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Better Shelter saves money and improves logistics in a sustainable way!

Better Shelter is a social enterprise that develops and provides innovative housing solutions for the many people displaced by conflict and natural disasters. Through a groundbreaking collaboration with the UNHCR and the IKEA Foundation, Better Shelter started to develop ideas and designs for new shelter solutions.

Generated profit is reinvested within the company or distributed to their philanthropic owner, the Housing for All Foundation. Better Shelter came to DS Smith’s Packaging Strategists and asked us to create a packaging that could carry their housing solutions to vulnerable people around the world.

Challenge

Help Better Shelter to package and distribute their innovative housing solutions worldwide, flat-packed, in a safe and efficient way.

Our Approach

DS Smith combined a heavy corrugated board, 240 BC, with a moisture barrier that protects the shelters surfaces and makes the packaging very stable and resistant to external damage while meeting stringent requirements for efficient logistics. 

The packaging contains two cardboard boxes which are packed in order of use during construction. Crucially, the two boxes can be individually lifted by four people and contain universally understood image-based assembly instructions.

Result

  • Lower costs compared to wooden packaging
  • Lower CO2 emissions during distribution and easy transportation as the packaging solution is optimized for pallets
  • Improved environmental performance as waste is easy to recycle
  • Improved product performance and handling as the packaging is designed for four people to carry without machinery which lets you assemble the shelter in 4-8 hours