Tag: Packaging

Why Should A Company Invest In A Cardboard Shredder

ecoshred-cardboard-shredder

Why Should A Company Invest In A Cardboard Shredder

Investing in a cardboard shredding machine for your company has several important benefits:

1. Cost-effective waste management: Companies that generate a lot of cardboard waste can save money by shredding it themselves instead of paying for outside recycling services.

2. Environmental sustainability: Shredded cardboard can be recycled more easily than whole boxes, reducing the amount of waste that ends up in landfills. This can help your company reduce its environmental footprint.

3. Improved security: A cardboard shredding machine can help you securely dispose of sensitive documents or packaging materials that contain confidential information. This can help protect your company from data breaches or other security risks.

4. Space-saving: Shredded cardboard takes up less space than whole boxes, which can help you free up storage space in your facility.

5. Increased efficiency: A cardboard shredding machine can help you shred materials more quickly and efficiently than doing it by hand. This can help you save time and increase productivity.

Overall, investing in a cardboard shredding machine can have significant benefits for your company, including cost savings, environmental sustainability, improved security, space-saving, and increased efficiency.

Trends in green packaging

green-packaging

Trends in green packaging

Packaging materials are used every day to transport and store goods to and from manufacture sites by logistics companies. The amount of packaging waste produced every week is astronomical and continually growing as global economies import and export goods and internet shopping is on the rise.

We need packaging products to preserve the integrity of goods, protect hazardous materials and carry branding messages. Packaging has evolved to play a role in product design and presentation, brand marketing and end-user experience.

The trend towards using greener solutions in packaging supplies is on the world agenda. It is a global concern. Manufacturers, packaging supply companies and consumers see the havoc that excess waste is having on the planet and the race is on to reduce the global rubbish problem. Exporting waste including recyclables just sends the problem elsewhere. It’s up to every one of us to focus on the types of packaging we consume every day.

Consumers are increasingly concerned with the environment, sustainability and ethics when it comes to the production of packaging. A new phenomenon is that consumers are choosing to pay more for products that are sourced ethically with a sustainable footprint. Customers want packaging suppliers and companies who produce goods to take more initiative and incorporate recyclables and compostables wherever possible.

For companies and small business who have logistics within their supply chain, it makes economic sense to improve efficiencies and reduce waste. By adopting more efficient tools and automation, productivity increases with a reduction in waste therefore material costs reduce. Establishing recycling stations in the warehouse all helps to reduce company carbon footprint.

The future of green packaging in Australia

In Australia the government has set a sustainable pathway Australia’s 2025 National Packaging Targets that will see four targets achieved by 2025:eco-packaging

  • 100% reusable, recyclable or compostable packaging
  • 70% of plastic packaging is recycled or composted
  • 30% of the average recycled content included in the packaging
  • The phase-out of problematic and unnecessary single-use plastics packaging

This will have a huge effect on packaging supply companies and businesses that use packaging for shipping and storage. Large companies such as Woolworths, Nestle and Coca-Cola Amatil have signalled their support for The National Packaging Target. The backing of large companies will drive innovation and development of alternatives to transition away from harmful single-use plastics and packaging.

Global trends in green packaging

Global packaging has seen traditional plastic and non-recyclables make way for eco-friendly natural materials:

  • Recycled cardboard and paper
  • Biodegradable plastic
  • Corn starch
  • Organics such as seaweed products
  • Eco-friendly fillers such as rumpled Kraft paper and biodegradable packing peanuts

The EU has voted to ban single-use plastics and polystyrene cups by 2021. A European drinks manufacturer with product exported across Europe and Hong Kong has already introduced paper straws to replace plastic straws on its Tetra Pak products. By 2021 it estimates it will have eliminated 100 million plastic straws from the environment.

The Asia Pacific regions are leading the global packaging market by the fact of their sheer dominance in the eCommerce market.

Consumers have been environmentally concerned about rubbish and packaging waste for years. The labels on the packaging are confusing and consumers find it hard to understand which parts of packaging can be recycled and which parts go in the bin.

