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).

Achieving the sustainable, green “Look”

Working to establish the all important “image of difference” between us and our competitors, as well as attempting to create a lasting positive image in our customers’ minds, the way our secondary packaging looks is very important. The box we ship to our customer is indeed the first thing they see and it is saying something about us, our company and our product. Being a green company does not mean less is expected of us, in fact in most cases the opposite is true. As our individual green spaces and markets become more crowded, it is the little things we do that will make the difference between gaining and retaining a customer or forever losing them.

Green packaging for the Greater Good

It is very gratifying to be involved with companies like www.Useless.org, who do wonderful things for others and it feels good to know we are contributing in a small way to their success and their goals. Good luck Mark Simmons. We wish you and your organization well.

Last week I received a call from a company that uses four different size plastic slip sheets as inter-leavers during their manufacturing and in plant material handling. The sheets are placed between products to prevent abrasion but are removed and discarded when the product is packed into individual boxes. Their goal was to be as green as possible and ideally to reduce the cost of these, single use disposable sheets.

Application Analysis

After a review of the use, customer expectations, etc., we discovered an important piece of information. To avoid dimensions, let’s say they use a “small” sheet, a slightly larger “medium”, a substantially oversized, “large” sheet and an even a slightly larger “extra large”. Four sizes and the relatively small volume on each are almost identical. We also determined that for no good apparent reason, they were using a high quality, high clarity, food grade, low density polyethylene virgin resin formulation.

Recommendation #1 – Size Consolidation

The customer was very surprised to see that by doubling up on the medium and extra large sizes, they were able to inventory two size sheets rather than four and because they were now ordering twice as much of half as many sizes. The cost per sheet dropped by almost 50%. Remember that set up cost is the biggest enemy of small volume users and this was a text book perfect case where size consolidation was able to reduce set up costs by one half.

Recommendation #2 – Forgive the Waste

A change and strategy like this requires overcoming the “eco-guilt” of fifty percent of the time using a slightly larger sheet than is really necessary. We determined the excess film was minimal and the cost was more than offset by the cost reduction on a per bag basis.

Recommendation #3 – Offset the Waste

Another change we suggested to help reduce the environmental impact, guilt and cost, is to change film grades to a high recycled content (40% regrind) LDPE film grade. Since there is no food contact, they were overpaying for the film they were using before and it was a considerable waste of virgin plastic resin. The grade we quoted is much more appropriate for their application and substantially greener.

Even Greener Tomorrow

This is just a first, baby step towards sustainability and in the days ahead we will likely offer other non-plastic solutions for this customer’s unusual application. Perhaps there is a paper product that will satisfy their need? If however the use of plastic sheets is unavoidable, we will also look at possibly reducing gauge and a recycling program and/or more eco friendly film grades.

Sustainability is an never ending process and usually all it takes to get started is a will to make it happen and often times, an outside set of eyes capable of recognizing the green potential, even on disposable plastic sheets.

Our vision for and commitment to the Globe Guard brand

• We are committed to identifying the best, most eco friendly packaging products the market has to offer and bringing them to our customers, saving them precious time and always keeping them up to date in this rapidly changing market.
• We are committed to making these products competitive and dispelling the notion that green always costs more money. It doesn’t, at least not for our customers.
• We are committed to making the Globe Guard® brand one that people can count on to be legitimate and truly as green as possible. In some cases the greenest product currently available may not be very green at all, but we guarantee you that we will be straightforward about it.
• We are committed to continue our efforts to educate the market place through our articles, cartoons, speaking engagements and blog. Remember that one of the “7 R’s of Sustainability” is “read” which represents a never ending need for education and an obligation to share the knowledge gained.

We have some very exciting things planned for our Globe Guard® product line and we will be sharing them with you in the days ahead. For those of you who are already Globe Guard® customers, thank you for making it a brand worth protecting and promoting. For those of you who are not yet using our products, what are you waiting for? Too busy to make the change? Remember – few products will give you an eternity of value in exchange for a few minutes of your time.

One of our favorite blogs is Sustainable Is Good because they do an exceptional job of exposing examples of over packaging. This photo ran on SISG a couple of months ago, much to the embarrassment of Amazon. Obviously someone at Amazon made a mistake and shipped out an order for ten thin books, in ten separate boxes complete with tape and void fill. That was a plain and simple error on someone’s part and I am sure “inspector #25” or “packer #17” heard about their lapse in common sense. As bad as mistakes like that can be for the companies making them, what is even worse is deliberate lapses in basic concern regarding the importance of secondary packaging, especially when it is done by companies that should know better.

I believe that now more than ever, a green company making a green product MUST be consistent throughout their entire customer serving process, including the secondary packaging they ship out. Here are some reasons why.

• Your secondary packaging is the very first tangible contact you have with your customer. They see your secondary packaging before they see your product. As the old adage says, “You only have one chance to make a good first impression”.
• The green marketplace is getting more crowded every day. Very few of us have an exclusive or unique product to offer so your customers have more options than ever before. Will eco-consistency be the tie breaker between you and your fast growing competitor?
• Cost is no longer a good excuse to not green up your secondary packaging. You now have viable and cost efficient options in almost every secondary packaging product category including boxes, void fill, tape and even labels.
• The green minded consumer tends to be skeptical and will scrutinize most everything about the people they do business with. What does your packaging say about your long terms commitment to protecting the environment?

In addition, during these difficult economic times, if we are asking our green minded customer to NOT make compromises, we have to do the same. We can only do that if we communicate a clear, concise and consistent eco message from beginning to end.

However, corrugated partitions can sometimes reduce overall packaging usage and unit cost, while providing a number of other important sustainable benefits.

• Partitions provide excellent product protection for small parts and fragile items such as coffee mugs. Reducing damage means reducing returns and replacements – which reduces packaging consumption!
• Partitions are easy to reuse if logistics support it. Heavyweight corrugated partitions can be reused many times over for intra-plant transport and sub-assembly applications.
• Partitions provide additional support inside the corrugated box, giving the shipping unit better crush resistance and overall durability. For that reason, using partitions may allow shippers to purchase lighter weight boxes, reducing overall corrugated consumption and cost.

For consumer-direct shippers, partitions have the added advantage of being customer friendly. Partitioned contents are as easy to unpack as it gets. Plus, the corrugated material is easy to recycle and can be reused for storage around the house.