DS Smith and Laithwaite’s partner on traceable, recyclable wine packaging for e-commerce
10 Sep 2020 --- DS Smith has partnered with Laithwaite’s Wine, a UK-based online wine purchasing platform, to deliver a fully auditable and traceable closed-loop model to its local market.
Laithwaite’s approached DS Smith to improve the protection performance of its wine bottle shipping packaging and eradicate plastic from its portfolio.
In response, DS Smith designed cardboard packaging that can protect the cargo from the jolts and impacts of the courier delivery network.
“Via the closed-loop model, we can give a new lease of life to our recycling that will be used in the packaging we send to our customers,” says Andrew Hawker, head of logistics at Laithwaite’s Wine.
Laithewaite’s Wine packaging undergoes DS Smith’s DISCS treatment to prevent shipping damage.“Balancing the sustainability and protection needs of packaging can be a challenge, especially in the e-commerce sector where the unboxing experience is vital to engaging and establishing a connection with the customer,” he maintains.
Together with Laithwaite’s distribution center, DS Smith ensures that the cardboard is collected separately from other material streams. On average, the paper company uses 80 percent recycled and 20 percent chain of custody-certified virgin fiber in the packaging, which can be recycled up to 25 times.
DISCS technology prevents damaged orders
In a previous interview with DS Smith, the supplier’s design and innovations director Alan Potts shared with PackagingInsights that the Laithwaite’s Wine project was “significantly hard.”
To trial the solution’s effectiveness before sending it into the supply chain, Laithwaite’s put its packaging to the test using DS Smith’s Drop, Impact, Shock, Crush and Shake (DISCS) technology.
An industry first, DISCS tests whether a package can survive the average e-commerce supply chain, which can constitute up to 50 touchpoints.
Working across its Packaging, Recycling and Paper divisions, DS Smith also achieved a “Box to Box in 14 days” closed-loop recycling system for Laithwaite’s e-commerce pack. The cardboard collected from customers can be processed for recycling, made into new paper and converted into corrugated cardboard packaging within 14 days.
The financial incentives are enormous – in 2018, DS Smith estimated that approximately US$831 million worth of damaged goods would be delivered on Black Friday due to inadequate packaging.
Keeping materials in use for as long as possible – thereby reducing the need for virgin materials and limiting the excessive consumption of resources – is what DS Smith calls “the circular economy in action.”
Edited by Anni Schleicher
