“Minimum packaging, maximum protection”: Sealed Air gears up for sustainability demand with fully recyclable Mail Lite mailer

31 Oct 2019 --- The drive for increased environmental sustainability in packaging was the key theme of FachPack 2019 and one of the stand out launches at the show was Sealed Air’s redesigned, fully recyclable Mail Lite mailer. PackagingInsights speaks to Stuart Roberts, Executive Director Business Development EMEA Product Care for Sealed Air, about the mailer’s sustainability qualities, including easily-separable recyclable components and a co-extruded inner bubble cushioning made of at least 60 percent recycled content. Roberts also discusses the supplier’s ambitions to produce mailers containing 100 percent recycled plastic and the barriers to that goal.

Sealed Air has been producing the Mail Lite mailer in its Kettering, UK, production facility since 1975. Before the revamp, the mailer had consisted of bubble wrap laminated to polycoated paper, which made it strong and efficient. However, because the pack’s components were bonded together, it was difficult to separate for recycling.

“In the revamped version, we now use a non-coated paper and a bubble, making it is easy to separate the plastic and paper components for the two recycling bins while maintaining the strength and efficiency of the mailer,” notes Roberts.

Sealed Air uses a small percentage of nylon for the bubble barrier because polyethylene is porous to air. As Roberts explains, if you put a weight on a pure polyethylene bubble, after a few days the air will seep out. This an issue that a small amount of nylon can prevent.

“We are also now producing the bubble with at least 60 percent recycled content. If we can, we would like to increase that to 100 percent recycled plastic, but 60 percent is a good starting point.”

Stuart Roberts, Executive Director Business Development EMEA Product Care for Sealed Air.Adding to the Mail Lite’s sustainability credentials, the paper is FSC-certified. “Eventually we want to turn that into 100 percent recycled paper, but we only want to do that when there is sufficient supply to the market,” says Roberts.

Barriers to 100 percent recycled plastic
Supply to the market is also a major barrier to Sealed Air’s ambition to use 100 percent recycled plastic for its bubble. According to Roberts, sourcing enough recycled resin and at an economical price can prove challenging.

“People want to be green but they do not want to pay extra. We have to make sure that we can get enough recycled resin before committing to levels of 100 percent. And when you say recycled, there are different terminologies at play: is it recycled or reprocessed?”

“We have to make sure we follow the protocol to ensure the material we use can be classed as recycled. Presently there is just not enough resin to go 100 percent, but we will look at the alternatives. For example, we have made bubble wrap out of PET bottles, and that is yet to be launched,” Roberts tells PackagingInsights.

Roberts highlights the marketplace’s attention to ocean plastics and explains that Sealed Air is experimenting to also make bubble wrap from the recovered material.

“That is certainly something for the future. Currently, we are wary of launching a product where we might struggle to get the material consistently. We believe 60 percent is a good number in today’s marketplace and we are confident we can fulfill that promise. I have seen suppliers say ‘up to’ which makes it very flexible - we say a minimum of 60 percent and it always is, whereas ‘up to’ could mean 1 percent or 90 percent.”

E-commerce-ready
The Mail Lite mailer comes in 10 different sizes. In the UK, Sealed Air offers a “large letter” mailer which is the maximum size that can be posted through a standard-sized letterbox.

“We also have another mailer called Round Trip which has a returnable strip on it. This is ideal for e-commerce channels because reverse logistics is a big thing in today’s market,” Roberts says.

Roberts also spotlights the Sealed Air’s I-Pack automated packaging system, designed to minimize the freight, operating and consumables costs of parcel shipments by rightsizing the pack and optimizing productivity for B2C order fulfillment operations.

“You put a box through the system, it measures the space and cuts the box down to the ideal height. My favorite motto is: “minimum packaging, maximum protection” and I-Pack helps us achieve that.”

In September at Pack Expo 2019 in Las Vegas, US, Sealed Air featured its latest automated solutions and packaging options. Many of these innovations are designed to help companies of all sizes to eliminate waste and drive more sustainable operations.

The features included the Autobag 650 from Automated Packaging Systems, a wide bagging system designed for horizontally packaging large products for e-commerce fulfillment. The bagging system is engineered with an emphasis on ergonomic design for the operator and features an inline thermal transfer printer, which eliminates the need for a separate labeling operation.

Also on display was the Bubble Wrap brand Instasheeter Select, a new automated system that streamlines packaging operations by eliminating the need to manually insert protective material. Placed on the conveyor line, the system automatically cuts and inserts Bubble Wrap brand inflatable cushioning to the size of each box, which eliminates packaging waste and increases throughput.

“Certainly with e-commerce on the rise, more and more people are shipping things and they are increasingly choosing mailers. The demand is increasing and sustainability is the key concern,” concludes Roberts.

By Joshua Poole