The European Parliament voted to revise the Packaging and Waste Directive. According to the modification, all packaging must be reusable or recyclable by 2030. Several parties have criticized the modification since the EU has not set uniform logistics standards across Europe.

So far, online sellers have been experimenting with recyclable and reusable packaging on their own volition. Amazon, for example, has started exclusively using recyclable packaging for European deliveries. 

According to the new directive, the European Parliament will provide reusable package quotas. By 2030, at least 10% of all shipments should be sent in a closed system - meaning they should be reusable within their area - This means that packaging needs to be made from materials that allow for recycling or reuse. Also, consumers must return the packaging even when they keep all products included in the order.

Empty boxes moving around… is it a wise choice? 

Although, in theory, the idea is logical, it creates a considerable problem: empty boxes need to be moved in a reverse logistic operation from the customer to the companies to be used again. This, in turn, could spell disaster as carbon fuel-based vehicles will surely be needed, 

“If it is not guaranteed that reusable packaging is accepted across service providers within the EU, we do not consider it acceptable to send empty packaging shipping across Europe in cross-border trade permanently. Returns are caused even if the customer keeps the item”, says Christoph Wenk-Fischer, General Manager at the German association of e-commerce, Bundesverband E-commerce und Versandhandel (Bevh).

To fix this, two possible solutions are being considered: the creation of reusable areas - to limit the distances involved in a potential reverse logistic operation, thus enabling ‘return spots’ for the customers to deliver the reusable packaging in their area. 

A second possible solution will be to manage some deals with carrier companies to guarantee that the inverse logistic operation of the reusable packages will be done using 100% electric vehicles or any other form of 0% carbon foot-print logistics.  

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Ranpak has consolidated itself as one of the world’s leading sustainable packaging companies.  Its wide range of 100% recyclable packaging materials and automated packaging solutions has earned them considerable success globally.

Now, the company is taking one step further,  announcing the global launch of the Cut’it!™ EVO, an in-line packaging machine that promises to transform end-of-line packaging, offering at least a 25% reduction in outgoing box dimensions. Thus, saving storage and shipping costs for companies all over the world and, at the same time, turning packaging into a more sustainable industry.

That’s why we decided to talk to Paul Spronken, Product Manager of Automation at Ranpak, to explain what the Cut’it!  EVO exactly is. 

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What is the Cut’it! EVO?

“The Cut’it! EVO is part of the end-of-line packaging solution that Ranpak offers. It is an automated and sustainable packaging solution that is also easy to use and implement. First, you can automatically erect a box with a box-erecting machine, our Form’it!  machine, for example. Then the box will be sent to a picking area where the goods (and, if needed, cushioning material)  are added to the box. Hereafter, the box with the goods arrives at our height reduction and box-closing machine, the  Cut’it! EVO, which automatically reduces box heights by scanning the highest point of filling, cutting the corners of the box, folding the created flaps, and glueing a lid on the box,” says Paul. 

“The Cut’it! EVO optimises the size of the box to match the size of the products inside. On average, the Cut’it!  EVO provides at least a 25% volumetric efficiency in each  packaging.” 

What’s Cut’it! EVO’s main competitive advantage?

 “The main competitive advantage is the fact that we offer an automated box-closing solution with integrated height  

reduction to perfectly fit the product. By combining automation with height reduction, we increase productivity while reducing the need for labour. At the same time, we  reduce shipping volume and improve sustainability for the  environment.” 

But the machine also offers a lot of other things that are not normally present in an end-of-line packaging solution, right?

“Yes. The Cut’it! EVO machine provides KPI data reporting, remote assistance, (online) support, and a video camera system, among other perks. This information is incredibly valuable at the end of the line of any packaging operation because the end of the packaging process is vital: a bottleneck there can quickly escalate and seriously harm the ability to deliver on-time. It is more than just a  packaging machine; it is a system that provides you with  information about your packaging logistics and is aimed at  providing efficiency.”

