A: The reusable packaging industry is undergoing a significant transformation, shaped by sustainability imperatives, regulatory shifts, technological innovation, automation advances, labor availability issues, and evolving customer expectations, which are leading to increased opportunities in this space. Today’s consumers are looking to buy from sustainable brands, and that starts with how their product is moved in the supply chain.
Q: What are the main advantages of using plastic containers and pallets instead of corrugated cartons and wood pallets?
A: Sustainability comes to mind first. Reusable packaging can be made from recycled raw materials. It is reusable many times and is recyclable at the end of its useful life. Ultimately, companies want to move their product faster, more safely, more cost-effectively, and more sustainably, and reusable packaging helps drive these benefits.
Reusables are durable, hygienic, cleanable, ergonomic, safer (no dust, splinters, or nails), and dimensionally consistent, making them ideal for use by workers or automated systems. Being reusable also makes adding track-and-trace capabilities (such as RFID tags) for the packaging and contents feasible. All this leads to economic, operational, and environmental benefits when viewed over the lifecycle of the packaging.
Q: Are plastic containers best suited for closed-loop systems, or can they also be utilized for other types of shipments?
A: Reusable packaging is an ideal choice for closed-loop systems. However, we do see reusables used in certain one-way applications where wood and paper corrugate will not suffice due to regulations (i.e., requiring a heat-treated pallet for international shipments) or performance issues (moisture impacting paper corrugate). There is also an existing and growing market of open-pooling companies that utilize reusable plastic packaging as part of their rental programs for one-way packaging.
Q: What is the typical lifecycle of plastic containers, and what happens to them at the end of their lives?
A: This is highly variable based on how the packaging is handled. Our 40 x 48 Odyssey line of reusable pallets travel more than 400 trips in the supply chain compared to an average of 11 trips for wood pallets, according to testing done at Virginia Tech. With proper use, we typically see our products last hundreds of trips over a five- to 10-year life.
At the end of its useful life, the product can be recovered, recycled, and reprocessed into new packaging. Orbis offers customers our Recycle with Orbis program, where we give sales credits toward future packaging purchases for returning their used packaging to us to be recycled.
Q: With the concerns over forever plastics, is Orbis looking at making containers from biodegradable materials?
A: While biodegradable materials show promise in many applications, our focus is on building durable, recyclable solutions that support a truly circular economy. Given the long service life and load requirements of our products, biodegradable materials would present too great a risk of product failure over time as the materials begin to break down. At Orbis, we believe the most sustainable packaging is the one that stays in use.
Q: What are the advantages of using plastic containers and pallets within automated systems?
A: There are several advantages, starting with dimensional consistency, which drives repeatable and reliable performance in these systems. There is no dust or debris to cause downtime or maintenance issues. Durability and strength allow for stacking, even when totes are only partially full, and for ease of conveying and handling over a long service life. Tracking technologies such as RFID [radio-frequency identification] tags and barcodes can be precisely placed so sensors and vision systems used by the automation are optimized. In the area of reusable racks to transport product, we are producing precision racks for highly automated assembly cells.
Q: How do plastic containers help to better cube products in storage and transportation?
A: Reusable products are designed with cube efficiency in mind. For most customers, industry standard sizes such as the GMA 40 x 48 or the AIAG 45 x 48 footprints work well to optimize product in each tote, the number of totes on a pallet, and the number of pallets on a truck. Custom-sized containers for unique applications that still optimize cube requirements are also possible. Storage and return logistics of empty containers are also considered in design where containers can nest or collapse to increase the quantities on a truck or density in a warehouse.
Q: What factors should companies consider when weighing a switch to reusable packaging?
A: Companies considering reusable packaging should look at the entire supply chain to understand how the product flows, evaluate their current packaging to identify areas for improvement, determine meaningful metrics to measure success, select the right product for the application, identify champions, and rely on [their] packaging supplier to support a seamless conversion to reusable packaging. They can also conduct lifecycle and return-on-investment (ROI) studies to justify the project, bearing in mind that flexible financing solutions are available to accelerate return on investment.
