulfilment operation, may have to use a box that is one, or even several, sizes ‘too big’ along with additional materials as dunnage. This is inherently wasteful, as well as being unnecessarily expensive in shipping charges, and very unpopular with consumers.

Ecommerce companies would be wise to look to the advantages of automated packaging systems, such as Quadient’s CVP Everest and CVP Impack, which can make right-sized cardboard boxes for each individual order at phenomenal rates. These machines can cut, fold, erect, pack and seal boxes of just the right size for each order (of single or multiple items) at rates of up to 1,100 packages per hour – equivalent to around 20 manual packers.

Overall box volumes shipped are reduced by up to 50%, with corresponding reductions in packaging material usage. A related advantage, on the Everest machines, is that they seal with adhesive rather than tape – this is good for the recycling process and avoids tape supply issues currently experienced by many companies.

Government expects EPR to cost business £2.7bn in its first year if firms don’t take the desired mitigating actions, such as reducing their material usage, and this would rise as further phases of implementation kick in.

Constructing individual boxes to the exact size of an order not only makes the most efficient use of an increasingly valuable commodity, but also makes good sense environmentally, operationally and financially.

Subscribe

Get notified about New Episodes of our Podcast, New Magazine Issues and stay updated with our Weekly Newsletter.