Manufacturers set their sights on packaging as a means to reduce waste, improve sustainability and lower shipping costs.
Jen A. Miller reports for WasteDivie
As in many things e-commerce, Amazon has been one of the driving forces in changes to packaging, namely less of it and with sustainable materials. The company announced in September 2018 its “Frustration-Free Packaging Vendor Incentive Program” intended to drive sellers to use smaller, lighter and more sustainable packaging options. Amazon started implementing fines on Aug. 1, 2019, according to The Wall Street Journal. Sellers who don’t meet the standard can be fined $1.99 per order.
The rule, along with a corporate drive toward lower costs, less waste and improved sustainability, has spurred innovation in the packaging industry, including a proliferation of new packaging options, particularly in flexible plastic. The plastic packaging market overall was valued at $345.91 billion in 2019, according to Mordor Intelligence, and is expected to reach $426.47 billion by 2025.
“If you look at our business just in the last five years, we went from selling what goes into the packaging, like cushioning and bubble wrap, and moved toward parceling solutions,” Jeff Potts, executive director of business development for fulfillment automation at Sealed Air, told Supply Chain Dive in an interview.
Plastic packaging reduces transportation costs but also raises the thorny issue of how these plastics can and cannot be recycled. It’s not just about tossing a cardboard box on the curb anymore, especially when cardboard boxes aren’t the standard shipping option anymore.
New packaging saves on shipping costs, pushes automation
The movement toward smaller packaging is, in part, a way to save money: smaller packages cost less to ship, and it makes them easier to pack, whether by human or machine.
Creston Electronics, which makes conference room equipment, switched in 2018 from using cardboard materials for shipping to a mix of a corrugated cardboard frame with a recyclable flexible film to hold the product in place and showcase it at the same time. As a result, it reduced transportation spend by 20%.
“When you fill up a van for delivery, you can fit more packages and parcels in the van if they’re in a more efficient shape and size,” Brendan Connell-French, research associate in films and flexible packaging at Wood Mackenzie, told Supply Chain Dive in an interview. Companies can “fit more of them in a small space than they could if they were small cardboard boxes.”
