The pandemic has accelerated e-commerce – online shopping figures have skyrocketed, meaning there is an abundance of packaging waste ending up in landfills. Experts suspect these figures will continue to grow even after COVID-19 is under control.
Cardboard has its advantages as a packaging material – it’s effective and efficient – but the amount of waste it generates is inseparable. While cardboard can be recycled, many problems arise, making the carboard unfit for recycling, including dirty diapers or half-full condiment bottles contaminating the cardboard. Batteries can also become a fire hazard when mixed up with cardboard.
Berlin-based brand LivingPackets has developed an eco-friendly and innovative solution to minimizing e-commerce waste – a cardboard box alternative called ‘The Box.’ Four years in development, ‘The Box’ was again revealed at the CES 2021 with some modifications and improvements.
The Box is a sustainable and safe option for the e-commerce industry and can be reused 1000 times. On the other hand, cardboard boxes have a single life from the point of packaging to the end of delivery. Then, it’s up to the receiver to recycle the packaging. If the municipality at their location recycles, the cardboard gets a new life; otherwise, it goes to the landfills and harms the environment.
The ‘Box’ is a comparable size to roughly two shoe boxes, and it can fit a significant number of possessions. Interestingly, the Box can transform into a flat shape to ship important documents or a laptop.
The ingenious Box comes embedded with GPS to enable the sender/receiver to track the package in real-time from point A to B and everywhere in between, using an app on a smartphone. Sender’s place the product in the box, close it, then enter the receiver’s destination, and the onboard e-ink display will work as a print label to update journey status.
The Box features temperature and shock sensors to ensure the goods in the package are safe during transit. There are also plans to attach a camera inside in the future, which would allow people to monitor the product they’re shipping from within the Box.
The Box, currently in beta testing with partner companies, including insurance companies, e-commerce stores, and logistics, is expected to begin mass-production toward May this year.
The company wants to keep the costs of the Box as low as traditional cardboard packaging. At the end of the Box’s life cycle, it will be repaired and restored to “be used an additional 1000 times.” The Box promises to eliminate up to 90% of CO2 emissions, along with plastic items used to secure products inside the packaging, such as Styrofoam and air-filled bubble wrap.
