 |
 |
| 
The following case studies describe methods used to reduce product packaging. For additional tips, visit product packaging in tips for your business.
Requiring vendors to reduce and eliminate packaging Sears’ CEO sent a letter to each of the store’s 5,500 suppliers, asking them to reduce packaging and increase recycled content wherever they could. Results of this initiative include the following changes:
Source: City of Los Angeles’s Bureau of Sanitation’s Beyond Peanuts and Popcorn: A practical guide to re-evaluating packaging for cost savings and waste prevention, June 1996. Purchasing specifications eliminate excess packaging In one year, Target Stores eliminated approximately 1.5 million pounds of waste and saved an estimated $4.5 million in labor costs by initiating a packaging reduction program for its "softlines" merchandise (which includes clothing and shoes). A team of twenty employees studied the packaging of the “softlines” merchandise. Based on their observations, they changed the specifications for vendor packaging to eliminate individual item packaging and to reduce the quantity of excess pins, clips, bags, paperboard inserts, tape, and tissue paper. Vendors tested the new, floor-ready packaging methods and found them to be successful. To ensure that vendors followed the specifications, Target asked them to sign a letter of agreement, under which Target could fine the vendors if merchandise did not arrive packaged according to specifications. Source: Florida State Communities Center Herman Miller, a manufacturer of high-quality office and institutional furniture, became involved with waste prevention after it created an enormous waste disposal problem for one of its large customers. In 1986 Herman Miller shipped a large order worth $20 million to a customer in New York. The disposal bill for all of the furniture packaging came to approximately $900,000. This was a completely unanticipated expense that the customer did not appreciate, and Herman Miller ended up paying a portion of the disposal costs. This episode quickly set the company on the road to waste prevention. Today, Herman Miller offers its customers several different packaging options. Based on the size of the order, which usually determines the distribution method, the customer may receive minimally packaged merchandise that contains 70 percent less packaging than fully packaged products. The minimal packaging consists primarily of internal supports, corrugated trays, and reusable blanket padding that Herman Miller takes back. Source: City of Los Angeles’s Bureau of Sanitation’s Beyond Peanuts and Popcorn: A practical guide to re-evaluating packaging for cost savings and waste prevention, June 1996. Changing packaging design reduces purchasing costs Hyde Manufacturing Company, in Southbridge, MA, changed the packaging of its putty knives from a hang-card to an adhesive label. Hyde Manufacturing redesigned the knives by putting a hole in the handle so that they could be hung on a pegboard in store displays. Previously, the knives were packaged on a hang-card of virgin bleached white paper, with a label. This amounted to eight tons of paperboard purchased annually. The new adhesive label on the handle contains at least 50 percent recycled fiber. The whole program took three months to implement, and Hyde Manufacturing saves $40,000 per year. Source: Stephenson Strategies Consultants
|  |
Product Packaging Case Studies
|
|
|
|