Surfing sustainability: Flexi-Hex reimagines e-commerce packaging with paper pulp honeycomb sleeves

05 Dec 2019 --- The ubiquity of single-use plastics first struck surfing enthusiasts Sam and Will Boex when they realized that nearly all surfboards are shipped in reams of protective bubble wrap that ultimately goes unrecycled, discarded in landfill. Porthleven-based Cornish eco-packaging company Flexi-Hex was born from the motivation to create plastic-free alternatives for surfboard packaging and has since grown to offer solutions for a much wider range of applications, including beverage bottles and cosmetics. PackagingInsights speaks to Will Boex, Co-Founder and Operations Director for Flexi-Hex about its award-winning, 100 percent recycled paper pulp, compact and biodegradable packaging sleeves.

“Inspiration struck one day in the supermarket when I saw how fruit is packaged,” Boex remembers. “The expandable mesh sleeve that’s slipped around mangos was the starting point, and we decided to marry the two ideas together and develop a similar product for the board sports market that would be less damaging and involve less plastic than the norm. That’s when Flexi-Hex was born.”

“Flexi-Hex can work for a very wide range of products: It is currently being used in the board sports industry, drinks industry, art, furniture, cosmetic and industrial markets. We are finding new applications for it every week,” he adds.

Flexi-Hex Founders, Sam and Will Boex.Flexi-Hex is made entirely from recycled paper pulp and uses water-based glues to ensure the product is fully recyclable in curbside recycling systems. The start-up limits the amount of printing on the product to prevent the inks from hindering the recycling process. Flexi-Hex is also biodegradable and compostable.

Compact is key
“The volume of the product is a key factor,” notes Boex. “Flexi-Hex expands and then shrinks back, making it very compact. This allows brands to fit more of it on a single palette, meaning they can ship fewer palettes, use less transport and reduce carbon emissions. One brand we work with was using up to 11 miles of bubble wrap a year to ship its product. With Flexi-Hex, they’ve managed to reduce this down to just two palettes of packaging materials.”

Flexi-Hex launched its bottle range in December 2018 with the promise that the honeycomb-structured sleeves would prevent breakages. “We’ve put it through the European drop test and it passed with flying colors,” Boex tells PackagingInsights. “The standard test is dropping the product in a box from a height of 1.2m. We dropped just a bottle in the Flexi-Hex packaging from a height of 4m onto concrete and the bottle came out unscathed. It offers a lot more protection than existing cardboard solutions and the cheaper plastic solutions on the market.”

The list of brands benefitting from Flexi-Hex’s enhanced packaging experience includes Bombay Sapphire gin, Tinkture Rose Gin, Surfdome UK e-retailer and Tom Raffield bespoke steam bent wood products.Tinkture Rose Gin: Since converting to Flexi-Hex, the brand has had no breakages.

Boex highlights the Tinkture Rose Gin example: Before switching to Flexi-Hex, between 7 percent and 10 percent of its bottles would break during delivery. Since converting, the brand has had no breakages.

“Our organic Rose Gin is hand-crafted and bottled in unusual, old fashioned glass chemistry bottles and our glass stopper is secured with a unique steel spring, allowing our bottles to be re-used for life,” says Hannah Lamiroy, Founder of Tinkture. “However they were proving difficult to package securely for sending. We are so excited to be working with Flexi-Hex as it has given us the peace of mind to know that when our Rose Gin arrives with our customers, it will not only be undamaged but also wrapped in the most original and beautiful packaging on the market.”

Flexi-Hex launched its latest product, the Eco Bottle Packaging Kit, in the Plastic Free Land zone of the Packaging Innovations show in London in September.

Anti-plastic sentiment trumps higher prices
The main challenge for Flexi-Hex is the price in comparison to other solutions. Flexi-Hex is currently 20-25 percent more expensive than plastic but Boex is confident that brands will not see price as a deterrent in light of the rising tide of anti-plastic consumer sentiment.Flexi-Hex packaging on display during Packaging Innovations 2019 in London.

“The original reason for the creation of Flexi-Hex was to help reduce the amount of single-use plastic entering the natural environment, so our ambition is to create further viable, sustainable packaging alternatives to replace the use of harmful single-use plastic,” Boex concludes.

Flexi-Hex has distributors in the US, Australia, Europe, South Africa, South Korea, Japan, China, Canada, New Zealand and Russia.

In September, Flexi-Hex won major investment from Sky Ocean Ventures and the UK Government, which will enable the Cornish firm to grow and develop its plastic-free packaging innovations. Sky Ocean Ventures and Innovate UK – which is the UK Government’s innovation agency - announced a £6m (US$7.9m) joint funding commitment in the global battle against plastic pollution. Flexi-Hex was one of the first 10 UK companies to be funded under the commitment.

Flexi-Hex triumphed over 28 companies as the overall winner of the prestigious 2019 EcoPack Challenge. The M&S-sponsored award is an annual competition held to find the world’s most sustainable new packaging innovations.

By Joshua Poole