I have come to believe that every box has a story to tell about the person or company who sent it. I am quite sure that together with the other packaging/shipping materials being used, the box sends a silent but powerful message to the recipient about the shipper.

• If you are utilizing “used/recycled” boxes are they saying you are conservative and considerate of the environment or are they screaming, cheap and uncaring about the image you project to your customers?
• If you are using boxes that are obviously too large for the product(s) being shipped, are they communicating your lack of knowledge and/or concern about the correct use of packaging materials?
• If your customer’s product arrives damaged, are your boxes saying that you would rather save a few cents than to develop a long term relationship with them?
• If you are using a standard corrugated box with any percentage of virgin fiber, are your boxes admitting you are willing to sacrifice a few trees in a misinformed effort to save some money or time?

Our Green Customers Are Not Like Everyone Else

And thank God they are not. However, this also means that we as a supplier to them, our packaging not only has to perform as well and be as cost competitive as everyone else’s, it also has to be as green as possible. (more…)

In the last week I’ve spoken with two people, one from a very large, green company and the other from a very small, green company. Both had very strong opinions about 100% PCW content corrugated boxes.

“I must have 100% PCW or as close to 100% as possible,” one said. The other said, “I recently tried 100% PCW but it failed miserably”. Both comments demonstrated a basic misunderstanding about corrugated, how it is made and how even 100% PCW it can be modified to satisfy almost any application.

I sincerely believe that the “100% PCW” requirement has in many cases become at best an ineffective guideline, and at worst a crutch for people who want to make a difficult decision, as simple as possible.  Corrugated made of PCW material is an excellent sustainable packaging solution and a critical part of a long term environmental solution, but it has to be combined with some basic product knowledge to be cost effective as well as performance effective.

Corrugated Fun Facts. OK, not fun but good to know

For over a hundred years, almost since it was first used to line and support men’s’ tall hats, corrugated board has been made virtually the same way. A sheet of corrugated board is made up of three approximately equal (by weight) components, two face liner board sheets and the medium (the fluted layer) in between the inner and outer sheets.

If you make one of those three components 100% PCW, your board is approx. 33% PCW, two PCW components would result in 66% PCW, etc. Once you go below 100% PCW content on any of the components, the recycled content gets fairly “gray” but if someone is claiming 90% PCW, that is not only unlikely, it is virtually impossible. Since there is no accurate scientific way after production to verify the recycled content percentage or type (PCW or post production) of each component, a vendor is fairly free to claim almost any PCW percentage they care to. (more…)

I am in the business of green as are most of my friends and acquaintances but there was more green noise yesterday than I could even stand or absorb.

With all due respect and tongue in cheek, You know I am obligated to add to it.

“Top Ten Signs You Might Have Over Done Earth Day”

1. You now work the word “Eco-nomical” into every conversation
2. Your “genius” Earth Day Party Hat Collection made out of used plastic milk bottles did not sell well
3. You won “best float” in the Earth Day parade because you were the only entry
4. You are now contemplating cosmetic surgery to look more like Al Gore or maybe Tipper.
5. Your friends and family got ill at your Earth Day party because of your previously used, recycled paper plates (more…)

Globe Guard Products is pleased to announce our first ever and possibly only ever, 20% off sale.

20% is a very deep discount in the packaging distribution business but we are looking for new eco minded customers and we also realize everyone, like us, is trying to be consistently green, grow their business, and do this while reducing costs.

So, unlike large retailers that seem to have a monthly “best sale ever”, this may truly be a onetime (and week-long!) event.

• Green Packaging Supplies – Special Deal items are also 20% off!
• All stock Globe Guard 100% recycled (PCW) content boxes are 20% off
• Globe Guard paper and plastic carton sealing tapes are 20% off,  including custom printed paper tapes ordered through our web store!
• All Globe Guard recycled content packaging papers, including indented Kraft and tissue, are 20% off
• All Globe Guard 100% recycled labels are 20% off
• All Globe Guard recycled content paper envelope mailers are 20% off, and believe it or not,
• All packaging dispensers including paper cutters, stretch film, pressure sensitive plastic and water activated paper dispensers are 20% off.

And … First time Globe Guard cutomers who order next week will receive a special gift!

Globe Guard Sale Dates -

www.GlobeGuardProducts.com is 20% off starting Monday, April 20th at 8:00 AM, CST and ending Friday, April 24th, at 5:00 PM, CST.

Please use promo code EDAY for discount.
We are confident you will like our eco-friendly packaging products if you try them.

Happy Earth Day!

If American manufacturing had a voice, it would sound a lot like Ken Rayment. In spite of his busy full-time job and a very active family life,  he finds time to interview people that have a real impact on American business for his very popular podcast show, Better Process Podcast. I have been the subject of several of his interviews, and I can tell you rarely does a host have the sincere interest of the subject that Ken has and his style is so casual, it is certain to even make the most inexperienced interviewee  comfortable and eager to share with Ken’s audience.

DS: Ken, you and I first connected about a year and a half ago but I know you have been doing this a while. Give us a little background on when you got started in podcasting.

KR: I started the podcast in July 2006 about 1 year after podcasting was “invented”.  I knew that there was a lot of good intelligent work being done in manufacturing and I believed that there was a strong desire among manufacturing people to get that good news out to others.  I also thought that there could be a listening audience of people for these stories.  I started just talking about manufacturing news.  And this was boring …  even for me.  All 10 downloads for each episode, I found, came from within my house.

DS: How did podcasting change and develop for you?

