Printing a logo and/or a brief sales message on paper box sealing tape or corrugated boxes makes total sense from a marketing perspective. The cost is minimal The message is usually seen by several people as the package moves through the distribution chain Printing converts...
The photo above shows the three items we ordered whose combined volume is 582 square inches. The box they used was a 16” X 10.5” X12.25” high, which provides 2,058 square inches of packing space. Because the box was almost four times larger than it had to be, 600 (un-inflated) square inches of an inflatable void fill product had to be used to fill the oversized void. Before you think this is just another story of a packer using the wrong box to fill an order, the green “wanna be” picture gets much worse for Staples.
OK, I will admit we do not yet have an official Globe Guard Eco Consistency award, but if we did, it would be darn prestigious and we would award to Citizen Watch Company. That has to be worth something, right? The fact is that we, like so many others in the green business, are quick to criticize when companies are inconsistent in their packaging. Therefore, we should also be ready, willing and able to point out when they do something positive.
Making Sure the Packaging “Fits” the Product
Rightsizing is a given but making sure that the package is sustainably appropriate for the product you are selling is an often overlooked detail. It seems logical doesn’t it that if a watch maker creates a watch series they decide to name “Eco-Drive” it is going to appeal to people like me who believe we all use way too many battery powered items in our daily lives. We are also almost certain to scrutinize the packaging and see if it is consistent with the product it contains.
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.
I recently had another “Madonna Experience”, with a potential customer who hesitated to make what he thought was the quantum leap from his current corrugated boxes, ALL the way to our Globe Guard 100% PCW recycled content corrugated boxes.
Those conversations always make me think of the pop singer’s infamous hit, “Like a Virgin” because the customer was convinced his current supplier was delivering boxes made of pure, new tree fiber. Not likely. Not even possible.
The Truth about Corrugated Board
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).
Image via Wikipedia
Image by Getty Images via Daylife
If you look at the label on the pictured Dole product, you see that it is “natural”. I doubt any of us really understand what natural means anymore, but at least in theory, it’s a good thing, right? Shoppers everywhere just like my wife seek and buy products that are organic, pure and natural, even if the cost is a bit higher than those less healthy product options.
I used to think these Dole peaches were delicious but I forever unintentionally ruined the taste by taking a closer look at the package and label. Near the top of the container you see ink jet characters that read “peaches from USA”. (Click on the thumbnail at right for a look.) I can only assume that is imprinted that way to give Dole some seasonal flexibility on where their peaches are grown and harvested. OK, I can buy that but at the bottom of the plastic jar you see that the shrink band label is printed ”Packed in Thailand.”
Image by Getty Images via Daylife
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?