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Reduce, reuse, recycle

Because sustainable packaging conserves resources

“Conserving resources” and “sustainability” are terms that have both an ecological and an economic meaning. Fortunately, this is not a contradiction, but often even congruent: the approach of the circular economy “reduce, reuse, recycle”’ not only leads to a lower environmental impact, but also to a lower burden on your wallet.

We also follow this approach. Our aim is to find the most sustainable packaging solution for your products. We would be happy to show you how you can use environmentally friendly packaging to make storage, transport and shipping more sustainable.

Patric Ring of Meinl Musikinstrumente at the paper padding machine
Graphic quotation mark

Knüppel has become a very important partner for Meinl. The reliability in advice and delivery as well as the sustainable packaging solutions have significantly optimised and improved our packaging processes.

The team's expertise has enabled us to reduce our carbon footprint while improving the quality of our packaging, which always gives us the feeling that our customers are satisfied and always in the foreground.

Patric Ring, Warehouse Manager, Roland Meinl Musikinstrumente GmbH & Co. KG

Reduce

Avoid over-packaging

Sustainable packaging is not limited to the material alone; the right quality and quantity of material are also decisive factors in making a packaging solution more sustainable. A thorough packaging check often provides starting points for saving material without having to compromise on quality and protection. The principle is: as much as necessary, but as little as possible.

There is potential here:
 

Find the optimum ratio between as few packaging variants as possible and the smallest possible packaging for each product.

Switching from plastic to paper can be one way of reducing the use of plastic in your packaging. However, the choice of material should be tailored to the product and application, as paper packaging is not automatically the most sustainable solution. Although they are also made from a renewable raw material, air cushions, for example, use a fraction of the resources, which makes them more environmentally friendly in certain cases.

When goods are shipped on pallets, stretch film is the material of choice. But did you know that with stretch film, a lot of μ does not always mean a lot of performance? High-performance films often offer more protection with less material.

Sometimes a smaller paper cushion or one less wrap on the pallet is enough to protect your products in an environmentally friendly way.

Example: Stretch film

Over-packaging
Granby Box export packaging

Reuse

Using reusable packaging

Reusable packaging is a good way to utilise packaging more efficiently. This can mean that you use the packaging several times in the same process or use it for other purposes. In the same process, this requires a closed loop in which the packaging is returned, possibly recycled and reused. For other uses, the stability of the packaging is crucial, such as for wooden crates or paper cushions.

We can analyse your processes and show you where you can use reusable packaging sensibly. There are often more options than you think.

Example: Wooden folding crate Granby Box

Recycle

Use recyclable packaging and utilise recycled materials

The recycling approach becomes important when packaging can no longer be reused. As this is the case with all packaging sooner or later, it makes sense to think about disposal before using it for the first time. You can choose products made from recycled materials or those that can be recycled again - often both are possible.

Single-material solutions, i.e. unmixed packaging products, are usually easier and cheaper to recycle. Some materials can be recycled with less loss of quality and downcycling, i.e. reprocessing, is often better than no recycling at all.

Airplus recycled film

Taking responsibility: Certifications for a sustainable future

More and more companies are attaching importance to protecting our environment. Sustainable packaging is an important step in this direction. We will be happy to show you how you can conserve valuable resources when shipping your products and offer product solutions to suit your application.

Our engagement

TÜV ISO 14001 environmental management seal

We too are committed to the continuous improvement of environmental protection in the company with certification in accordance with DIN EN ISO 14001:2015. Our environmental management system ensures better environmental performance by complying with defined environmental targets. It integrates the sustainable use of resources into all areas and company processes and sensitises employees to all environmental aspects.

FSC seal for sustainable forest management

With the FSC® certificate of our parent company, we are part of a product chain for materials from sustainably managed forests. This supports the responsible use of forest resources.