corrugated boxes Tag

09 Sep 2010 The New eBay Reusable Box – Not Perfect but a Timely Idea

Posted at 11:28h in Inside Sustainable Packaging by Dennis Salazar

The new box that eBay has created for their customers to reuse is an excellent concept and it could not come at a better time. People are more focused than ever before on all of the “three R’s” of sustainability,” but especially the one I often refer to as “the other R” or “the forgotten R,” which is “reuse.” Don’t be surprised however if it is not necessarily accepted and heralded in the packaging community as it already has been in green circles. Even though I agree it is a great idea whose time has come, it also is a perfect example of how difficult it is to create a truly green package. What’s Wrong with the eBay Reusable Box?

24 Aug 2010 How to Dramatically Increase the Value of Your Boxes with Minimal Additional Cost

Posted at 08:51h in Inside Sustainable Packaging by Dennis Salazar

There is no doubt most people know us for our 100% PCW recycled content corrugated, stock, shipping boxes, but over half of the boxes we sell are custom printed with our customers’ brand or design. One of the things we have noticed is that an increasing number are going well beyond the traditional one color logo and using their boxes to make a very memorable and positive impression on their customers. Some Great Examples of Boxes Designed to Impress and Save Money

05 Aug 2010 Canon Printer Packaging – Not Eco Consistent or Up to Date

Posted at 12:45h in Sustainable Perspective by Dennis Salazar

One of the things I find most interesting about sustainable packaging as well as quite frustrating at times, is that it is constantly changing. We know firsthand that what was considered green just a short two years ago is no longer acceptable as the products, processes and popular thought have all changed. The packaging for a new Canon desk top printer we recently purchased is a perfect example of this. What Canon Used in Terms of Packaging To get the printer from Thailand to us, Canon used a virtual smorgasbord of packaging and unfortunately most of it is not very green by today’s standards. The products they used are shown in the photo below and included: Cannon's Printer Packaging

• Almost 2,700 square inches of heavy-grade corrugated (4.9 lbs. worth) • 4 molded poly styrene corner protectors • 4 paper board tubes • Various corrugated pads and inserts • A few flexible foam surface protectors • A wide variety of high density polyethylene sheets and bags

To their credit, everything that was not a paper based product included a recycle code, even the polystyrene corner protectors. They were clearly molded to show their PS, #6 recycle code. Good luck with that since there are few facilities able or willing to take in polystyrene in any form.

20 Oct 2009 What Is Better than Recycling Packaging?

Posted at 06:23h in Sustainable Products by Dennis Salazar

[caption id="attachment_935" align="alignright" width="144" caption="Chairman of the (Corrugated) Board"]

[/caption]Most green minded people agree the only thing better than recycling used packaging is finding another or different use for it. Ideally this is using the packaging to create something of greater value and more permanent use. We are all familiar with terrific “up cycling” success stories such as turning post consumer packaging waste into fashionable bags or transforming used glass beverage bottles into very durable and pricey counter tops. A New Low in Up Cycling? I rarely go on YouTube because I have a tendency of getting lost in the amazing variety of videos to be found there, ranging from the instructional and inspirational to the outright ridiculous. A friend sent this link to me with the usual and customary “you need to see this”. Unable to resist the temptation, I checked it out and was fascinated by what I saw. A young man known on YouTube as “brusspup” created a sturdy chair using nothing but previously used corrugated board to construct it. It is obvious he knows something about design and maybe a little about corrugated as well because his chair uses no adhesive and it is assembled in a way that utilizes the strongest dimensions of the board for greater weight support than most would expect.

30 Apr 2009 Hey Green Business Owner, Your Boxes Are Talking about You

Posted at 06:28h in Sustainable Products by Dennis Salazar

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.

28 Apr 2009 Eco Friendly Corrugated Boxes – “100% PCW” is Not 100% Bad or 100% Good

Posted at 06:24h in Sustainable Products by Dennis Salazar

globe-guard-100-per-cent-pcw-stock-boxes

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 corrugated-side-view

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.

09 Apr 2009 Sustainable Packaging – When Brown and White Make Green

Posted at 06:08h in Sustainable Products by Dennis Salazar

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).

17 Mar 2009 Great Green Ideas Don’t Have to Be Big or Expensive

Posted at 05:59h in Sustainable Products by Dennis Salazar

recycled-corrugated-tote-from-wwwglobeguardproductscom

In fact our green idea is fairly small and is only 15.75” X 14.25” X 9” high at its greatest dimensions. Some might even call it compact, so it can more easily be utilized in a small home or business office environment. What we offer is a rather unique recycling tote constructed out of Globe Guard 100% recycled content corrugated. It is neutral, natural brown Kraft colored in color so it does not clash with any décor. We realize competitive products are often bright colored plastic but ours is not designed to double as a highway traffic control device. Furthermore, if you are one of the many people who advocate the limited use of plastic, isn’t it a bit inconsistent to utilize a plastic recycling bin for your paper waste? If you are a regular reader you know we like to have fun with our topics and we are most definitely enjoying this one. In fact I am going to state that when designing our recycling tote, we strictly adhered to the following three R’s:

12 Mar 2009 Slash Box Sealing Tape Usage with a New Corrugated Box Style and L-Clips

Posted at 06:27h in Sustainable Products by Dennis Salazar

Here's good news for a struggling economy - sustainable packaging should never involve spending more money. Quite often, making secondary packaging more eco friendly is simply a matter of taking advantage of old ideas. Box sealing tape is a good example. Most shippers use an RSC style corrugated box and use multiple strips of paper or plastic box sealing tape to secure it for shipment. Because an RSC box has two flaps that meet in the center of the box along its length dimension, a good deal of tape is required for the job. But what if, instead of an RSC, you used a full overlap (FOL) box or a tuck-in folder? Pictured below is a tuck folder. An FOL is similar in concept, only the flap doesn't tuck in. tuck-corrugated-mailers-from-globe-guard

tuck-corrugated-mailers-from-globe-guard

With these box styles, one or more "L-Clips" of filament tape can be used to seal the box for shipment. Not only does the L-Clip sealing method reduce packaging material use, it speeds up the case sealing process and is easier for the recipient to open.

26 Feb 2009 Teaming Up with Your Vendor to Reduce Your Corrugated Costs

Posted at 07:57h in Sustainable Perspective by Dennis Salazar

Everyone is feeling the pinch of the economy, which makes it a great time to reevaluate your vendor/customer relations and together determine if there are any ways to creatively reduce the price you are paying for corrugated and other packaging products. Trouble “Trickles Down” Too As we all look for ways to reduce costs, it is easy to become focused solely on our own individual needs but we are all in this together whether we like it or not. A good “win/win” scenario is not taking advantage of the other person twice, and good vendor relationships and alliances can and should work to the benefit of both parties. Creative Cost Reductions We all tend to get comfortable with the status quo and are busy enough to not have time to fix something that does not require fixing. Current economic circumstances suggest that we revisit some of those long existing relationships and buying habits to determine if there are changes that can be mutually beneficial to customer and vendor alike. It may help to begin the process by examining three critical areas: Order Quantity – there are many situations on many products including corrugated where a lower price is available if you are able to buy in a slightly larger quantity. Material prices tend to rise and fall but set up costs typically and consistently escalate. Amortizing these set up costs over a larger quantity and minimizing their impact is a great way for sellers and buyers to both gain and potentially reduce costs.