Black Friday: BillerudKorsnäs pushes paper-based recyclability portfolio ahead of COVID-19 e-commerce surge

25 Nov 2020 --- BillerudKorsnäs is riding the Black Friday online shopping wave by promoting its e-commerce mailer bag line Xpression E-com. 

The Swedish pulp and paper manufacturer is aiming for its recyclable mailer bags to gain extra industry attention beyond just the annual commercial shopping occasion.

Speaking to PackagingInsights, director of communications Louise Wileen Bjarke comments that BillerudKorsnäs’ Xpression E-com can capitalize on the substantial growth opportunities brought on by Black Friday. 

“Retailers are currently stocking up for the Black Friday purchasing frenzy, the one-day event long considered the unofficial kick-off to the holiday shopping season.”

Black Friday, which follows Thanksgiving, usually sees a burst in sales across industry and will give Xpression E-com packaging a wide market, BillerudKorsnäs’ expects. 

Once known for stampedes of consumers fighting over retailer deals in the early 2000s, the shopping bonanza has grown into a billion-dollar online shopping event.

Xpression E-com meets sustainability demand 
“E-commerce mailer bags made of Xpression E-com paper is one opportunity to meet the customer’s increasing demand for sustainability and will reduce the environmental impact of this surge in shopping,” BillerudKorsnäs asserts. 

Click to EnlargeSurging Black Friday sales during COVID-19 gives industry an opportunity to prioritize recyclable packaging.BillerudKorsnäs is currently “working with a variety of fashion retailers across the globe,” according to Bjarke.

The bag material is described as “a durable, resilient and recyclable paper specifically designed for E-commerce paper mailers.”

It has been tested in a Life Cycle Analysis (LCA) and taps into the online shopping boom, which has grown over the COVID-19 pandemic.

COVID-19-induced opportunities 
The global e-commerce market was already growing faster than traditional shopping channels prior to COVID-19, but the pandemic has boosted the move from brick-and-mortar stores to online purchasing, BillerudKorsnäs notes. 

“This transition is driving demand for packaging and increasing stress on the planet from packaging waste,” says Bjarke. 

“The strong and sudden shift to e-commerce increases the focus on e-commerce packaging as an opportunity to communicate and ultimately build stronger consumer relationships,” says Valdemar Forsblom, project manager at BillerudKorsnäs.

Third-party LCA testing 
The environmental benefit of Xpression E-com compared to plastic or recycled corrugated material was confirmed in a LCA performed by the RISE Research Institute of Sweden earlier this year. 

The LCA assessed the environmental impacts from raw material input, production, transport and disposal, revealing mailer bags made from unbleached Xpression E-com can reduce fossil emissions by 50 percent compared to a virgin plastic mailer bag. 

When biogenic emissions are included, the LCA study shows that 1,000 mailer bags of Xpression E-com remove 50 kg of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere across the life cycle. 

The paper is also better for the environment when considering emissions to air, water and soil, leading to eutrophication, according to BillerudKorsnäs.

By Louis Gore-Langton 

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