Reduce the carbon footprint of your packaging operation

Driving to work, cooking, even taking a shower – all activities in our daily routine and they all contribute to our carbon footprint. We can all make changes in our personal life to reduce the affect we’re having on the environment, but what about as a company?

With the vast amount of CO2 produced when manufacturing products, companies contribute massively to global warming (having a negative impact on our environment). If you haven’t already, it’s time to start thinking about the environment and begin reducing your carbon footprint. We’ll help you, don’t worry.

But what role can packaging play in reducing your company’s carbon footprint?

A BIG one.

It starts at the very begging of your supply chain - certain packaging products produce more CO2 when manufactured, and what about transport emissions? Or renewable packaging? There’s a lot you can do to reduce your company’s carbon footprint. Take a look.

Reduce, Reuse, Recycle

We’re all aware of the three Rs that are widely associated with helping save the environment. You guessed it; packaging isn’t an exception to these.

1. Reduce

Where possible, eliminate the amount of packaging materials you are using. There are three ways you can do this:

• Correct staff training – Let your staff know how impactful their work is to the environment. Train them to package products efficiently and you won’t only be helping the environment, you’ll be saving money too.
• Automated machines – If you’ve read our previous blogs, you’ll notice we mention automated machines a lot. There’s a reason for this: you can’t beat how efficient they are.
• Packaging design – Without the right shaped packaging for your products, you’ll be wasting a lot of material. A long with this, you could be shipping unnecessary air. Not only is this bad for the environment but has a negative impact on your packaging costs. If you collaborate with a packaging expert like Swiftpak, you could take advantage of lower transport costs with smaller packages.

Ultimately, if you can reduce the amount of material you are using, you’ll reduce CO2 emissions.

2. Reuse

Beyond minimising the amount of packaging you are using, making the most of your materials life is essential. If you can reuse packaging, you won’t need as much material manufactured (again reducing CO2 emissions).

Plastic pallets are a great example of reusable packaging. I know what you’re thinking, “plastic?” Yes, plastic isn’t our enemy. Plastic pallets are reliable, reusable and a great alternative to wood. They’re easy to clean, lightweight, splinter-free and can be used many, many times.

3. Recycle

Introduce recyclable packaging materials to your business and you’ll reduce your carbon footprint massively. Recycling uses less energy and produces less pollution than making more packaging materials from scratch.

Being made from natural resources such as paper or potato starch, Gummed paper tape is a great example of recyclable packaging. Another example would be a paper void-fill machine which also could save you some valuable space in your warehouse.

Transport emissions

With every delivery, CO2 is being produced. If you want to minimise the amount of CO2 you’re producing, you could aim to decrease damages during transportation. This will eliminate having to attempt a repeat delivery. A great way on how to detect damages are impact labels. The label is designed so that only specific impacts will activate the device and expected/normal movement during transportation won’t.

Another way to reduce the number of deliveries and returns is to ensure your packaging offers enough protection for your products. This will mean fewer damaged returns, which means: less transport, reduced CO2 emissions and ultimately, a smaller carbon footprint.

Pallet planning for transport

Without properly planning your pallet loading, you may need to use more transport to deliver your goods. Plan your pallet loading effectively and you’ll reduce the amount of transport needed to distribute products.

Changes to the shape of transit boxes can mean stacking becomes more efficient and can therefore save space. If you are able to save space in transport, you’ll require less journeys and cut straight through your emission levels. A perfect way to shrink your carbon footprint.

Home & Construction

For the home & construction industry, we understand that you work in a dynamic fast-paced environment. At Swiftpak, we understand your needs and use our expertise to design bespoke, practical packaging solutions to increase your load stability and minimise over-packaging. With our vast amount of experience working with businesses in this industry, we can design packaging that not only saves you money but reduces your carbon footprint too.

If you need help reducing your carbon footprint, speak to a packaging expert at Swiftpak today. With our 40 years of experience, we can arrange a free, no obligation packaging audit to begin optimising your packaging operation today.

Get a no obligation packaging audit