To go along with the holiday season, The American Institute for Packaging and the Environment recently published a brochure aimed at improving the environmental sustainability e-commerce packaging. The brochure, titled Packaging: At the Forefront of E-Commerce Growth & Sustainability, explains the roles of e-commerce packaging, strategies that packaging manufacturers, product marketers and retailers use to minimize product damage, and ways in which the packaging industry continues to find innovative solutions to do more with less. The brochure offers the following “Four Rs” to readers: Reduce and consolidate orders delivering more products in fewer packaging. Reuse packaging, especially boxes and cushioning materials. Return packaging to local shipping store, especially cushioning materials. Recycle corrugated and other materials, including polyethylene films. According to Ameripen, US retail e-commerce sales are set to exceed $300 billion in 2014, with much of the volume occurring during the last two months of the year.Donna Dempsey of Ameripen says it is important that people are aware of the…

Our customizable resuable packaging comes in any shape, any size or any material to meet your needs. Learn More about all the possibilities of custom packaging here.  If you can dream it, we can build it. Our customizable resuable packaging comes in any shape, any size or any material to meet your needs. Whether you need totes for Class A products, dunnage for pharmaceuticals, foam lining for electronics, or even corrugated plastic for, say, septic tank dividers – we do it all. Boxes and totes, steel racks and carts, dividers, foams, sleeve packs, and water jet cutting. We offer industry leading, super fast design and prototyping services to identify and design a product that works for you. Once designed, our 3D proposal capabilities and fully functional samples will ensure that your product goes from an idea to a working model. Just remember, if you can dream it, we can build it.

The Returnable Packaging Association (RPA) defines ‘returnable packaging’ as packaging which includes “...reusable pallets, racks, bulk containers, hand-held containers and dunnage that move product efficiently and safely throughout the supply chain. Reusable packaging is typically used by manufacturers/processors and their suppliers/customers in a well-organized supply chain, with very tightly managed shipping loops. Returnable packaging is constructed of durable materials such as metal, plastic or wood and is designed to withstand the rough handling of a typical logistics system.” So, what does this all mean? Let me break it down. The process begins with a ‘returnable pack’ – which is a vehicle that will go to the point of destination and come back. For example, a semi –truck you see on the highway is a returnable pack. Even the Space Shuttle is a returnable pack! Now, this is looking at the process in a large, outside sense. Returnable packaging is broken down into smaller components — the containers inside a returnable…