Environmentally Friendly Packaging
As well as being a convenient and secure form of packaging, the cardboard box is an environmentally friendly item. A box can be used time and time again. At the end of its useful life it can be recycled to make a new cardboard box. Every new cardboard box has been created, on average, with 75% recycled material and 25% material made from virgin pulp.
All trees cut down for the virgin pulp are replaced with new tree seedlings. The cardboard industry would like to make boxes with 100% recycled content. However a 100% recycled box would lack rigidity and is not fit for purpose. There is therefore a need for a percentage of virgin pulp.
Biodegradable Bubble Wrap
Bubble wrap manufacturer, Sancell, produce a bubble wrap with a distinctive green tint that is the most environmentally friendly on the market.
Many potential purchasers tend to stray away from biodegradable bubble wrap as they fear for the implications during degradation. However, there is no need for concern because the film has a photo-imitating control which will not cause any degradation until it has been sent to landfill.
There is then a dwell time before the product begins to breakdown. Therefore the purchaser can buy and use biodegradable bubble wrap in exactly the same way as the less environmentally friendly, conventional clear bubble wrap. Eco friendly bubble wrap comes in heights of 1200mm and 1500mm, with a length of 100 metres. These sizes are also available as slits in 300mm, 500mm, 600mm and 750mm. So whatever the size of the item you are packing, there is a size of biodegradable bubblewrap to suit your purposes.
Other Eco Friendly Materials
Manufactured from a germ free maize/cornstarch composite (which are both sustainable raw materials), biodegradable packing peanuts are the only fully compostable (EN13432) loose fill on the market.
Aside from these facts, a further environmental benefit is that the manufacture of biodegradable loose fill is a single stage production. Biodegradable loose fill is conventionally manufactured as a white chip, but is also available as a multicoloured chip. These coloured chips are better for companies who wish to package products in a more aesthetically pleasing way than the normal white chips. They have become extremely popular in companies packing hampers, sweets, soaps, candles and beauty products. Both the white and multicolour chips are available in 15 cubic feet bags, which hold 425 litres of chips. For smaller use, the white is also available in a cardboard box holding 120 litres.
Biodegradable Air Cushions / Air Pillows
Another excellent plastic product which helps companies meet their packaging waste targets is Air Cushions/Pillows. This product is available as either inflated cushions in a bag or non-inflated cushions on a roll. The high end user of this item can buy or rent an air pillow inflation machine or choose to purchase the cushions already inflated – the choice is theirs. Once used, the cushions can be reused, recycled through conventional waste or recycled through landfill.
Once at landfill, the films pre-added additives assist with the cushion’s degradation. The basic structure of the film alters, enabling the material to totally degrade with the assistance of moisture, organisms and oxygen. When disposed of, the fill totally degrades in 12 to 24 months, leaving no toxic residues in the soil.
Normal non biodegradable plastics disposed of in the same manner will remain in the environment for decades to come, often filling up overused landfill sites.
Recycled Corrugated Cardboard Rolls
Corrugated cardboard rolls have made a resurgence in recent years, as companies become more environmentally aware. Whereas companies would have previously used a polythene product for interleaving and wrapping, they are now happy to use corrugated rolls.
They are manufactured in a high quality c-flute paper and by their very nature are flexible and pliable. This product is available in an array of sizes from 250mm, all the way up to 1500mm.
The most popular sizes are 650mm and 900mm. No matter which size you choose, all rolls are 75metres in length. Once recycled with conventional corrugated cases/boxes, this product can then be recycled to make a new cardboard box.
