Jane Gorick, managing director of Europe’s second-largest pallet pool operator, LPR, warns that the lightweighting “frenzy” is having unforeseen effects when transporting delicate items. Reducing the amount of packaging consumed across all sectors can bring significant environmental, supply-chain and financial benefits, Gorick reports, but the effect of lightweighting packaging in confectionery and other markets has been left unexamined.
While primary packaging usually generates headlines, one of the less considered elements when it comes to reducing waste in the supply chain is tertiary, or transport, packaging—the pallet or container on which the goods are shipped. Supply chains have been engineered to ensure that journeys are as sustainable as possible. But the lightweighting of sales packaging and the focus on shelf-ready packaging, although delivering benefits to both manufacturer and retailer, can be ultimately testing the packaging “union.”