18 Dec 2008 Why We’re Not Crazy Telling You Not to Buy the Corrugated Boxes We’re Trying to Sell You
Posted at 06:51h
in Sustainable Products
As a marketing specialist, I myself find it strange that at the same time we're promoting Globe Guard 100% PCW content corrugated boxes, we're writing post upon post telling people how to use less corrugated or no corrugated at all.
Well, we definitely want to sell Globe Guard boxes. Being made from 100% post-consumer waste, they are the ultimate in sustainability from a materials standpoint. But at the same time, our experience in packaging tells us this -
The biggest cost saving AND the best environmental consequences come from using less corrugated material in your operation.That's why we openly encourage corrugated users to use less corrugated, and offer suggestions about how to do it. But the real mystery is this. Why do so many customers fixate on the purchase price of their boxes, when changing their box requirements will produce far greater savings? A couple reasons come to mind.
Both materials can be excellent eco-friendly packaging. Paperboard packaging is what you see on a FedEx or USPS style flat mailer envelope, or a typical cereal box. By comparison corrugated board has fluting and is what a standard brown box is made of.
The line used to be fairly clear – paperboard was used for primary/retail/display packaging and corrugated was used strictly for secondary packaging such as for shipping boxes simply expected to get products from point A to point B.
As paperboard has become thicker, while corrugated has grown thinner, and both materials are engineered better and more visually appealing, you now see paperboard being used often for shipping purposes such as in mailers, tubes and other structures. There is also growing trend to use corrugated for retail packaging for its “greener look” (see image below). 
When in doubt, claim everything?
There are certain packaging product areas where green has an even greater amount of “gray” and that most definitely includes bio-plastics. Consider the variety of products and applications out there and you will see the obvious problem. To me “plastics” means packaging films for wrapping, shrinking and forming. To our reader Neil, plastics are about disposable cutlery. Can “standards” ever be the same for both of us? 
During my recent travels and conventioneering, I noticed that MBE (Minority Business Enterprise) firms are seriously underrepresented in the world of sustainability, especially when it comes to sustainability and MBE packaging firms. Here are a few cases in point.
