Materials science company Dow announced Monday it is collaborating with Procter & Gamble China on a recyclable air capsule for e-commerce packaging.
The air capsule would deliver effective and efficient packaging products while avoiding excessive packaging and facilitating recyclability. Additionally, the product will reduce about 40 percent of material weight compared to corrugated boxes, requiring about a quart of trucking space and an estimated 75 percent less warehouse space.
“The rise of e-commerce has inevitably generated an increase in packaging waste,” said Bambang Candra, Asia Pacific commercial vice president, Dow Packaging & Specialty Plastics. “At Dow, our role is to develop materials that enable better performing, sustainable packaging that is designed for recyclability from the start. Through our collaboration with P&G China, we not only meet the needs of consumer brands and e-retailers, but also enable consumers to do their part with materials that close the loop on packaging waste.”
The packaging is designed to be reliable and convenient for consumers, while being tamper-free for content integrity, with an easy-to-tear strip for opening. Officials said an auto-deflate feature would provide hassle-free disposal as well.
While e-commerce packaging usually consists of carton boxes using air cushion bags or bubble wrap to protect and stabilize product, the air bags inside them use multi-material structures that are difficult to recycle.
The ELITE AT high-performance PE resins used by Dow will provide comparable gas barrier performance, removing some of the traditional materials to create an all-PE mono material structure enabling higher recyclability, officials said.
“At P&G, we are focused on optimizing our packaging design and committed to driving greater circularity in plastic packaging,” Neo Yang, Go to Market Packaging Innovation Director, P&G Greater China, said. “Partnering with Dow has enabled us to make progress in our commitment toward achieving 100 percent recyclable or reusable packaging by 2030. The development of our air capsule e-commerce packaging is a step in the right direction, and we hope to continue collaborating with more partners to drive such impact at scale.”