Different Types of Packaging Materials

At first, venturing into the field of product packaging can be confusing if you don’t have the correct information. One of the important things you should put into consideration is choosing the suitable type of packaging materials. Once you have identified the different types of material, you can narrow it down to the best material that meets your packaging needs.

This article aims to educate you on the different types of packaging material that are available as follows.

Corrugated Boxes

Over the years, corrugated boxes have been a good choice to package tons of products on different packaging lines globally. The corrugated boxes are bought and preformed into an old-style box shape. You may receive them in flat stacks, and you are required to put the boxes together manually. The corrugated boxes are made out of fiberboard and used mostly for packaging and shipping products. The boxes are a good choice to package electronics, consumer goods, and prepackaged food items.

Stretch Film

Stretch film is one of the commonly used materials for packaging globally. Most of the shipment companies prefer using stretch film to contain their products on pallets before shipment. By doing this, the products are protected from collapsing or destroying during the shipment process. The stretch film is mostly used for packaging and unitizing multi-packs such as toilet paper, paper towels, and bottled water.

shrink Film

There are different types of shrink film formulation designed for specific applications. The most common formulation is polyethylene, polyolefin, and polyvinyl. Polyolefin is the top shrink film to cover food with. Common items packed using shrink film are board games, frozen pizza boxes, and small consumer goods. Ensure to choose the correct shrink film for your products to avoid poor packaging.

Polybags

Polybags are transparent bags that are made of plastic for the packaging and shipment of specific consumer items. They are manufactured from polyethylene which is one of the leading types of plastic packaging formation in the present day. Most people prefer polybags for their packaging solution because of their slim body appearance, reflectivity, and great elasticity. Some of the common product packaged in polybags is a variety of items such as Tshirts. Pillows, magazines, and various mailers.

Clamshells

Clamshells are a good example of carded packaging. A good number of clamshells are manufactured from plastic. Also, they can be manufactured from cardboard, recycled paper, and Styrofoam. The clamshell serves good packaging to grinders, salads, chicken wings, and breakfast sandwiches.

Flexible Pouches

Flexible pouches are manufactured from foil or plastic. They are commonly used for packaging food, beverage, and other industrial liquids. They are easily available, and you can purchase them from the shelves of supermarkets or retail stores.

Strapping

Strapping is commonly used to bind items for unitization and transport tightly. The strapping material is extracted from plastic or metal formulation, and it appears more like a string or rope. Some of the common items used in this form of packaging are large copier and printers that are first boxed then strapped for shipment.

The article highlights just a few of the commonly used packaging materials. Some of the other materials used in packaging include plastic bottles, aluminum cans, and glass jars. Now having the right information about the different packaging materials, the next thing to consider is the best material that suits your products.

4 Ways Of Improving Your Holiday Packaging Design

The holidays are rapidly approaching, which indicates the gift-giving season is starting to reach, and purchases for your items will surely start to flood in. As per the National Retail Federation's 2019 projection, 40% of customers start their Gift shopping around Halloween, with an anticipated $730 billion expected to be invested during November and December this year. What faster way to create an impression on your consumers this holiday season, both repeat and new, than with a unique holiday marketing strategy?

Spending in an original and innovative holiday box design may help turn a new consumer into a repeat customer, and a repeat customer into a brand loyalist. It distinguishes your goods from the competition and may considerably boost your total sales. 

Making holiday box design is a great method to advertise your business and get people talking about it. With the ongoing expansion of ecommerce (buyers spent just under $3 trillion on online shopping in 2018) and big shopping days like Black Friday and Cyber Monday approaching, there is really no good opportunity than now to make an impression with your packaging.

Designing a Custom Box

Creating a unique box or container is the prettiest and most powerful method to make a statement on your holiday package design this holiday season. Our choice is generally the most expensive relative to the other suggestions on this list, and it's also the most likely to amaze your clients – an effort that will pay off handsomely throughout the period.

When you choose to create a custom box, you may include photos, writing, brand colors, customized die cuts, innovative folding choices, and so much more, all of which can attract to your consumers and improve their satisfaction. Giving a pleasant packing experience is one of the most important factors in a buyer's opinion of your goods as well as their choice to purchase from you again in the future.

It is critical to be imaginative while creating your packaging. Come up with a design that will pique your consumers' interest. This may be a mix of holiday-themed graphics with company logo thrown in for good measure. You may use a variety of printing processes on corrugated packaging, so whether you want to go all out with a full-color design or keep to one color, you'll have lots of possibilities.

Wrapping Tape with a Holiday Theme

If you want to improve your holiday package design this season but don't want to go to the trouble of designing a unique box or container, try adding holiday-themed wrapping tape into your packaging design to offer extra seasonal flavor. 

Holiday-themed wrapping tape, which comes in an unlimited variety of designs, may transform even the most basic box into something more interesting, and even raise the perceived worth of the goods. It's a simple and cost-effective method to enhance and brighten up your Festive packaging. To add a touch of glitz, use foil-like tape or print a personalized holiday text or wish along the length of the tape. Why not wrap your boxes with anything unique, since you'll have to cover them anyway?

