Which Water-activated tape dispenser is for me?

Many of you might be wondering the answer to this exact question, the honest answer is – it depends. It depends on a variety of factors, including your budget and your processes. In this post, we will try and unpack whether a manual or electronic tape dispenser is the choice for your business.

Water activated tape (WAT) is fast evolving in the marketplace today with the plastic tax in sight of many consumers. Many consumers are already reaping the benefits of switching from plastic to paper tape, including cost, time, and productivity. So, lets deep dive into the pro’s and cons of both the manual and electric water activated tape dispensers.

Manual Water Activated Tape Dispenser

Our range of manual (WAT) dispensers are ideal for users that may not have access to electricity near their packing station or do not box more than 50 cartons a day. The most basic manual WAT dispenser requires the packer to pull the tape over a wet brush and then manually tear the tape by pulling it against the blade.

Other manual WAT dispensers such as our BP-222 and BP-333 are a little more advanced and assist the packer with the process of wetting the tape and cutting it with the push of a lever. The BP-333 has 15 clearly marked preset tape lengths, allowing the packer to set their desired tape length, and cut all in one.

Pros:

• Lower cost than electric WAT dispensers
• Do not require electricity to function
• Great for packing stations without electricity
• Great for packing stations that require mobility for the machine
• Increase efficiency for the packing and shipping process
• Great for low to mid volume packaging stations
• Require little to no operator training

Cons:

• Does require minimal manual effort by the packer in order to operate

Electronic Water Activated Tape Dispensers

Electronic WAT dispensers remove the manual effort for the packer and increases productivity within the packing station. They are perfect for the packing stations packing >50 cartons per day.

The BP-555 is made for fast-paced shipping and packaging environments. The BP-555 is easy to use and has an inbuilt keypad that indicate preset lengths of tape for packers to simply choose from. On top of that, dispensing the tape is even simpler, with a push a button, tape will immediately dispense to the preset length.

The BP-55 is the only electronic water-activated tape dispenser in the industry to be UL Listed and Approved by the independent safety certification company, Underwriters Laboratory.

Pros:

• Extremely efficient for packing and shipping stations
• Great for high-volume, fast-paced packaging environments
• Durable
• Customizable
• Require very little operator training
• Reduces employee risk

Cons:

• More expensive than manual WAT dispensers
• Requires electricity in order to operate

Which one is the right one for my budget you still may ask? Again, this depends on a wide variety of factors, if your answer is yes to the questions below, an electronic tape dispenser is the one for you, if not, we recommend going with a manual tape dispenser to fulfil your needs.

• Do you have a high-volume carton shipping department?
• Do you have access to electricity near the packing station?

Still unsure which WAT dispenser is the one for you, please call one of our expert team members today, 1300 66 11 61.

Going Green with Packaging Makes Good Business Sense

In 2017, statistics show that 85% of Australians have internet access and this number is increasing. Around 20 million of us have a smartphone. Access to the internet and handheld devices has pushed eCommerce sales to reach $35.56 billion in 2017. Australians are up there in the top 10 of global online shoppers. This is called the Amazon effect.

With this gargantuan rise of eCommerce in the last five to ten years, the world has seen enormous amounts of packaging used to freight online purchases. We see cardboard cartons packed with fillers, polystyrene, plastic doculopes attached to the outside of boxes, bubble wrap, tapes and sealers and plastic bags. It seems like everything we touch is wrapped in plastic. We are drowning in packaging waste.

Is recycling part of the solution?

Cardboard is made from wood pulp, so it is easy to draw a direct line between deforestation and the increase in eCommerce freight. How is the demand for wood pulp going to keep up with this astronomical demand? Recycling is part of the solution but how much packaging is actually recycled and how much natural material, like cardboard, is contaminated with plastic coating? It is estimated that less than 10% is recycled, meaning that most cartons end their life in landfills.

Cardboard isn’t the only culprit in single-use freight packaging. Plastic is also a recyclable commodity but around 90% of plastic is not recycled. Since the first year of commercial production of plastics 8.5 billion tonnes has been produced. Much of it has ended up in landfills, waterways and oceans causing so much harm to marine animals and birds.

eCommerce is not the only cause of packaging waste. Logistics companies use a lot of plastic pallet wrap, plastic and steel strapping, plastic edge protectors and pallets. While pallet wrapping is necessary to protect loads from the elements during shipping, it makes up tonnes of plastic waste. It can be recycled and there are companies around Australia that have recycling programs for this kind of waste.

Brand image and corporate responsibility

Supply chain managers are in a powerful position to make an impact on company packaging processes. It is an opportunity to directly influence and promote sustainability and drive change towards greener practices. Most companies won’t have a choice soon as our Government will be introducing legislation that eliminates virgin packaging and requires the adoption of a more circular recycling economy.

Sustainability, carbon emissions and global warming are concerning more and more consumers. It is a critical time for our environment, and we all have a role to play. Logistics companies who have positive sustainability branding, proactively address plastic reduction and have a carbon footprint strategy are more likely to meet customer expectations. It makes good business sense to take on clean green brand identity and adopt packaging solutions that will impress your customers while reducing waste.

It’s a no brainer that sustainability sells. Being an industry leader in environmental packaging and sustainable business practices will win you customer loyalty and repeat business.

