5 alternatives to plastic packaging to consider | RAJA

What are the alternatives to current plastic packaging that allow you to aim for zero plastic logistics? This is a question that is driving the world of logistics, in an era of tightening legislation, and where consumers are increasingly committed to environmental protection.

During the latest RAJA webinar, Henri Serre (Key Account Sales Manager) and Ulrick Parfum (Purchasing & Product Marketing Manager) presented
5 concrete innovations to achieve zero plastic logistics while continuing to ensure your customers’ satisfaction
.

Discover the summary here, or watch the replay of this webinar now:

What to look out for when choosing your alternatives to plastic packaging?

While it is crucial to pay attention to the environmental impact of the containers in which you ship your goods, other criteria should guide your choice of alternatives to plastic packaging.

For example, make sure that the packaging solutions you choose offer…

• Good protection for your goods. This goes without saying, but any alternative to plastic packaging should offer the same protective properties to your products as the original packaging. This is especially important as protective packaging ensures less breakage, and therefore a minimum rate of customer returns. And less product returns means less transport, which means a lower carbon footprint!
• Optimal customer experience: Your customers not only expect you to be environmentally responsible, but they also want to have a different experience when their products are delivered. That’s why it’s important to ensure that your packaging is easy to open, and creates a real “wow” effect when you unpack your goods.

• Eco-responsibility visible on the packaging. Your customers want to see at a glance that you have chosen environmentally friendly solutions for packaging their orders. Of course, you can choose packaging made from obviously eco-responsible materials, such as paper or cardboard. But whether your packaging is biodegradable, recyclable, reusable or biobased, always make sure that it is labelled as eco-responsible. This can be done by means of clearly visible labels and logos indicating the end of life of your packaging.
• A minimal, if any, change to your logistics processes. Being eco-responsible is good, but doing so without impacting the productivity of your order pickers is better! Take care to choose alternatives to plastic packaging that are easy to use in your supply chain and do not require you to completely overhaul your current packaging processes.

5 packaging innovations for zero plastic logistics

Ready to discover 5 packaging solutions that will eliminate plastic from your logistics processes little by little?

Innovation #1: Kraft paper tape

The first key to simply eliminating certain plastic waste from your packaging process kraft paper tapethis one is made from renewable resources and is 100% paper (since the glue itself is made of natural rubber).

It doesn’t change your current picking process, and can even be printed to customise it with your brand colours or logo.

There is a wide range of kraft paper tapes available, including some that allow you to go even further in terms of eco-responsibility:

• The 75mm wide kraft tape seems to use more material than the traditional 50mm wide tape, but the wider width means that when the package is closed, it only needs to be wrapped around the package, so less material is used.
• The 70/m2 thick kraft tape is thicker than standard plastic tape, but for very heavy packages, it ensures optimal closure, which limits the rate of breakage of the goods, and therefore ensures fewer customer returns.

Innovation #2: Manual palletising stretch paper

Until now, there has been no alternative to plastic pallet wrap, but now a real innovation has entered the world of logistics manual stretch paper for palletising.

Made from PEFC-certified natural kraft paper, it can be manually stretched by up to 30%, and is 100% recyclable and biobased. So innovative that it even received the CSR trophy awarded by the Fédération des Entreprises du Bureau et du Numérique in early 2022!

Innovation #3: Recycled bubble wrap

If you were looking for an equally protective alternative to plastic bubble wrap, here it is recycled bubble wrapa real ecological innovation made of paper only.

The principle is simple: air is captured between two layers of paper, giving this packagingexcellent shock absorption and cushioning properties, similar to those offered by plastic.

Lightweight, bubble wrap also helps to reduce your transport costs – handy!

Innovation #4: The paper honeycomb padded pouch

If you want to say goodbye to plastic bags stuffed with bubble wrap, this is what you need the paper padded pocketthis pouch protects your products from shocks, thanks to its paper shock padding, in the form of a “honeycomb”.

Its lightness also allows it to reduce your postal costs to a minimum.

Innovation #5: Paper strapping

You may have been using polypropylene strapping to secure your parcels, but now there is a new environmentally friendly alternative the paper strapthe paper honeycomb mattress is made of 95% recyclable paper and 5% vegetable glue.

It is printed “100% recyclable” so that the end user can end its life cycle in the right sorting channel.

It can be used mechanically, with a semi-automatic strapping machine, or naturally, associated with reusable loops.

Armed with these 5 alternatives to traditional plastic packaging, you are ready to move towards zero plastic logistics!

And to dive even deeper into eco-responsibility, download the 5Rs of packaging guide now. This method will allow you to discover the best practices for Reducing, Reusing, Replacing, Renewing and Recycling… in other words, to reduce the environmental impact of your current logistics practices.