How much is this efficiency we talk about?

“The Cut’it! EVO offers a solution that can substitute up to  10+ human packers per line. This means that, during peak periods, companies can count on Cut’it! EVO’s efficiency and don’t need to hire a lot of additional warehouse staff,  which precisely because of the peak periods is scarce and expensive. Therefore, having a Cut’it! EVO in your end of-line has a guarantee of possessing a flexible capability in case of peak seasons.  

Additionally, switching from crash-lock boxes to regular boxes can save about 25% on corrugated costs. Our integrated height reduction saves 25% of the truck space required, significantly reducing delivery costs due to the volumetric reduction in height. Which, in turn, results in less CO2 emissions. Also, keep in mind that this height reduction is an estimated percentage that indeed increases as the box gets bigger. This means that companies that, for example, work with furniture, will benefit even more from this. Another unique part of the Cut’it! EVO is that within a day, we can change the footprint at the request of the customer. So it is pretty future-proof,” Paul continues. 

A solution design to fit each market needs

Launching the Cut’it! EVO has been a complex yet enlightening labour for Ranpak. Not only is the technology a state-of-the-art solution, but it also offers a level of efficiency never before seen in the packaging industry. So with a product this good, is it only normal to wonder, has it been easy to launch it globally? 

Paul shares with us the key lessons learned by Ranpak during this international launch and offers us a deep insight into the ever-changing universe of e-commerce.

In light of the global launch of Cut’it! EVO, have you found that all markets are similar or not?

“All markets are different and, furthermore, have different levels of maturity. The need for automation with height reduction, for example, is different. Sustainability has been a  very important topic in Europe, at least for the last ten years,  while it is not necessarily the same situation in other regions. 

In North America, for example, sustainability as a really important topic is quite new in that market. So we need to talk at a different level with them. All in all, we can say that packaging automation is a pretty relevant issue all over the world, but then the specifics of it are different in each region,  and we need to adapt the product to the particular interest of each market,” Paul concludes.

We could then say that packing automation is the one thing that all markets have in common?

“Yes, and for many of our customers, packaging automation was a new thing. Due to the nature of modern e-commerce and its rapid growth, they were kind of forced into automation. Therefore, with the Cut’it! EVO launch,  we learned that it is not just a matter of selling them an automated solution, a machine, but also helping them and enabling these customers to get the most out of Ranpak solutions. We need to empower them.” 

How is this empowerment done? 

“If you launch a product and you are truly committed to  providing a solution to your customers, you need to offer  training, guidelines, go-live support, and online resources for  your customer to understand the maintenance aspects of the  machine that you are selling them, and help them extract  the maximum productivity of the solution.”

Now that you mention it, is the maintenance of the  Cut’it! EVO too complex?

“Not at all. But that’s another learning we had. We have noticed that many times, the customers are not fully aware of the maintenance required for automation equipment in general. So alongside the launch, and as part of our empowerment program, we have added tools to help them learn when, how, and furthermore, why they should do the things they need to do in order to maintain peak performance and make the most out of their Cut’it! EVO.” 

Have you noticed any trends that might prove interesting for the future of packing?

“For example, a trend we noticed recently is that customers invest more and more effort in the design of the box and corresponding lid. So our customers can print whatever they want on the inside or outside of the box, adding a visual element of their brand when the packages arrive at the customer. Also, a glued lid on a height-reduced box means stronger, tamper-proof, and easy-to-return packages. Custom lid design allows boxes to be easily opened and also reliably closed for better protection during returned shipments.

Finally, another discovery was that our customers need to change their mindset about the way they package. Because it is different from the way they plan the packaging process when a height reduction is an option. It’s a far more  efficient way of packaging.” 

If you had to choose one lesson from the Cut’it! EVO  launch, which would it be? 

