More Sometimes Isn’t

A smaller package equals less weight equals less transport fuel equals less carbon emissions equals, um . . . a greener design, right?

That’s pretty much the logical calculation that was made at Newton Running (www.netwonrunning.com ; Boulder, CO) when they were designing a shoe box with a small carbon footprint. One of the design iterations was a form-fitting container, snuggly wrapped around the shoes. Produced from the material used for egg cartons, it did away with seemingly requisite tissue paper packaging. The design was roundly applauded on many eco-conscious blogs, but there was a problem: although it decreased the previous box’s dimensions, it didn’t help the company achieve its carbon-cutting goals. Not only did the new design double or sometimes triple the amount of paper fiber as compared to the more ordinary box, the container proved difficult to disassemble and recycle. Plus, the would-be packaging supplier was located some distance from the shoe factory.

Newton discovered a more traditional, rectangular box not only decreased design time, but could be sourced locally, was easier for retailers to stack, and was produced from 100% post consumer waste. They did dispense with the tissue paper, using recycled cardboard inserts instead.

As “Sir Isaac” wrote on the Newton company blog: “The molded pulp boxes are a classic example of the frequent disconnect between design and development. In essence we’ve learned through this process there is no sustainable package, only sustainable systems in which packaging lives.”