If you have ever had to ship a pallet of industrial pumps or a set of irregularly shaped car parts, you will know that the usual 'throw it in a box and hope' method just does not cut it. The stakes are higher with heavy goods, mainly because when things go wrong, they go spectacularly wrong. A heavy item shifting in transit is a genuine safety hazard and a guaranteed way to write off a high-value order.
There is this lingering habit in industrial shipping where, if something is heavy, we just keep winding the stretch wrap around it until it looks like a plastic cocoon, but it is a false economy. Not only does it play havoc with your Plastic Packaging Tax bill, but it often does not provide the structural support a heavy item needs to stay upright.
Instead of thinking about how much plastic you can pile on, it is far better to look at the total cost of ownership. If you spend an extra 50p on a high-grade, engineered paper buffer and it prevents a £500 return and a £200 shipping claim, the 'expensive' sustainable option just became the smartest move you made all month.
One of the best alternatives to those bulky polystyrene blocks, which everyone hates disposing of, is a paper-based solution. At this point, there is a growing number of incredibly lightweight solutions on the market that offer a compression strength that rivals certain plastics.
According to research by Smithers, the move toward high-performance paper-based materials is accelerating because they can be easily recycled at the end. For your customer, being able to flatten paper sheets and put them in the standard recycling bin, rather than dealing with a mountain of non-recyclable foam, is a huge win for their own waste KPIs too.
Irregularly shaped goods are the real test of a packaging setup. If you have bits sticking out or an uneven weight distribution, standard void fill just ends up compressed in one corner while the product rattles around in the other.
When you use a box that is engineered for the weight of your product, you find you need far less 'fluff' inside to keep it safe. It is a cleaner, more professional look, and it usually means you can fit more units on a pallet, which is a nice little win for your shipping efficiency.
If you are reviewing your packaging setup this year, now is a sensible time to take a closer look at your material data sheets.
A quick audit of your weights and recycled content percentages can often reveal a path to both lower taxes and better sustainability credentials. Send us a message, email sales@allpack.uk.com, or phone us on 01543 396 700 to find out more. We are always happy to have a practical conversation about how this could work for your business and help you navigate these changes without the headache.