Europe, Middle East, Africa (EMEA)
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- Bag-in-Box
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- Instapak® Quick RT®
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- Aerospace and Defense
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- 3 Ways IoT Is Transforming Food Manufacturing
- Recycling and Reusing Packaging Materials
- 3 Packaging Mistakes Brands Should Avoid
- Are Your Recycling Efforts a Waste?
- Shippers Beware: Freight Costs Can Cost You Everything
- Sustainability Impact of E-Commerce Packaging
- Return Logistics Help for Online Retailers
- Tackle Dimensional Weight
- Fulfillment Complexity
- Consumers Need a Reset for Recycling
- Challenges of eFood Delivery
- Don’t Let Boxes Ruin Your Brand
- 4 Basic Ways to Improve Unboxing
- E-Commerce Demand Drives Change
- The Changing Face of the Retail Grocery Shopper
- Limited Touchpoints Ease Consumer Concerns
- Case-Ready Packaging Helps Offset Uncertainty
- Paper Remains Top Pick for Recyclable Packaging
- Unsealing Food Technology to Feed the World
- Shipping Trends Favor Parcels, Not Pallets
- Online Shopping Goes High-Tech — and High Risk
- Closing the Loop with Advanced Recycling
- 4 Reasons to Switch From Rigid to Flexible Packaging
- How European Grocery Retailers Are Rethinking Packaging Sustainability
- Why EV Charger Packaging Must Start With ‘Unboxing’
- Korrvu solutions for packaging
- Meat Packaging Automation
- Meat Packaging Automation Guide: Maintaining Production in Uncertain Times
- Bubble Wrap Appreciation Day
- The Environmental Impact of Damaged Products
- Making the Switch to Paper Packaging?
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- Let's Be Clear About Single-Use Plastics
- Reducing Food Waste Throughout The Global Supply Chain
- Podcast
- Ensuring Food Safety With CRYOVAC® Brand High-Performance Barrier Packaging
- How to Shift From Pallets to Parcels
- Coronavirus Vaccine and Testing Packaging Solutions
- Switch From Rigid to Flexible Liquid Packaging
- Guide to Packaging Automation
- Sealed Air Sustainable Packaging Guide
- Case-Ready: Ready for Anything
- Recycle-Ready Shrink Bags and Shrinkable Rollstock
- Recyclability Claims: What You Need to Know
- Manufacturer's Guide: Switching From Pallets to Parcels
- 5 Pitfalls to Avoid When Automating Your Packaging Hall
The True Cost of Damage
The Environmental Impact of Damaged Products
Understanding Packaging's Role in Environmental Impact
The total environmental impact of every E-commerce order is the total of many different factors. Manufacturing resources, primary packaging, distribution and the shipping cycle are all part of the total impact. Using the example of a tablet, the shipping cycle (the journey from distribution centre to consumer) accounts for about 2% of the total environmental impact of that tablet. Of that 2%, packaging materials account for about 15% of the shipping cycle’s impact. That equals about .003% of the total environmental impact.
Doesn’t seem like a valuable place to look for sustainability improvements, right? Wrong.
If a tablet is broken during the shipping cycle because the wrong protective packaging was used, the environmental impact of that tablet just doubled.
The resources used to manufacture a replacement, ship the replacement to the consumer, and return the broken product can more than double a product's sustainability impact.
Preventing damage is often the most sustainable thing a manufacturer can do when shipping its products.
Even a 1% Damage Rate Is an Unacceptable Damage Rate
Many manufacturers are willing to accept “small” damage rates of 1% to 3%. Accepting this amount of damage may seem inevitable, but it doesn’t have to be. Every damaged product results not only in unnecessary environmental resource waste, but also damages a customer relationship. One electronics manufacturer sold over 44 million tablets in 2018. If they accepted 1% damage, that means they are willing to risk losing 440,000 customers and doubling the environmental impact of those 440,000 tablets.
Our Packaging Application Centres are dedicated to designing and testing a protective packaging solution that ensures a safe, sustainable shipping cycle.
Get the right packs for your products.
More From Sealed Air
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01 Blog: True Cost of Damage -
02 Sustainability Report -
03 Packaging Design Application Centers