A UK-based company with a reusable alternative to single-use cardboard boxes has announced plans to enter the North American market.
Notbox makes lightweight shipping enclosures that come in a variety of sizes and fold flat for easy storage and backhaul. There’s also an insulated version for specific industries such as healthcare, and Notboxes are available for leasing or purchase.
The global packaging industry is worth some $424 billion and North America accounts for 28 percent of this market. Currently, cardboard is used to ship roughly 90 percent of all products in the U.S.
Notboxes are positioned as an eco-friendly alternative to the billions of single-use cardboard boxes used each year throughout global supply chains. According to the company website, after ten uses, a Notbox will have saved the CO2 equivalent of almost four industry standard cardboard boxes being manufactured, plus the disposal of nine. Each Notbox is expected to be used up to 20 times, after which they are 99.058 percent recyclable, the company says.
“Reducing corrugated cardboard excess is one of the fastest and most effective steps a company can take to reduce waste and is high on the corporate agenda,” said Thomas Hellman, the new Chairman and President of Notbox North America. "Consumers will place a greater value on recyclability and the perceived 'greenness' of packaging and increasingly demand proof of sustainability claims, such as lifecycle analysis data and carbon footprint exposure, and that opens up an enormous market for Notbox.”
In related news, OfficeMax announced a new program last year called Boomerang Box that will reuse and recycle delivery boxes, and competitor Office Depot has switched to delivering office supplies in bags, rather than boxes.
Logistics provider DHL recently designed reusable shipping containers for Fujitsu, and last week Mike Hower highlighted seven other promising packaging innovations.
@Bart_King is a freelance writer and communications consultant.
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Bart King is the founder and principal at New Growth Communications. He specializes in helping sustainability leaders develop thought leadership content and strategy
Published Jan 15, 2013 11am EST / 8am PST / 4pm GMT / 5pm CET