KR: In January of 2006, I joined podcasternews.com.  This is a new exciting group of podcasters doing very short shows (under 5 minutes) together on one website.  The wonderful thing I did not know at the time was that the website was put together by a bunch of web geeks.  I have found that Google searches my shows almost as soon as they go online and give the companies I interview good results in Google.  I also found out that these people were a fun bunch of online friends.

DS: When did you decide to focus on interviewing in manufacturing?

KR: About that same time I decided that just reading the news was not interesting.  I decided to talk to companies that manufacture something or provide a service to companies that manufacture something.  This was the best decision I could have made for the show.  First all the content was provided by the people I interviewed and it was always fresh and best of all interesting. (more…)

In the interest of full disclosure I have to tell you I consider Wendy a personal friend and ally in our efforts to help make the world greener through packaging. Even though the book includes a photograph of my incredibly cute granddaughter (intro, page VI) and a reprint of something I recently wrote (page 14), I have absolutely no problem being straightforward with my comments on her book. In fact I would dare to say our relationship and friendship would suffer if I was less than honest in my appraisal of Wendy’s work.

“Sustainability isn’t hard: it’s just not simple”

That is the opening thought Wendy shares with us in her introduction, and I will admit that my initial concern was that any book about sustainability authored by a designer, especially an accomplished, talented designer like Wendy, would be technical and therefore somewhat boring for the average, non-designer reader like yours truly. I am very pleased to say Wendy wrote a book that can and should be read by anyone and everyone interested in sustainability from a buyer or seller, user or provider perspective. In other words, almost anyone with even a passing interest in green or in packaging can and will enjoy and learn something from reading Packaging Sustainability.

No magic solutions or secret ingredients provided

Wendy offers no easy answers because there rarely are any. For the person interested in a quick solution or an easy way out, there is none to be had in this book or any other book that is truthful and well informed. On the plus side, this book does not read like a designer’s text book and is filled with excellent case studies, examples and of course Wendy’s well informed insight and very obvious experience. If you too have strong feelings about sustainability, you may not always fully agree with everything Wendy has written but you undoubtedly will conclude it is well thought out and well presented. (more…)

One of the best parts of doing what we do is the opportunity to meet some really neat people doing some terrific things for the world we all share. We were recently contacted by Mark Simmons, one of the co-founders of www.Useless.org a unique company selling very useful products for a very good cause. They donate 10% of their profits to fund water and sanitation projects worldwide.

Did someone say “eco-consistency”?

Regular readers know that eco-consistency is my mantra, but when I spoke to Mark that was exactly what he was trying to accomplish. He was committed to buying packaging materials that communicated and confirmed his company’s very deep and sincere values of protecting the earth and “using less”. It sounded like a perfect application for Globe Guard 100% recycled PCW content corrugated boxes and it was.

Eco friendly corrugated boxes – to print or not to print

Even though we heavily promote our stock box unprinted program, we also understand the need for customization and branding. Today, well over half of our Globe Guard box business is custom grade, custom print or custom size. Realizing the importance of branding, especially at this early stage of his company’s development, Mark decided he wanted their logo printed on the box, in white – a most unusual color for box printing. I was not sure how white ink would turn out on a brown box, but the end result is a marvelous shade of green (packaging). (more…)

Whether you are talking about composting, oxo-degradability or biodegradability, the options are numerous, the facts confusing and the claims are very often downright misleading. The cartoon shown is appearing in the April issue of Packaging World magazine and it would be great if any degradable packaging product really worked as well or as quickly as the product Eco Ed is complaining about. The fact is that few do.

Composting

This option seems to be the favorite of food service companies because quite often their waste includes scrap food waste. It would be absolutely fantastic if that disposable plate, spoon, or clamshell style container could be composted along with the food waste it may contain and then the earth would be a big, happy and green place. Unfortunately the fine print on most “compostable” products is that it will only degrade or breakdown in a municipal or industrial compost facility.

So I went to www.findacomposter.com and typed in my home state of Illinois. I was pleased to see seven composting facilities listed but when I clicked for more information I found out they all do composting of yard waste, not the type of food and food service waste we need to be processed. Keep in mind there are people who buy these products who actually believe they will be able to process them in their back yard compost heap. All I can suggest is keep the house in the family and perhaps the grand kids will live long enough see these products degrade. (more…)

Our eco friendly packaging store www.GlobeGuardProducts.com shows just a small sampling of the most popular types of packaging papers, in the most popular width – 24”. The truth is that we offer many more sizes, weights and grades than we can possible show on a web store. Virgin and recycled Kraft, bogus, and newsprint for interleaving, surface protection, cushioning and especially for void fill. They are all excellent materials when used for the correct application but we have found a new favorite and so have our customers. – indented recycled Kraft paper.

What is indented Kraft paper?

Indented is Kraft paper that has been run through a secondary process giving it a raised, bumpy finish which makes it softer to the touch while making it tougher and better for certain applications. For example, it does a better job of filling a void within a box being shipped because the indenting makes it more voluminous and bulkier. Hence you wind up using less of it to fill the same size void and it is more effective in protecting the product, especially if it is heavier, has sharper edges or is more likely to be damaged in shipment.

Packaging paper that does not hurt economically or physically

Since the indented Kraft paper we sell is 100% recycled content, it is considered eco friendly and because you use far less of it, it is green from that aspect as well. Let’s not forget using less also results in a lower unit cost which is good for the pocket book, especially in these tough economic times.

We recently showed 60# indented Kraft to a lady who packs boxes all day and with an immediate large smile on her face, she proclaimed, “no more paper cuts”. As soon as she touched it she immediately realized our paper was softer and would not result in the skin on her fingers and hands being painfully slit on an almost daily basis. Yet she could also see that it was stronger and would do an excellent job of satisfying her void fill needs. (more…)