The Wayfarer Candle Company has recently reworked its candle packaging to be more sustainable. In the process of greening their packaging the company was pleasantly surprised to find eco-friendly packaging options don't always have to cost more than their conventional counterparts.
“We wanted the packaging to be elegant, protect the candles during shipping, be made in the USA and above all be environmentally friendly,” said Mike Peek owner of Wayfarer Candle Company.
Wayfarer needed both retail gift box and wholesale packaging for their candles. With some research and a little bit of luck Wayfarer was able find packaging solutions to fit both of their needs.
They found a container from the Chicago Paper Tube Company that was nearly perfect for their product. The tube shape packaging fit well with the shape of their products and significantly reduced materials versus traditional box style packaging. The tube container packaging is also more durable and requires far less protective packaging materials when shipped.
Chicago Paper Tube Company's container is made from 100% recycled paper (85% PCW). “Because the candles we manufacture are made of eco-friendly soy wax, it was particularly appropriate that we were able to use soy ink to print the package design,” said Peek. Wayfarer Candle is also located about 25 miles from where the container packaging is manufactured to the carbon footprint required to obtain the packaging is minimal.
Wayfarer sells the majority of its candles wholesale so finding wholesale packaging that fit their requirements was of particular importance to the company.
Peek came in contact with Salazar Packaging in Chicago who had recently introduced a whole line of affordable 100% recycled corrugated packaging called Globe Guard. He told me he was initially hesitant about talking with Salazar Packaging because he had assumed the cost would be too high.
“I had the perception that the boxes would be much more expensive. Particularly since we needed custom box sizes made for our product,” said Peek.
Globe Guard packaging is made from 100% post-consumer waste recycled paper and seemed ideal for what Wayfarer needed.
“Dennis and Lenora (owners of Salazar Packaging) were very helpful and the quote they gave me on our packaging solution truly shocked me,” said Peek. “I had almost signed a deal to get traditional boxes for almost 5% more than their bid.”
Peek told me overall they are very pleased with the efforts they've made to make their products more green. “We will continue to strive for sustainable solutions for future products and packaging,” he said.
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Posted by: Geoff King | December 13, 2010 at 10:30 PM