Cognitive approaches

According to EMOTA & FEPE (2018) research and Harrod (2019) from Smithers Pira, the mostly used packaging materials in e-commerce are corrugated boxes 78%-80%, followed by envelopes and flexible plastics. The share of e-commerce packaging materials can be seen from figure 15. These two materials and their benefits and challenges from secondary packaging perspective are explained next.

Figure 15. E-commerce packaging materials (modified from EMOTA &

FEPE 2018; Harrod 2019).

Corrugated Packaging

The main function of corrugated box is to contain and protect goods during transportation, storage and distribution (Kirwan 2013, p.320). Fibre-based materials are produced from different types of wood fibres. As the material comes from nature, it is often recyclable or biodegradable. (Järvi-Kääriainen & Ollila 2007, p.129) As material, corrugated board is light weight, strong, shock absorbing, cheap, printable, hygienic and recyclable, and it is suitable for automated filling lines (Järvi-Kääriainen & Ollila 2007, p.151). The growing need of palletisation in transportation and warehousing requires also good stackability properties from corrugated boxes (Kirwan 2013, pp. 319).

As corrugated board is recyclable, one of its functions is to meet the need of the whole packaging cycle and be reused (Kirwan 2013, p.321). For European paper packaging industry, the recycling rate of corrugated board is over 75% (Kirwan 2013, p. 337). Fibre-based packaging materials have better biodegradable and recyclability features than plastic (Korhonen et al. 2018), which is an advantage for corrugated board in e-commerce in terms of sustainability. Still, health and safety, durability, and barrier characteristics are considered future challenges in fibre-based packaging, while plastic has very good barrier properties (Korhonen et al. 2018). Corrugated board use containerboard as raw material in liners and flutings. Containerboard and corrugated board are explained in detail in section (3.3.1).

Corrugated board packaging is available in a wide range of designs, shapes and sizes (Isaksson & Gradin 2009; Kirwan 2013, p.315). There is possibility to adjust the strength of the packaging by adding layers of liners and fluting as presented in section 3.3.1.

Smallest packaging designs could be used as primary packaging for small products such as electronics, perfumes etc (Kirwan 2013, p.315) and the largest packaging designs and grammages are suitable for industrial packaging or transportation purposes (Järvi-Kääriainen & Ollila 2007, p.153). When it comes to sustainability issues, the challenges corrugated packaging faces concern often overpackaging, overprotection and air shipped inside the boxes (Smithers n.a). According to research done by Forbes Insights (2018) and DS Smith, approximately one quarter of the content of corrugated packages shipped are empty.

Plastics

Plastics are materials that are constructed by synthetic, semi-synthetic or organic polymers. Synthetic plastics are often oil- or gas-based materials that are inexpensive to produce, light weight, durable, with good heat and electrical barrier characteristics (Hopewell et al. 2009; Lewis et al. 2010; Thompson et al. 2009a; Thompson et al. 2009b).

Plastics are often used in packaging due to their flexibility to form different shapes and moulding possibilities (Hopewell et al. 2009; Marsh & Bugusu 2007).

All the main consumer packaging trends are favouring plastics over substitutes in most dimensions, apart from sustainability (McKinsey&Company 2019). Problems lie on the usage of finite oil resources and non-biodegradability (Johansson et al. 2012). Waste disposal problems are raised as the material accumulate in the environment and in landfills (Thompson et al. 2009a; Thompson et al. 2009b). Even though plastic degrades at some point, it first breaks down into smaller pieces of plastic debris (Hopewell et al.

2009). Recycling of plastic is possible, but often combination of different polymers and other materials increases the difficulty as most different plastic types are not compatible with each other. Narrow range of polymers reduces the difficulty. (Hopewell et al. 2009).

It is estimated that approximately 31% of European plastics are recycled, 41% goes to energy recovery and rest to landfills (PlasticsEurope 2018).

In the future, there will be most likely increasing amount of regulatory measures (Thompson et al. 2009b) and requirements of recyclability (Hopewell et al. 2009) regarding plastics. For example, European Commission have developed plastic strategies in order to enhance circular economy (European Commission 2018). Part of this strategy has been European Commission (2019) proposal on single-use plastics directive, in order to fight against marine litter. The directive includes ban on the most common single-use plastic products found on European beaches, measures to reduce consumption of plastic beverage and food containers as well as increasing targets for plastic bottle recycling. On the other hand, packaging waste concerns are not affecting

only plastics, as there is also proposal for overall packaging waste recycling targets of 75% for all packaging materials by 2030 (European Commission 2015). The main advantages and disadvantages on both materials are collected in table 5.

Biopolymers and degradable polymers have been advocated as alternatives to traditional oil-based plastics. Their feedstock is from renewable biomass and they are often described as renewable polymers as the original biomass can be reproduced.

However, the benefits of degradable polymers are only realized if they are disposed in an appropriate waste management system; these materials are unlikely to degrade quickly naturally. (Thompson et al. 2009a)

Corrugated board Plastics

This section presents the case industry, including containerboard value chain, description of containerboard grades, corrugated board structure, current state in European containerboard business as well as demand drivers in containerboard markets.

3.3.1 Containerboard Value Chain

According to Niemelä-Nyrhinen & Uusitalo (2013) packaging value chain consist of material supplier, packaging supplier, brand owner, wholesaler, retailer and consumer.

Similarly, the containerboard value chain consists of everything from raw material collection to brand owners and retail. Between raw materials and retail, there are value-adding processes such as containerboard production, corrugated board production, Table 5. Advantages and disadvantages of most popular e-commerce packaging

materials.