What global consumers and are now demanding from their packaging:

  • Increased ability to recycle
  • Universal and simple recycling symbols on packaging
  • A closed loop on waste production
  • A move to zero plastics in packaging

Plastic-free packaging is a strong trend driven by consumer demand and is incentivising the development of plant-based plastics, especially in food packaging.

Retailers that don’t use recyclable packaging are also feeling the pressure from consumers.

Companies have taken note and are adopting greener practices when packing their products and according to studies ‘the global green packaging market size will grow by USD 95.28 billion during 2018-2022’ Global Green Packaging Market 2018-2022

Amazon & green packaging amazon-logo-eco-packaging

Amazon has changed their excess packaging ways to a certified frustration-free packaging program. It is designed, apart from being easy to open, to minimise waste by using the right size packaging that is 100% curbside recyclable, with no plastic clamshells or wire ties. This eliminates the confusion of how to separate packaging into recyclable and nonrecyclable parts. Given the growing size of Amazon’s freight market, this is initiative will do something positive for the waste crisis facing the planet.

If the population reverted to buying in local stores rather than online, we would see a huge waste reduction and a boost to local economies.

The big issue that we can’t ignore is that recyclable packaging is currently either stockpiling or going to landfill until the technology and investment arrive to cope with closing the loop on waste reduction.

 

100% Recyclable Orbitwrap

large-roll-stretch-wrap

Addressing the recycling crisis through the latest packaging technology with Orbitwrap.

Our country is in a recycling crisis after China stopped accepting our recycling waste exports in January 2019. With plastics being a huge waste problem in Australia, it makes sense to minimise the effect with Orbitwrap, especially when it comes to pallet wrapping. Single-use plastics continue to be the biggest problem in the recycling industry with less than half ending up recycled and the rest staying in landfill or ending up in our oceans.

Australian Industry leaders endorsed by the government have set the following targets:

  • 100% of all Australia’s packaging will be reusable, recyclable or compostable by 2025 or earlier
  • 70% of Australia’s plastic packaging will be recycled or composted by 2025
  • 30% average recycled content will be included across all packaging by 2025
  • Problematic and unnecessary single-use plastic packaging will be phased out through design, innovation or introduction of alternatives

Australian Government Department of the Environment and Energy, media release 25 June 2019

Pallet wrapping is a major contributor to plastic waste volumes in landfill and at sea. Plastic pallet wrapping is used to secure millions of loads daily to prevent shifting and damage of goods during transport. It also helps to keep the loads neat and stable for easy stacking. It has become a necessary product for companies who transport goods locally and overseas.

Orbitwrap Save

One solution to this problem is called Orbitwrap Save, a new product that reduces the amount of plastic needed to wrap a pallet. Orbitwrap Save is an innovative blown octene based pre stretched wrap with high remaining elasticity that stretches further than other stretch wraps, whether applied mechanically or by hand from a handheld dispenser. You get that extra length and cost savings by using it over conventional pallet wrap, especially if you apply it from a built for purpose pallet wrapping machine.

orbotwrap-roll-recyclableorbotwrap-roll-of-stretch-wrap-recyclable orbotwrap

Orbitwrap Save can be used like all other stretch wraps in the same friction brake wrapping machines. You get double the amount of wrap on a roll compared to conventional wraps and it is a better choice for the environment due to the fact it takes less than half the volume of conventional stretch wrap to achieve a neat and high holding force.

Orbitwrap Save is a high-performance wrap that is puncture resistant, high in elasticity and does not neck down which reduces the number of revolutions needed to wrap a pallet, resulting in far less plastic needed and the wrapping taking less time.

Check out our YouTube video showing Orbitwrap Save in action on a turntable pallet wrapping machine below.

 

The good thing about Orbitwrap Save is that it is 100% recyclable. Most councils don’t want to see it in your recycling bin though. If your business has a lot of pallet wrap waste, there are companies out there that can be contracted to pick up and recycle your used soft plastics.