“One of the biggest lessons we learned from the launch in  Europe was that nowadays, the unboxing experience is fast becoming one of the most important parts of e-commerce.  

Companies and customers value a high-quality unboxing experience because, in the e-commerce business, the box is many times the only physical contact point between the brand and the end consumer. 

Thus, having a high degree of protection but also offering an easy and elegant way of opening—all while saving costs and creating more sustainable packaging—is really well received by the end consumer, and it represents a more cost-efficient solution for the brand. The Cut’it! EVO is a  win-win innovation for the brand, the end consumer, and the environment,” Paul concludes. •• 

The post CUT’IT!™ EVO The Perfect Packaging Fit Revolution! appeared first on Cross-Border Magazine.

As part of the 2030 Environmental Agenda, the European Commission has announced that it is currently working on new packaging waste laws. 

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The plans include cutting down on empty space in e-commerce parcels as well as an increase in reusable packaging.  A draft of the rules, which was supposed to come out at the end of the month, was leaked early.

Nevertheless, the finished plans for these new packaging waste laws are supposed to be unveiled on November 30th. Adjustments to the laws are still being made. 

A lobbying frenzy against the new packaging waste laws 

According to the Politico website, the early leak of this draft has sparked a lobbying frenzy in Brussels to try to either moderate or change some of the new EU directives concerning the packaging. 

Under the draft rules, businesses in the hospitality sector offering takeaway food or drink, for example, will have to serve customers in reusable packaging or by using customers' own containers. 

At least 30 percent of takeaway beverage sales will have to meet those criteria, with the target ramping up to 95 percent in January 2040.

Those targets have alarmed sectors from the beer industry to the hospitality trade, which say they're worried about complicated logistics, high costs, and hygiene issues, derived from the new packaging waste laws.

Indeed, some of the measures leaked by Politico - if they survive into the final draft - could pose severe incongruencies regarding previous Covid sanitary measures, recently enforced. 

Is it our health, or the planet? 

During a POLITICO Working Group discussion, Anna Papagrigoraki, sustainability director at the Confederation of European Paper Industries, warned of "cross-contamination" between food types including potential allergens, and wondered who would be responsible for fixing damaged containers.

"The entire life-cycle including end-of-life of reusable options has to be taken into account ... including recyclability," she said.

The industry is not alone in questioning the draft proposal for these new packaging waste laws.

Bruno Gautrais, in charge of food processing technologies in the Commission's health department, said he had "more questions than answers" over the new plan. The reuse measures are far from the "regular habits" of most food sellers, who will have to "remain very strict on the hygiene part," he said. Aspects of the proposal are still being discussed within the Commission, but "the challenge is worth the effort to find common ground,” he added.

Finally, the Swiss food and drink multinational Nestlé, which is already trialing reuse systems, said hygiene issues "can be solved," but pointed out that comes with environmental trade-offs as it involves higher water and energy use — especially since containers and bottles may have to travel long distances to be refilled by the original company.

"Every glass bottle’s return logistics, cleaning, washing; it is not an easy case to make for the environment with all the energy, chemicals and water involved, not to speak about the economics," said Christian Detrois, the company's sustainability and packaging lead for Europe, the Middle East, and North Africa. "So that's why we're having difficulties to really make an environmental case for reuse ... We're not at all pushing back but for an open debate we need to flag those concerns."

All in all, it seems that neither the industry nor the policymakers in Brussels have a clear solution that could provide a healthy hygienic packaging system for us humans, and at the same time, an environmentally friendly packaging that could be used and recycled at a large scale.

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The General Sales Manager of Ranpak Australia, Peter Forsyth said: “We are humbled by the recognition. It is an honour to know that our industry peers have judged our work to be positively impactful in ways that support the environmental practices our company was founded on.”

