Cornerboard is that L shaped laminated paper board product usually placed on the vertical corners and or possibly on the horizontal top corners of a strapped or stretch wrapped pallet.
Some may wonder why we chose that particular “ancillary packaging” product to highlight on a blog focused of sustainability but cornerboard is indeed functional, and offers benefits in several key areas. Even though it usually results in a better looking, “squarer” pallet of product, it is anything but decorative or excessive. We believe corner board can be very sustainable in its construction and in its use.
Reducing Corrugated with Eco Friendly Cornerboard?
Customers are often able to substantially reduce the thickness (and cost) of their boxes by adding cornerboard to their pallets. Board weight of corrugated boxes is usually determined by the “worst case” scenario, even though those challenging circumstances (for example, double stacking of pallets) do not always occur. Why not use a lighter board for your boxes and add the support with corner board when it truly is necessary?
We have witnessed packaging reductions from full cases to trays and now even to product bundle wrapped in film with no corrugated used at all. ”I would love to change my RSC cases to trays and shrink film, or just shrink film but I doubt they will hold up during shipment”, is a remark we have heard many times. In most cases cornerboard is the solution for those situations requiring additional stacking strength, especially and perhaps only during transit.
Reducing Pallet Stretch Wrapping Film Use with Eco Friendly Cornerboard
One of the areas in secondary packaging that has truly lagging behind almost everything else in terms of sustainability is pallet stretch film. Millions of pounds are used annually to get pallet loads from one place to another and is quickly discarded after its use. Until a compostable, oxo-degradable or biodegradable stretch film is available, the best thing you may be able to do is to reduce the amount you use.
One of the advantages of cornerboard is that it often helps the shipper dramatically reduce the amount of pallet stretch they have to use by evenly spreading and increasing the film’s retention force, up and down the entire pallet height. This prevents loads from shifting and becoming damaged in transit with minimal use of pallet wrapping stretch film. Cornerboard will help you accomplish that and the stretch film savings can really help to offset the cost of the cornerboard.
Reducing Damage with Eco Friendly Cornerboard
All of the savings and green goodness in the world have little value if the products we ship arrive damaged and require replacement or worse yet it costs you a customer. We have all seen stretch film misapplied to the point that it crushes the outside vertical corners of the boxes, damaging the contents within. Or the film was applied incorrectly with too little force and the products shifted and became damaged in transit. Another common cause for freight damage is product becoming crushed top/down because a trucker decided to double stack on top of your pallet in spite of labeling and warnings. All of these potential problems can be minimized or eliminated with proper use of correctly graded and sized cornerboard.
Most business people agree replacement cost usually far exceeds the original cost of a product with added processing, handling, packaging, and freight expenses. There is nothing green about that or the additional carbon footprint it leaves behind.
Cornerboard Can Be Truly Green
Our Globe Guard cornerboard is natural in color, unbleached and is made of 100% recycled content so it is indeed green and it delivers even greener results. Call us for a no cost analysis of your own shipping and palletizing requirements.
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