(Courtesy: ebay)
It appears that more e-commerce and omni-channel retailers are turning to plastic pouches, also known as polybags, for shipping non-fragile products. Reports say that this is occurring because the bags cost less per unit to ship. Distribution centers and warehouses appear to favor the lighter weight of the bags and less use of storage space when compared to cardboard boxes. Shippers also like the ability to imprint full color branding messages on the bags.
Contrary to some who look upon this form of shipping to be eco-unfriendly, the polybags are more sustainable than corrugated boxes. Moreover, it takes less energy to manufacture the bags thus reducing the creation of carbon dioxide. Individuals familiar with packaging point out that these bags can be recycled through more curbside programs and retail stores are accepting them.
In the past, using these bags were not very efficient because packers would have to manually open the bags, insert the product, label and then seal the bag. The process of preparing a polybag for shipping has been timed at a rate of 1.5 per minute.
However, there are automated machines that assist in the process and have been able to pack as many as eight pouches per minute.
Operation of the automated machinery is easy. The operator scans a packing slip, which triggers the machine to print the shipping information
(Courtesy: Automated Packaging Systems)
directly on to the bag thus eliminating the need for adhesive labels. The machine then presents the bag to the operator, holds it open while the operator puts in the item, and then seals the bag with the packing slip and other marketing collateral left inside.
One company that offers such equipment is Automated Packaging Systems. Headquartered in Streetsboro, Ohio, the company offers a wide variety of these machines from tabletop to the company’s newest machine, the Autobag 8505, which runs bags up to 22-inches wide to ship larger items.
Technologies are now being developed that makes it easier to recycle plastic packaging. For example, in the United Kingdom packaging companies are working on technology called PRISM (Plastic Packaging Recycling using Intelligent Separation Methods) that permits recycling plants to quickly sort out plastic packaging by detecting “intelligent labels” containing invisible markers. The markers include fluorescent materials developed from metal oxides as well as recycled fluorescent materials made by converting reprocessed powders from recycled fluorescent lamps.
The PRISM technology has been developed to work with infrared-based sorting systems that are already in use.