Do Standard or Bespoke Boxes Lower Carbon Footprint?
In a search for cheap packaging, a standard stock cardboard box will typically have the lowest unit price. However, opting for bespoke boxes, designed to best fit your products, can lower the financial and environmental costs of shipping e-commerce orders.
Stop Sending Air & Reduce Packaging Waste
The issue of packaging waste is well documented, yet there is a related issue that hasn’t had much exposure; shipping air.
When brands opt for standard boxes, the packaging is often far larger than it needs to be. Larger boxes fall into a higher category for shipping costs and void fillers are often needed to protect the goods inside. Essentially, this results in spending more to ship each order.
In a recent Guardian article on Wasteful Excessive Packaging*, the environmental costs of sending empty space are shared. The article reveals that 34,000 Olympic Swimming Pools of air are being shipped by e-commerce companies each year. That equates to 5 million unnecessary journeys, releasing 85,000 tonnes of carbon into our atmosphere.
Although the unit price of bespoke boxes is higher, you need to consider the full picture. When you factor in the price of fillers and shipping, as well as the unnecessary packaging waste and environmental costs, bespoke boxes make good commercial sense.
Isn’t it time to contact your local cardboard packaging supplier for a quote for sustainable packaging?