Cost-effective

By reducing the amount of packaging, you use to ship consumer goods saves you money on materials and saves freight costs because it’s lighter and takes up less room on a pallet or in a carton. Reduce your bottom line by choosing the right carton for the job and avoid the need for excessive void fill. If the goods are not fragile, consider freighting in flexible packaging such as biodegradable padded pouches and tough bags.

Greener packaging

There are industrial packaging supplies that are 100% biodegradable like void fillers for cartons made from corn starch, pre-stretched pallet wrap and gummed paper tapes made from natural Kraft paper. Kraft paper is one of the most affordable and sustainable void fillers and there are Kraft paper dispensers that scrunch it up perfectly for the job. Pallet wrap has strength and comes pre-stretched so less is needed than conventional films. Better still it is 100% recyclable.

Recycling

All plastic strapping is recyclable, not just steel strap. Polypropylene and polyester strapping can all be recycled. Cartons sealed with Kraft paper tape are easy to flatten down and recycle as you don’t need to tear off the tape like you do with cellophane or plastic tapes. Polybags used for posting smaller items can be recycled to produce more flexible packaging which creates a circular system.

Industry leaders

There are many companies and industry groups that are announcing greenhouse reduction targets and tackling packaging reduction.

Amazon has a mission to reduce environmental waste and reduce its environmental footprint with its Frustration-Free Packaging Program. Their aim is to provide ‘minimal, protective and functional packaging’ by eliminating clamshell plastic packets and optimising the original package to eliminate the need for additional packaging. The item will ship in its own packaging. They are changing the rules and mandating that packaging must be a rigid six-sided shape, padded bags and rigid envelopes are allowed. Polybags are off the cards, by 2022 Amazon will eliminate them from their supply chain.

Australia Post is leading the way by committing to use 80% recycled plastic in their postage satchels. Their satchels are now 100% recyclable and can be dropped off at a Redcycle collection point at major supermarkets across the country.

Unilever who owns the brands Dove, Ben & Jerry’s, Lipton and Omo is committed to creating a circular economy for its plastic production. By 2025 it will cut its virgin plastic use by half instead, including recycled plastic in its packaging and it will collect and process 600,000 tonnes of plastic annually.

Addressing your company packaging use

There really is no reason not to address packaging issues within your company. Consumers want it, other companies are changing and supplying less impactful solutions. It’s time to catch up if you haven’t developed a sustainable packaging and recycling policy. Reducing packaging waste and using recycled and innovative materials will only improve your bottom line in the long run. When we reduce waste, we inevitably improve efficiencies. That’s got to be good for the bottom dollar.

How many times do you wrap a pallet?

The answer would be in the type of pallet load you are wrapping; how tall your load is and how stable it is. Unstable and heavy loads need to be wrapped securely onto a pallet to keep them intact during transit. Pallet wrap is also used to protect goods from the elements

How many times you wrap a pallet also depends on the pallet wrap you are using and whether you are applying it by hand or machine. For hand and machine stretch wrapping we use pre-stretch film Orbitwrap Save. This is our high-performance ultra-thin wrap film that goes much further than conventional wraps. It comes in rolls of film that has been pre-stretched with high elastic memory that can shrink back on itself and form a tight layer around a pallet load. This is what gives pre-stretched film its unique load stabilising strength and its green credentials as you use far less wrap to get a better wrap result.

If you are hand stretching, the level of stretch you can expect from hand application is between 30 to 40%. Pallet wrapping machines can stretch the film up to 250%!

Steps to a good wrap result

1. Make sure your pallet goods are tightly packed together and the load is stable. Your load should not hang over the edge of your pallet.
2. To begin wrapping a pallet by hand you would start from the base. Pull some film from the roll and twist it into a rope-like shape and thread it through the corner of a pallet or tuck it under a corner of a box on the pallet if you have a boxed load. Tying it to the pallet in a knot is unnecessary and makes for extra work removing it when the pallet is unpacked.
3. The most important function of a wrap is to secure the load to a pallet. Your first revolutions around the load are to make sure you wrap the base of the load onto the pallet with about a three-centimetre overlap. The wrap must tuck under the corners of the pallet to prevent the film from slipping up at this stage.
4. Keep the roll of film taut if you are hand wrapping and stretch the wrap around the corners to get a tight fit. Each revolution around the pallet should have a 50% overlap on the previous film layer.
5. Continue your wrap from bottom to top, wrapping the lower half four to five times before moving to the top half. If the wrap is applied by machine, then twice to three times around the lower half of your load is more than adequate, depending on the weight.
6. When you have completed the wrap at the top of your load apply approximately three centimetres of film over and down the top corners, tear the film and stick the tail to the film wrap.

We recommend using the right tools for the job and rather than bending down and walking around in circles covering pallet after pallet by hand we have a range of hand dispensers that make it easier for smaller operations. Once you find you are wrapping 10 or more pallets a day it would be wise to consider a pallet wrapping machine. This will speed up your processes and avoid employee fatigue and back injury.

The answer to how many times do you wrap a pallet is if you are wrapping by hand it is four to five times, and if you are using a wrapping machine it is three to four times on the bottom and a couple of times on the top half.