Shipping goods around the world is an expensive business and it can leave a disruptive global footprint. You might rely on your carrier and logistics provider to find you the most cost and time effective routing and packing solution, but have you ever considered what you can do yourself to reduce costs and respect the environment?
Here’s Seaspace really simple four point guide to reassessing your logistics packaging.
- Reconsider your packaging – look at alternative materials and methods. Do you need to use polystyrene loose fill chips? Do you need to encase products in plastic VAC packs? Do you need to print so much information on the shipping cartons? All this extra packaging and printing adds cost to both manufacturing and shipping.
- Repack – look at different carton sizes and packing plans. Can you pack and ship more goods more efficiently?
- Reuse – don’t just throw used packaging away. Can those padded envelopes be used again? Can the cardboard shipping outers be used to send out stock to vendors and orders to customers? Can the void loose fill or bubble-wrap be used again for packing out product?
- Recycle – if you can’t use packaging again, don’t just throw it away to be sent to landfill. Separate it from other waste and have it collected or send it for recycling. Who knows, the boxes you recycle today could be the new packaging you buy in tomorrow!
“The man who removes a mountain begins by carrying away small stones” – Chinese proverb
Remember but don’t print this message.