Ordering goods from the e-shop always brings us secondary added value in the form of experience from the real use of packaging materials and fillings. The personal experience of the end customer and a different point of view are also very important. For example, cleaning up the mess after unpacking a shipment in cardboard scrap (cut cardboard) or sweeping up spilled foam bodies has already met many customers.
Test shipment
The package with cosmetics and trinkets for the baby arrived packed in a height-adjustable box. This box has grooves in one direction for easy formatting according to the size of the packaged goods. This reduces the need to purchase a large number of different box sizes and also reduces the amount of filler material required. In this case, it was crumpled single-layer paper.
Suggested solution
The ideal solution is to replace the paper filling with a 4tube air multi-chamber pillow, which perfectly filled the free space with 4 sections and fixed the products.
Comparison of solutions
Paper
Length: 2.6m
Width: 0.345m
Weight: 78g
Air cushion 4 tubes
Length: 0.55m
Width: 0.4m
Weight: 8g
From this practical example, it is clear that the consumption of filling material is approximately 4 times lower in the case of multi-chamber air cushions! The weight of the material used is even almost 10 times higher!
Conclusion
At first glance, the “ecological” alternative is not always better. Unfortunately, we tend to resort to simple solutions, and paper seems like a suitable way out. However, the whole issue is much more complex and factors such as the transport of packaging material, the simplicity of sorting and the actual collection of sorted material must also be taken into account. Air mailers are the most effective solution and, thanks to inflation, they have an excellent ratio of the material used and the space filled. Thanks to this, we save nature and its resources. By cutting the foil, we reduce the volume to a minimum and by using containers more efficiently, we again save nature, because there is no need to collect waste as often.
