Why Different Industries Use Reusable Packaging Every Day
Here at Carter Associates Manufacturing, we see ourselves as something like lifelong learners. Whether we’re in school, the workplace, or off the clock, curiosity constantly drives us to learn and innovate. With that spirit of learning in mind, we’re always looking across all industries to see how other packaging professionals tailor their designs to a wide range of products.
In this spirit of learning, today we’ll discuss why and how different industries use reusable packaging for their products.
Produce Shippers
Believe it or not, produce shippers have become increasingly reliant on reusable packaging. Though sellers of produce have a long history of shipping in cardboard (you may even recognize these cardboard containers on the floor of a produce section with the lid simply popped off), sellers are increasingly switching to reusable containers.
While carboard boxes have been nice due to their easy disposal and use on the store’s floor, they’ve increasingly been replaced with more permanent solutions. Let’s take at a look at two reasons why:
Protection of the Produce. Shipping produce in a cardboard container has saved money in the past, but it’s also come at meaningful costs. When produce is shipped in cardboard, the cardboard does little to protect the produce from damage in transit. This leads to damaged products that either can’t be put on the shelf or that customers simply don’t want to buy.
Sustainable Business Practice. More and more, customers prefer businesses with sustainable, environmentally minded business practices. This is doubly so for companies that customers buy their food from; customers want to know that the food their eating is natural and can see green business practices as an extension of that promise.
For these reasons above (and many more) produce sellers and big box stores increasingly prefer reusable packaging. And for produce, even something as simple and lightweight as a plastic lining can be used and reused again and again. Certainly, that’s a lesson all logisticians should learn.
How the Chemical Industry Relies on Reusable Packaging
The chemical industry is another area that relies heavily on reusable packaging for safe, reliable transport. And when you think about it, this decision makes quite a bit of sense.
Unlike shipping produce, which is so harmless it’s literally meant for human consumption, chemicals are a much different beast. Not only are chemicals generally much more dangerous, but they also have much greater needs when it comes to transport. Many chemicals need to be shipped in containers of specific materials that don’t corrode or interact with the chemical in potentially harmful ways. Take, for instance, chemicals that can explode if they interact with oxygen, such as nitric acid or sodium hypochlorite. For these chemicals, packaging must be specifically crafted with inert materials and shipped in the safest, most reliable packaging.
That said, we know most folks aren’t shipping nitric acid. However, there are still meaningful lessons to learn from how the chemical industry packages their products. For instance, the high cost of creating this unique and reliable packaging almost necessitates that this packaging is reusable. That way, costs are reduced and more money can be invested in ensuring the product is kept safe.
This teaches us another essential rule of reusable packaging: reusable packaging excels when single-use packaging is expensive or could require reducing packaging quality to dangerously low levels.
Get Your Custom Reusable Packaging Today
Here at Carter Associates, we believe in taking lessons from all across the packaging world in order to engineer the best packaging solutions possible. If you share our enthusiasm for high quality, safe packaging that will save you money in the long run, then you’ve come to the right place. For more information, click here to contact us today.
