No Plastic Required - Paper Packaging without Compromising
Making the executive decision to stop using all plastics for your packaging can seem daunting. However here's a list of ideas that can make that possible without compromising on the look you want and the practicality of it.
Wrapping it up - how to wrap up your goods using recycled and recyclable paper products.
- News Print – a white light weight paper made from up to 60% recycled paper fibre.
- Kraft Paper - a heavier duty brown paper (80 gsm) that adds a little more protection than news print paper and looks good too. Available in a range of widths.
- Corrugated Cardboard – Being a single faced corrugated cardboard it has extra strength as well as padding so is more versatile that kraft paper as it can also be used as an alternative to bubble wrap packaging due to it's flexability.
- Cardboard Perforator – will re-use your pre-loved cartons and turn them into attractive protective packaging. Available in a stand alone model or a bench top model you simply feed the cardboard into the machine and it slices through creating a flexible and versatile cardboard padding - that can be recycled later again.
- ProPad Paper Cushioning System – will produce predetermined lengths or even a continuous length of paper padding using kraft paper. It features four operational settings from manual through to a programmable sequence producing up to 150 protective paper packaging pads per minute.
- TempGuard Thermal Packaging – Temguard is a type of thermal packaging used to maintain temperature (using gel ice packs), but it is made from a heavy duty kraft paper exterior with a recycled paper fibre inside. Tempguard is 100% curb side recyclable.
Filling the void – Apart from using the ProPad above as not only providing paper cushioning it could also be used to fill the void, as can the protective cardboard padding created by the cardboard perforator, another choice are the FasFil range of machines.
- FasFil – There a number of different types of FasFil machines that create void filler out of kraft paper. The paper can be used as an alternative to plastic Void Bubble or air filled plastic cushions. Fasfil systems are available as a Fasfil 1500 High performance Void Filling System which is a high output 118m per minute system, FasFil Jr which can dispense up to 50m per minute or a FasFil M Kraft Paper Dispenser (completely manual)
Packing it Up – Paper alternatives to packing up your items.
- Boxes/cartons – made from currgated cardboard are available in a range of off the shelf sizes or can be custom made to order.
- Maltese Cross Cartons – a wrap around protective style of box which is used for flat pack items such as books, brochures or even CD's or DVD's. Made from cardboard they create a strong casing surrounding your goods and are easy for postage and freight.
- Jiffy Padded Mailers – available as the standard, which are a heavy duty kraft exterior with a paper fibre interior to create the padding, or the Jiffy Padded light which has the same exterior, but the padding interior is made from a woven paper lining that is similar to a honeycomb structure. Available in a range of off the shelf sizes with peel and seal tabs.
- Brown Paper Bags – a heavy duty kraft paper and environmentally friendly alternative to plastic shopping bags.
Sealing it up- Paper Tapes to seal closed your boxes or other packaging
- Kraft Paper Tape – can be used with a standard tape dispenser and is a great alternative to plastic tape. Also available in a filament reinforced tape.
- Water Activated Tape - made from kraft paper and uses a starch based adjesive that is activated when wet. The advantage of water activated tape is that once activated it adheres to the fibres of the carton or box making it not only tamper proof, but pilfer proof too. The tape can't be lifted from the box to get your hand in, which can be done with most plastic tapes. Also available in a filament reinforced tape.
