Sustainable
Packaging
For the technology sector, pursuing a circular economy requires a balanced focus on designing out waste and pollution, keeping products and materials in use, as well as helping natural systems regenerate. Looking at packaging then becomes a useful avenue to seek out environmental improvements given the scale at which packaging materials are used and the corresponding potential for impact. Besides, with over 8 million tons of plastic ending up in our oceans every year, identifying a packaging solution has quickly become a critical priority for most manufacturers.
Dell
As manufacturers shift their perspectives on packaging, many have sought out innovative sources and solutions. For Dell, this meant taking on the task of establishing a new supply chain specifically to recover ocean-bound plastics. In partnership with suppliers, Dell collects, processes and mixes plastics with other recycled material to create molded trays used for packaging select products. These trays today are made of 25% ocean-bound plastic and 75% recycled PET and no virgin materials. And they are fully recyclable after use as well.
Ace Computers
For small businesses such as Ace Computers, packaging reductions come in smaller doses of innovation. For local customers, Ace has been able to deploy a method they call “rolling thunder,” where computer systems are strapped to rolling aluminum racks, shrink wrapped and shipped in Ace’s own trucks. The computers are easily rolled off on the carts to where they need to be deployed, usually to customer desktops, resulting in zero packaging waste, with the carts returning to Ace for other deliveries.
Apple
Apple switched to responsibly sourced wood fiber in all of its retail packaging, leading to a 48% reduction in plastic use in packaging over three years. They have also transitioned to 100% fiber retail bags in all retail stores with a knitted paper handle that contains 80% recycled fiber.
Best Buy & Amazon
In the retail sector, Best Buy was able to transition its gift cards to Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) certified paper six years ago and is now working to reduce the packaging of the cards, estimating the transition to result in avoiding the use of at least 60 tons of plastic. And Amazon’s frustration-free packaging program, among other sustainable packaging initiatives, helped eliminate more than 244,000 tons of packaging materials, avoiding 500 million shipping boxes and reducing packaging waste by 16%.
3M
Finally, 3M found packaging wins in its Command Picture Hanging Strips Value Pack retail package: for e-commerce retailers, the strips are now shipped without the clear plastic clamshell packaging and box, but instead are packed directly into a bubble wrap mailer. And retail stores are no longer required to display the strips on paperboards and peg holes, which used to add to 3M’s shipping weight/volume as well as increasing packaging volume for the retailers.
