British cardboard manufacturer DS Smith has just developed a 100% corrugated single-material solution for Bosch Home Confort, to package and protect a gas boiler model. This fully recyclable packaging, which DS Smith claims can be recycled more than twenty times over, eliminates the need for expanded polystyrene cushioning products, equivalent to 100,000 pieces of plastic per year.
100% corrugated packaging
Two corrugated cardboard side cushions wedge the boiler in place, the whole being inserted in a corrugated cardboard outer packaging. The necessary accessories are placed in two boxes on top of the boiler from the German Bosch subsidiary.
According to the company specializing in heating, air-conditioning and wellness solutions, this packaging would avoid 310 tonnes of CO2 emissions into the atmosphere.
Jingjing Huang, the group's combustion systems purchasing engineer, explains: " Over 2,500 fewer pallets need to be taken out each year, and this new approach significantly reduces the volume of trucks used for delivery logistics (by almost 60%), resulting in over 60 trucks taken off the road each year. With the switch to this sustainable and fully recyclable packaging solution made from corrugated cardboard, the Bosch Home Comfort Group is now in a position to meet the versatile demand for sustainable solutions while maintaining product protection."
The Circular Design Metrics approach to assessing packaging circularity
For the design of this packaging, DS Smith used its Circular Design Metrics approach a "circular ecoscore" which assesses the recyclability of packaging. This measure is based on eight criteria: supply chain optimization, recyclability, preservation of the planet, use of material, source of renewable material, recycled material, carbon footprint, reuse.
DS Smith analyzes packaging performance in terms of circularity and identifies areas for optimization. In the case of Bosch's gas boiler packaging, five areas were identified for improvement.
