Well it's multipurpose. One roll can ship many different things. Otherwise you need an inventory of various sized boxes. I'm guessing it will find an instant niche.
Are you asking what is bad about the cardboard, or what is bad about the box?
Nothing is wrong with the cardboard except weight. Nothing is bad about the box except for the remainder of unused space that is in almost every package (and filled with more expensive paper or inflated filler)
For a shipper, minimizing weight and wasted space is a double win. This product has nothing to do with what the consumer wants.
Interesting idea but it doesn't address the plastics problem. I can't stand those giant plastic bubble wrap envelopes amazon and others seem to love using. You can't easily reuse them and they cant be placed in plastics recycling (though they can be recycled with other plastic bags at supermarkets or recycling locations). At least I can find other uses for cardboard and have often recycled boxes for storage or as raw materials for a project.
I wish amazon better consolidated its shipments. Most of the time I don’t care for 2 day shipping and would rather get everything together in 1 box every couple weeks.
"Compared to cardboard boxes, which can be easily recycled, that’s a hassle most consumers likely won’t bother with. Kent recognizes this is a problem"
What part? That cardboard can be easily recycled (true), that most consumers probably won't bother with a recycling process that isn't curbside (seems likely), or that the company representative recognizes that the difficulty of recycling their product is a problem (I'll take FC's word for it)?
Recyclable but probably only once into various second-generation foams and fillers. Then on to be land filler.
Lowering emissions is just a side-effect that might apply to any individual shipment but could easily be undone by the increased number of shipments enabled by lowering costs. The calculations that they haven't done yet really ought to have been done before making any environmental or economic claims, including accounting for the wisdom of replacing biodegradable and renewable paper products with another disposable application for a non-renewable resource.
Doesn't a cardboard box also provide protection? Often, the box includes the product as well as packaging material. In the absence of material, doesn't the air help it a bit (ala a potato chip bag)?
Yeah, if they could replace one or more of those layers with paper (and/or use one of the various biodegradable plastics available nowadays), it'd be a universal win on pretty much every metric except maybe cost (though there's no way paper's expensive enough to make a significant difference in this case).
Aside from the plastics vs. paper issue, how do you pack these things into a shipping container or trailer? Can you imagine the logistics of every order Amazon packs being a (nearly) unique size?
It's easier to trim it to size, meaning better space efficiency and less wasted packing material without having to buy a bunch of different envelope sizes.
22 comments
[ 2.7 ms ] story [ 60.5 ms ] threadSo it's basically Paper vs Plastic. What is bad about the cardboard boxes that these thing replaces?
Nothing is wrong with the cardboard except weight. Nothing is bad about the box except for the remainder of unused space that is in almost every package (and filled with more expensive paper or inflated filler)
For a shipper, minimizing weight and wasted space is a double win. This product has nothing to do with what the consumer wants.
I wish amazon better consolidated its shipments. Most of the time I don’t care for 2 day shipping and would rather get everything together in 1 box every couple weeks.
Is this even true??
Also, what about sending the item back? You’ll need a new wrap.
Today, I expect products to be environment-friendly. We should not create more plastic to fill our only planet.
Lowering emissions is just a side-effect that might apply to any individual shipment but could easily be undone by the increased number of shipments enabled by lowering costs. The calculations that they haven't done yet really ought to have been done before making any environmental or economic claims, including accounting for the wisdom of replacing biodegradable and renewable paper products with another disposable application for a non-renewable resource.