Cleaning with a conscience: DS Smith develops recyclable e-commerce packaging for Blaue Helden

24 Aug 2021 --- DS Smith has created recyclable e-commerce packaging for German start-up Blaue Helden, which produces power tabs for instantly mixing dishwashing and cleaning products at home. Blaue Helden sells refill tablets, which the company hopes will permanently reduce single-use plastic and CO2 emissions.

The material-optimized solution made of 100 percent corrugated cardboard was created at DS Smith’s think tank.

Using precisely fitting inserts, no filling materials are required for shipping the products. This is combined with a strong-identity exterior and interior print, so the shipping packaging “ensures an unboxing that online shoppers will remember as a positive brand experience.”

Instant cleaners without the packaging
With a power tab, a reusable spray bottle and water from the tap, users can easily mix their own bathroom cleaner, dishwashing liquid, all-purpose cleaner or glass cleaner.

According to the start-up, this permanently reduces plastic consumption in the household.

Due to the low weight and packaging volume of the tabs, over 90 percent of the CO2 emissions caused by transporting conventional cleaning agents in disposable plastic bottles can be saved simultaneously.

Consumers demand sustainable packaging
According to DS Smith research, more than one in five (22%) of the consumers surveyed said that they no longer order from some online retailers because their shipping packaging is unsustainable.

“Conversely, this means that anyone who sends their products in sustainable e-commerce packaging, like the start-up Blaue Helden, is an additional winner,” says DS Smith. DS Smith devised the packaging for Blaue Helden with minimum fiber content.

DS Smith used only as much fiber as necessary, in accordance with its own Circular Design Principles, it maintains.

The Blaue Helden project marks another step in DS Smith’s work to innovate packaging solutions and materials that reduce carbon emissions.

Recently, the company revealed it is investigating the use of seaweed fibers in packaging applications to reduce emissions associated with wood fiber and plastic barriers. DS Smith says this is an “industry first” that will play a significant role in its “purge on plastics.”

Initial testing is focusing on using seaweed to replace wood-based pulp fiber. The company will investigate its potential to act as a barrier coating, replacing petroleum-based materials.

Last month, DS Smith sold its De Hoop paper mill in the Netherlands for €50 million (US$59 million) to De Jong Packaging, which produces 370,000 metric tons of recycled paper per year, supplying mainly heavier grades of recycled paper.

DS Smith says the sale supports its strategy to have a “short paper” position in Northern Europe, where a greater amount of external paper capacity is available to the company.

Edited

By Louis Gore-Langton

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