WrapPak Protector

Ranpak’s 100% paper-based solution, the WrapPak Protector™, was recognised in the competition for its insulation abilities compared to plastic-based alternatives. The paper insulation pads are formed with a unique stitching process that traps air between two sheets of kraft paper. This helps to insulate and maintain a consistent temperature for the delivery of food, meat and other cold products. Unlike other competing products (made of plastic), the paper material of which the pads are made is completely curbside recyclable.

According to Forsyth: “WrapPak Protector™ is an optimal solution for retailers and perishable products distributors. It’s a completely on demand product at the packing stations, so it eliminates the need to store bulky coolers and panels, freeing up floor space. It’s a winning product, from the shipper’s floor to its disposal at the other end of the line.”

Worldstar Packaging Awards

The winning entries in the PIDA Awards will move on to the Worldstar Packaging Awards, which is one of the major events of the World Packaging Organisation. This worldwide organisation was founded in 1968 to encourage the development of packaging technology, science, access and engineering in contributing to the development of international trade and stimulating education and training in packaging.

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Loop is a sustainability project from global recycling giant TerraCycle. It wants to sell products in multi-use containers so, for every order made through Loop, all packaging is reusable. This initiative changes the ownership model of packaging from consumer to producer. This is because consumers can return all products to the producer to have them refilled.

Teaming up with major manufacturers

To make this project work, the startup teamed up with manufacturers Unilever, Procter & Gamble, Clorox, Nestlé, Mars, Coca-Cola, and PepsiCo. These manufacturers redesigned their packaging so they could participate in the sustainable e-commerce project.

The UK will follow France in October

The initiative recently launched in Paris and it will launch in some cities in the US in the near future. After that, Loop will expand the initiative to London in October 2019. In France, supermarket chain Carrefour is Loop’s main and currently exclusive distribution partner. In the United Kingdom, Tesco will play a similar role.

How Loop works

Customers can order all kinds of products via Maboutiqueloop.fr, from ice cream to toothpaste, from biscuits to Coca-cola. The products are delivered to the customer in glass, steel and other sustainable containers. Consumers receive the products directly to their homes.

Customers pay a small deposit for the reusable packages. When a container is empty, customers can arrange a pickup or bring it to a retailer. They can then choose to have the product refilled. If they don’t, their deposit is returned or credited to their account. The empty bottles and glasses are sent to Loop to be washed and refilled.

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The way we take care of our environment has been a hot topic all over the world for quite some time. Just think about the discussion on pollution in the oceans and the huge amount of plastic waste that is produced. 

The environment is sending a wake-up call to the world, governments worldwide finally seem to be willing to hear it. While plastic is ruining nature and ocean life, the best defence is to use less of it and to make sure that it won’t stay the easiest option for everyone.

Cross-border e-commerce: The Power of Paper

What is the power of paper. Paper is one of the most sustainable products as it is made from renewable resources. It is biodegradable and can cycle back in its original source for renewable energy. As trees grow they absorb CO2 from the atmosphere. Furthermore, as a wood product, paper also continues to store carbon throughout its lifetime. It is a non-toxic biodegradable material. Biodegradable Biodegradation is the process by which biological organisms break down substances into basic compounds like CO2, water, and biomass. For natural items like paper this process can take as little as a week to a few months. Other man-made products, like plastics, can take so long to degrade that for all practical purposes they are considered non-biodegradable.

Download the full whitepaper on Ranpak's site. Find out more here.

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Have you ever ordered frozen food online? If so, you can imagine how unsatisfying it would be to receive your frozen veggies completely defrosted? Keeping food products chilled or frozen is a challenge that lots of online food retailers struggle with. There are solutions like plastic, or expensive EPS boxes, but these do not meet the sustainable standards of today and tomorrow. To think about more sustainable alternatives, we talk to Dan Roumen, Product Manager Thermal Packaging at Ranpak.

