DS Smith fights COVID-19 with fast-tracked safety boxes but cardboard shortage looms

31 Mar 2020 --- DS Smith has developed special emergency provision boxes to meet increased demand for safer home delivery in the food retail sector as the global COVID-19 outbreak intensifies. In line with social distancing and self-isolation guidelines, the new boxes can be stacked in delivery vans, picked up and dropped off to vulnerable consumers while supporting the safety of the workers involved. The launch comes as the UK Recycling Association warns of looming European and potentially worldwide shortages of paper and cardboard, which are essential to the distribution of food and medical supplies.

In addition to providing critical support to keep goods moving and replenish shelves as quickly as possible, the focus has quickly turned to home delivery to move goods directly to the front doors of consumers who aren’t able to make it to the shops. As more countries implement social distancing processes and enact new legislation, home delivery is fast becoming essential to people facing COVID-19 movement restrictions.

Stefano Rossi, CEO of Packaging at DS Smith, applauds the development team at DS Smith, which managed to deliver a tailor-made food delivery box design in under 24 hours. The box was subsequently prototyped, tested, manufactured and delivered in less than a week. DS Smith worked closely with food retailers across Europe to design and produce the solution.Self-isolation guidelines have skyrocketed demand for food home delivery.

“We were approached by several of our food supply customers to design a new packaging solution that would maximize efficiency and provide everyday essentials to many of society’s most vulnerable,” Rossi says.

“We worked very closely with our customers to design and produce a solution which allows for a ‘stack, drop and go’ approach that is more time-efficient, more hygienic and frees up time for more deliveries. Our sustainably designed solution is also fully recyclable at home,” he adds.

The corrugated packaging giant has played an enhanced role in the food and pharmaceutical supply chain as demand for these products increases. In particular, DS Smith indicates that its international network has enabled it to provide solutions to those facing delivery hurdles.

Fiber fasting
The UK Recycling Association has warned of diminishing fiber supply and attributes the issue to local council decisions to scale back and suspend food, green waste and recycling collections to fight the COVID-19 spread. The Association also identifies skyrocketed home delivery as a contributor to the problem, with more fiber ending up in household bins and, by extension, landfill.

“Of huge concern to us is the signs that Europe is already becoming short of fiber with which to make cardboard boxes. Food and medical supplies all move by cardboard box and if we can’t make cardboard boxes, everything stops. If councils stop collecting recycling, and many are, all this fiber is burnt or goes to landfill and we will be short,” Simon Ellin, CEO of The UK Recycling Association, was quoted as saying.The UK Recycling Association has warned of cardboard shortages in Europe and potentially worldwide.

Pharmaceuticals and food takes priority
With the COVID-19 outbreak causing considerable social disruption, DS Smith has moved to prioritize the delivery of supermarket food, pharmaceuticals and medical equipment. “Our packaging is predominantly used to transport and protect food and personal care items or to deliver goods to peoples’ homes through e-commerce. We also serve the vitally important pharmaceutical sector and it is these sectors that we are prioritizing in the days and weeks to come,” notes Miles Roberts, Group CEO of DS Smith.

“We are supporting our customers to deliver food directly to supermarket shelves or to ensure that medicines or medical equipment can be shipped to where it is needed most. Our design teams are working flat out to develop bespoke packaging to allow retailers to support vulnerable citizens and give them access to everyday essentials through ‘drop and go’ packages. We are also working with customers that are adapting their production to develop much needed protective equipment like facemasks so they can be shipped to those on the front line,” Roberts explains.

Packaging’s critical role in COVID-19 battle
Roberts notes that DS Smith has avoided “significant disruption” amid the COVID-19 outbreak and that its sites are pulling together to support one another to continue the production of paper and packaging that allows essential items to reach the most vulnerable.

DS Smith is prioritizing food and pharmaceuticals packaging as the COVID-19 pandemic continues.Several global packaging suppliers have indicated that their international footprints have enabled them to maintain or even increase production output by compensating for local production shortfalls.

“[DS Smith employees’] continued health and wellbeing is my priority, but I also recognize the critical role DS Smith and the wider packaging industry has to play right now, right across global, national and regional supply chains.”

E-commerce and demand for e-commerce packaging have been growing rapidly and consistently for many years. DS Smith opened a state-of-the-art box manufacturing plant in the town of Lebanon, Illinois, US, in January to meet the increased demand for recyclable boxes. The “industry-leading” facility can reportedly produce 30,000 boxes an hour.

By Joshua Poole