The golden era of classic bubble wrap in warehouses is slowly coming to an end. Although for many decades it was the cheapest and most widely available method of securing parcels before shipment, today it is becoming one of the greatest environmental challenges of the European Union. The upcoming law forces the courier industry and all online sellers to radically abandon the popular bubbles in favor of ecological paper fillers.
Why does the EU regulation hit bubble wrap so hard?
Standard bubble wrap is usually produced from pure low density polyethylene (LDPE). Even though foil producers boast that "in theory" it is perfect for mechanical recycling, from the point of view of practice and municipal waste management systems, the situation is different:
- Difficulty in automatic sorting: Sticky cheap adhesive tape or remnants of wet cardboard make bubble wrap extremely difficult to clean. Ultimately, it usually often ends up in the mixed waste stream instead of being recycled
- Consumer rejection: Customers of e-commerce stores are becoming more and more ecologically demanding. When opening "eco-cosmetics" wrapped in a triple layer of rustling foil, they feel cheated (this is the so-calledgreenwashing).
- Ecomodulation ROP: As part of the EU system of Ecomodulation (resulting from ROP / PPWR) it is explicitly assumed that packaging materials that are objectively difficult to capture and cleanly recycle will be strongly and directly subject to higher financial rates.
Why do wavy paper shavings outperform foil so easily?
Many warehouse veterans are under the mistaken belief that plastic provides the best protection due to its specificity.
Clean, formed, zigzag strips of corrugated waste paper and natural kraft paper (paper shavings) absorb strong kinetic impacts much more effectively. While a welded bubble of thin foil can easily simply "pop" under the pressure of a heavy product (exposing the equipment to the risk of crashing into the rigid wall of the cardboard), elastically formed wrapping paper is repeatedly, softly crushed. It slowly "springs" and continuously absorbs the load force, puncturing much less often.
Business applications for the B2B sector
More and more large logistics operators and fulfillment centers in Europe are reducing single-use plastic in favor of paper fillers fed from dispensers. As a direct manufacturer, we advise which medium will be the most profitable for your scale. Throw away single-use plastic, get ahead of your market and local competition today!