reusability

Impact Of Damaged Products On The Planet

Salvatore GranLeave a comment

You may remember Earth Day celebrated by your school. On this day, children are taught to plant trees and given lectures about reducing, reusing, and recycling. While most of us remember these activities, it is unfortunate that we have been unable to evolve our understanding of sustainability beyond these activities.

Recycling today has become more complicated than ever, thanks to the production of large amounts of packaging materials that end up in landfills. While recycling facilities are working and new ones are being set up, they are unable to provide a quick remedy to the alarming situation.

With the packaging materials becoming more complex due to their compositions, the recycling requirements have also increased quite a bit. Every packaging material comes with its specific recycling instructions, some of which may not be understandable for most consumers.

The average contamination rate of recyclable packaging supplies is 25%, which means that one in every four packaging products sitting in a recycle bin is not recyclable due to contamination. Accumulation of a lot of contaminated recyclable products can be quite detrimental to the recycling economy.

While most e-commerce consumers now prefer recyclable and sustainable packaging materials, the path to perfection is still not clear.

A more inclusive perception of sustainability

The arrival of a damaged product has become a fairly common instance in the e-commerce world. A more prompt brand would send another product immediately, asking the customer to throw away the damaged one.

While such instances are undoubtedly undesirable for brands, the larger impact is on the environment due to a considerable amount of waste. The delivery of a damaged item means the product, along with its packaging, going into the trash.

Damaging effects to the planet

While damaged products and packaging are not welcomed anywhere, a lot of products get damaged during shipping. With e-commerce prevailing with every passing day, the instances of product damages are increasing significantly. Furthermore, the concept of product returns has also resulted in a rise in packaging wastes. Consumers, who do not like a product upon delivery, opt to send it back to the manufacturer, throwing its packaging into the trash can.

Wastes due to damaged or returned products are not limited to the packaging supplies only. Every e-commerce product has to travel to its consumer in the first place, which means that it has to be manufactured, stored, packaged, and transported before it reached its destination. Each of these steps results in some form of emissions or energy consumption. That means the environmental impact of the entire supply chain process is more significant than we can imagine. And then product damage or return adds more to this impact and that too quite significantly.

What does all this mean? Well, it means that every product packaging decision has an impact on the environment. That is why it is necessary to be mindful of each step involved in the supply chain. While packaging products, make sure to use enough packaging supplies to protect your product during shipping. However, be sure not to go for overkill. Work on the dimensional weight of all of your packages to keep costs and fuel consumption under control.

All About Foil Stamping 

Salvatore GranLeave a comment

Foil stamping is something that’s great for making sure that your product stands out. It is a type of printing that uses a die that’s made of metal, pressure and het, and a foil film that helps enhance a product.  There are a lot of applications of foil stamping, which include: 

  • Labels 
  • Stationery 
  • Cards for the holiday 
  • Packaging of products 
  • Folders with pockets 
  • Seals, certificates 
  • Postcards 

These days, it’s got a more modernized name to it, known as hot stamping. This was first made in the 19th century.  These days, it’s leveraged to build a visual interest, and increase the perceived value that products have. 

Foil is a thinly coated type of item, which has colors that are put through this, and that’s with the hot stamping process.  You add the pigment to a film that’s clear, and then, that color, along with the design, is then translated to the product that’s there. 

Another layer of this foil also might have other pigmentation. Finally, you’ve got a third layer of adhesive that’s activated by heat, and it sticks directly onto the product as well.  Like spot UV and embossing, you can apply all kinds of stamping using foil to paper products. 

It works best with some stock to create an even, smooth surface, rather than one that’s lined up or textured in terms of materials. 

Types of Stamping 

Based on the type of substrate you’re going for, there are a few different types of foil stamping that you can use. 

They are: 

  • Flat foil: this is an economical, simple process that uses magnesium or copper stamps that transfer this directly to the substrate. It achieves this with a small raise of the surface that’s there 
  • Vertica: this causes the design to fit well on substrates that are flat, or cylindrical 
  • Sculpted: this uses a die that’s made of brass to create a more raised look on a defined or carved area that really stands out
  • Peripheral: this is foil heat that’s applied to the outer circumference or perimeter of this product 

Gold is usually what’s used, but silver is another, used to create a more luxurious look.  There are also matte, glossy, holographic, and metallic types of sparkles and different wood grains that can be added to this.

Foil Types used 

There are different variants of foils that are used to create a more distinctive look to the products and packaging, especially if it aligns with the brand image or the marketing campaign of choice. 

There is metallic foil which has an attractive sort of patina that goes all the way across. While gold is usually used with metallic, there is also silver, red, blue, copper, and even green types. 

Matte pigment is one that’s more muted in the way that it’s used, but the color depth is something that you certainly can enjoy. 

Glossy pigment is where you combine the high gloss with a more non-metallic type of finish, across many different color variants. 

Holographic is where you add hologram sorts of features for an eye-catching, futuristic sort of look to the item that’s there. 

Finally, there is the special effects foil that is used to create a variety of different textures that are there, including mimicking pearl, leather, and even marble 

In general, the right type of foil that’s used for each job is ultimately based on the type of substrate that you’re working with, and also the colors that come with this. If you’re looking to really create impactful results, use these today!