The year of the pandemic changed the way people use e-commerce – the numbers of online purchases have increased in scale, which means that there is an abundance of packaging waste that ends up in landfills. Cardboard has its own merits as packaging material, but the amount of waste it generates is inseparable. Fortunately, there is a Berlin-based brand called LivingPackets, which has devised an ingenious solution to minimize the waste associated with transportation.
The company has developed an alternative to cardboard boxes and is simply called ‘The Box’. Four years in development, it was revealed again at CES 2021 with some improvements. Box is a sustainable option for the e-commerce industry and can be used for shipments up to 1000 times. In contrast, cardboard boxes have a unique life from the point of packaging to the point of delivery. If the municipality at the place of delivery recycles, the cardboard gains new life; otherwise, it will be wasted and harm the environment. In addition to the sustainability aspect, the well-designed ‘Box’ is equivalent to approximately two shoe boxes and can be used to ship a large number of commodities. Interestingly, the box can even be folded up to send important documents or a laptop. Traditionally, sending an important paper by courier / fast delivery is unsafe – you cannot be sure how it is being handled on the way – and you simply have to rely on the logistics company’s tracking mechanism to know where your package has arrived .
The box will revolutionize this when it is mass produced in May this year. The inventive box comes with integrated GPS to allow the sender / receiver to track the package from point A to B and anywhere between them in real time using a dedicated application on a smart device. Simply place the item inside the box, close it, enter the destination and the electronic ink display on board will act as a traditional print label to update your travel status.
LivingPackets’ Box is currently in beta testing with partner companies, which include e-commerce stores, logistics and even insurance companies. To ensure that the goods in the packaging are safe – not only because they are traceable – but also safe in transit, the box has temperature and shock sensors. There is also a provision to include an internal camera in the future, which would allow people to keep an eye on the product they are shipping in the packaging.
Since this packaging solution seems too good to be true, most of us would consider it expensive and only for the elite. However, the innovative and environmentally friendly box is quite affordable, in fact, the company wants to keep costs as low as traditional cardboard packaging. At the end of the life cycle, the box will be repaired and remodeled to “be used 1000 more times,” says LivingPackets. With the proposal to eliminate up to 90 percent of carbon dioxide emissions, the box has a retention mechanism inside, which means that not only the cardboard is replaced, the bubbled plastic filled with air, Styrofoam, etc. used to protect the products inside the packaging box are also eliminated. This is fabulous – I can’t wait to see this new package arrive at my door on a beautiful morning!
Designer: LivingPackets
