How online buying habits affect the collection of resources

The proliferation of smart phones and tablets over the last few years has changed the way we purchase goods. The latest figures from the IMRG Capgemini e-Retail Sales Index on online retail sales recorded an 11% year-on-year increase in 2015. This double-digit percentage growth has been seen for some time, and is set to continue.

The home delivery network for parcels is varied and complex. Receiving damaged goods is one of the biggest issues for online shoppers, and like other retail channels, a fundamental role of packaging is to protect goods from damage.

The explosive growth in e-retail means that packs have to cope with a huge range of product sizes and shapes, create the right first impression for the brand, and be easily disposed of through the kerbside collection infrastructure. And in a world of scarce resources, there has to be a balance between protection of goods, and using the minimum of material needed to allow packaging to perform all of its functions.

Changes to domestic waste

This change in consumer buying habits has resulted in an increase in the amount of cardboard in the domestic waste stream. Combined with the generation of less newsprint, because fewer people are purchasing newspapers, the composition of domestic-mixed paper grades has altered. It’s important to recognise where change is happening and identify ways to provide solutions.

As new ways are being found to provide the most suitable packaging, work is continuing to maximise the type and amounts of paper grades collected for reprocessing. Technological advances have meant it’s possible to use a higher proportion of mixed paper in the paper making process at our Kemsley Paper Mill, for example.

DS Smith has a long term strategy to deliver a more joined up packaging supply cycle. By collaborating with customers on the design of packaging, DS Smith keeps recyclability ‘top of mind’. We have also implemented a programme to maximise pack performance by optimising the fibre used in our cardboard boxes.

As an integrated Packaging and Recycling business with expertise from design to production, and supply to recycling, we look at the whole of the packaging journey, not just one part. This is Supply Cycle Thinking – moving away from traditional linear supply chains, to more circular supply cycles.

Everyone in the supply cycle has a part to play in ensuring packaging is recycled.

  • The brand owner should specify appropriate packaging at the design stage, and use as many mono materials as possible.
  • Local authorities need to have fit-for-purpose methods for collecting high quality fibre.
  • Consumers must present the material properly for collection, so that it can be recycled properly.

The future of collections

The packaging used for online deliveries is evolving to meet the range of demands placed on it: protecting the product, minimising transportation costs and being reusable or recyclable once the product is unpacked. As this retail sector develops, so will the logistics systems to collect materials and ensure the maximum value is extracted from them, so that they can be kept in the economy for as long as possible.

Changes in purchasing habits and technological changes will always present challenges to the way materials are recycled and reused. The real issue is getting the whole supply cycle considered as one, rather than the old compartmentalised view of supply chains where individual stakeholders only consider their link in the chain.

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