Stickers

A personalized sticker, which is basic yet visible, might be just what you need to spice up your festive box design. A personalized sticker, like packing tape, can transform any plain box into something entertaining while being simple to use and inexpensive.

Stickers provide you the freedom to be creative while also allowing you to mark your package. Add your company name or a brief phrase to remind your consumers who they're purchasing from, or just to express gratitude for their company. A personalized sticker might serve as a great finishing touch to your package.

Gap Filling and Customized Tissue Paper

The beauty of including custom tissue paper in your presentation is that your consumers won't see it until they unwrap their box. It's unexpected. Tissue paper has been widely used to protect items from scratches and other types of durability throughout the delivery process for decades, but why end there? You may make a favorable effect on your clients by using a unique festive design on your tissue paper.

Small details like these, whether it's Santa on his reindeer or a simple Christmas greeting, may make a big impact on consumer happiness. As a result, custom tissue paper should be considered in your holiday packaging design this year.

One thing to think about is being innovative with your gap fill material. This one can be problematic since gap fill can range from various types of foam to fluted board for impact resistance. Based on the goods in the container, you might be able to arrange it attractively and secure it using gap fill. Use your imagination, but keep in mind that the safety of the product is priority.

How to Utilize and Recycle Corrugated Packaging in a Sustainable Way

Why is Corrugated a Sustainable Material?

Sustainability is founded on the idea that everything we require for existence is influenced by our natural surroundings in some manner. It also establishes and implements the circumstances that allow us to live in harmony with the environment today and in the future. Corrugated packaging is perhaps the most recycled packaging material on the globe, as it is made primarily of trees, which are a renewable resource. It is made from trees and older recycled corrugated containers in a sustainable manner, with an industrial recovery rate of about 90% over the previous eight years and 96 percent in 2018.

The restored fiber is used to manufacture new packages as well as other paper goods. This is one of the main reasons why the normal corrugated box contains 50% recycled material. Corrugated has a recovery rate of 78 percent, which substantially outperforms other common packaging materials like plastic, which only recovers approximately 15 percent. Corrugated, which is frequently mistaken with cardboard, is a robust and durable material that is also cost-effective, reusable, and recyclable, making it the most environmentally responsible packaging solution for your requirements.

Corrugated Recycling 

How Does It Function?

Companies, merchants, and customers recycle their old corrugated containers so that new ones may be made, but how does the recycling process function once the old corrugated containers (OCCs) are dumped off?

The OCCs are collected, compressed, and baled for space-saving storage once they are dumped off. The bales are then sent to a paper mill, where the corrugate is broken down and placed into a repulper, which is similar to a huge mixer. They're agitated in the repulper to make a slushy pulp of fiber and water. After removing the impurities, the leftover fiber solution is placed onto a rotating screen that enables the water to drain away, producing a continuous fiber mat. To eliminate any remaining water, this mat is pushed between rollers. After this step is completed, the paper is placed onto a huge reel spool, slit, and rewound into separate rolls, and the recycling process is deemed complete. Those paper rolls are delivered to sheet factories, where they will be recycled into sustainable corrugated packaging.

Recycling's Advantages

Improved efficiency in mill energy sources, enhanced recovery for repurposing, and the use of low-impact fossil fuels were all verified in the most recent corrugated industry life cycle assessment (LCA) issued in June 2017. Corrugated packaging recovery also decreased greenhouse gases by 35% from 2006 to 2014 by getting corrugated out of landfills, according to the LCA. Landfill methane emissions contribute significantly to climate change.

Corrugated recycling has a real and substantial influence on our entire planet wellbeing. It reduces the amount of solid trash that is disposed of. Recyclable fiber that can be utilized to manufacture new corrugated packaging without needing to start from scratch. As old corrugated containers (OCC) are a significant resource for both paper mills and new corrugated producers, they may also provide money.

How Do You Reuse Corrugated Boxes?

The lengthy fibers in corrugated material get smaller and smaller every time it is recycled. Corrugated material may be reprocessed up to seven times until the fibers get too small to be reprocessed again, at which point it is converted into a paper mixture and used to make products like newspapers or egg cartons.

You must eliminate all non-paper packing material before recycling corrugated material. Packing peanuts, styrofoam, air pillows, and foam are examples of this. As a severely food-stained container cannot be reused, ensure the material is dried, cleaned, and free from food items. Even if a box is broken, it can still be reused if it is dry and clean. Finally, before putting your corrugated material in a recycling container, flatten it or shred it up.

Corrugated Reuse

Corrugate's most underappreciated feature is that, in addition to being a renewable resource, it can also be recycled. The material's resilience and versatility enable it to be utilized several times before being repurposed to make new recyclable corrugated packaging.

Corrugated material is commonly utilized in the transportation of consumer products. Almost everything you purchase online will come in a cardboard box on your door. Certainly, your focus is pulled to what is contained within the box, but don't overlook the box itself. Why don't you get that box, flatten it, and put it away for later? But before you do that, ensure it's in good structural form. You'll like to make sure the edges and sidewalls are clean and sturdy. You may easily flatten it and store it once you've finished.