The Box, designed by a Berlin-based brand LivingPackets comes to rescue us from the piles of cardboard waste generated as a result of the rise in e-commerce activities, especially during the pandemic. Even though cardboard has its own benefits as a packaging material, it generates a huge amount of waste. The new product by LivingPackets aims to minimize waste associated with shipping.
The company has designed a sustainable and safe alternative to cardboard packaging boxes and has named it “The Box”. It has been under development for 4 years, and the company broadcasted it to the world at the CES 2021 event with a few improvements. It can be used for shipping purposes for up to 1000 times.
Contrastingly, cardboard boxes can only be used once. They have a single life from the point of packaging to the point of delivery. It goes to waste and adversely affects our environment unless the municipality at the location of delivery recycles it.
Other benefits of The Box
In addition to the box being sustainable, it is almost equal to the size of two shoeboxes and can be used to ship a large variety of objects. It can even be folded flat to transport crucial documents and objects like laptops. Usually, shipping an important document is not safe as we can’t be sure how well it will be handled on the way. We also have to depend on the logistics company’s tracking mechanism to find out where our parcel has reached.
The Box, designed by LivingPackets will be mass-produced after May 2021. Added to its list of features is the embedded GPS, which will allow the sender/receiver to track the package in real time using an app on a smart device.
LivingPackets’ Box is in beta testing right now with partner companies, including e-commerce stores, logistics and insurance companies.
To make the product safer, in addition to GPS tracking to make it traceable, The Box also has temperature and shock sensors. A provision to add a camera inside is a feature that is scheduled to be added in the future. This will allow users to keep an eye on the object they are shipping inside The Box.
The new innovation seems too good to be true and hence may lead people into thinking it comes with a heavy price tag. But this is not the case. This environment-friendly and safe box is affordable. The company is dedicated to keeping the cost as low as the currently in use cardboard packaging boxes.
The company, LivingPackets claims that at the end of its 1000 uses long life cycle, the Box will be refurbished and repaired to be used another 1000 times.
Another disadvantage of the traditional cardboard packaging is that in addition to cardboard, additional materials are also used to keep the product and packaging safe. Since sharp and heavy objects are not safe inside just a cardboard package, additional handles and inserts are used. The company, with its new product, has proposed to eliminate 90% of carbon dioxide emissions. It has a holding mechanism, which eliminates the use of air-filled bubbled plastic, Styrofoam, etc. which are used to keep the products secure.
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