The growing food market Food is a booming business. All day, every day, people are consuming food. As the market is this large, it is surprising to see that selling food online has grown at a much slower rate than markets like clothing and consumer electronics. In the last couple of years, the market has been catching up, and is now growing quicker than ever. Statista found that the current size of the world’s food market is expected to be $82,714m in 2018*1, which is expected to grow 10.7% per year, resulting in a market volume of $137,596m by 2023. The largest segment of the food market is the restaurant-to-consumer delivery market, with a total volume of $65.302m dollar in 2018. On a global scale, the Chinese food market is the largest in terms of turnover ($32,908m in 2018).

As the above mentioned research shows, the market is flourishing. However, there are some challenges both B2B and B2C food markets still face. One of these challenges is that a lot of food is distributed chilled or frozen. Therefore, packaging solutions that offer proper thermal protection are very important. According to Roumen, requests were filed to see if a more sustainable solution could be created. “These requests focused mainly on the question of how to keep products cold, while keeping them packaged securely. Paper is a very sustainable product which can be recycled completely and its strength makes it a perfect product to use in packaging. We created a hypothesis that paper could be used as an insulating material.”

Study temperature

In the past, solutions such as EPS boxes have been developed to keep food cold, however the boxes are far from environmental friendly. “With the knowledge that the demand for a more sustainable solution was rising, we started with our partner Antalis UK to perform research on an environmentally friendly solution. Our ultimate goal: reduce costs and create a sustainable, new kind of thermal protection that is easy to use, flexible and fully recyclable, while realising a cost reduction,” says Roumen. To offer such a solution, it is important to have a good look at all variables that need to be taken into account. “One of the most important is – obviously – the temperature profiles of the packed products. Secondly, transport and storage might differ, so these must be considered as well,” explains Roumen.

A third important variable is the “Phase Change Materials” (PCMs) and insulating materials that are being used. “We designed the tests that we wanted to perform to see if we could validate our hypotheses,” Roumen tells. “We designed WrapPak paper, a thick 70 grams waved-layers paper variant and performed temperature tests in climate chambers. While the paper was originally designed for cushioning purposes, it proved its functionality for this solution as well. Our test investigated the differences in temperature when filling the boxes with the products and one, two or three layers of the WrapPak paper as insulating materials, compared to boxes filled with foil bubble, liners, EPS panels or boxes. The results proved that the paper filling kept the products at least an equivalent period as cool or cooler for a longer period, while at the same it was more flexible and cheaper to ship the products. Regarding EPS solutions, the paper solution is much more sustainable, as it is completely recyclable, renewable and biodegradable. More layers of paper can be used to increase the insulating rate; in warmer periods an additional layer of paper can be applied.” The concluding results of the research Ranpak performed indicated that paper was a great alternative. It can be used combined with dried ice or with gel packs. “A big advantage of this paper solution is that it is easily adaptable to any size of box compared to traditional packaging techniques. It reduces the amount of filling materials used and the paper is fully recyclable, making it a cost-reducing sustainable alternative,” Roumen explains.

With a solution at hand, Ranpak started the implementation of their new solution. Diet Chef, a company that focuses on helping people who wish to lose weight by creating their meals for them, is one of the first to start with the WrapPack paper solution. “We created a machine to make the use of the paper even easier. Diet Chef now uses an ideal combination of box size and filling material which is provided by the machine in the exact amounts. It required decent training for all packers, but as the process is simple, they quickly knew how our solution worked. So far, they have provided us with extremely positive feedback,” Roumen concludes. ••

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In today’s online shopping era there’s only one chance to make a good first impression. A positive unboxing experience is key in making this impression.

On behalf of Ranpak, Harris Interactive surveyed over 1000 online shoppers across Europe and the USA in July 2016 to uncover their brand packaging expectations and recent unboxing experiences focusing on in-the-box packaging materials. The results show a preference for paper packaging materials in order to increase consumer repurchase intention and loyalty. For more information, please contact Steffie Leszczynski, Manager Marketing Communications

Download the new whitepaper

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