Becker Underwood has changed the packaging for its Sprint iron chelate products to a “greener” material. The manufacturer says the changes are a result of increase raw materials prices for packaging and rising transportation costs.
Packaging for the Sprint 330 and Sprint 330+Mn 50-pound products has been a bulk-size fiberboard barrel with heavy reinforcing metal rings. New packaging now will be a durable but lighter weight, double-walled, recyclable corrugated cardboard box. The new container is designed with helpful perforated lift slots on the sides of the box to improve user handling, a feature previously absent on the fiberboard barrel. The change has reduced product packaging weight by more than 75 perceny and lowered same-quantity shipped weights by nearly 9.5 percent. Reduced packaging weight means lower shipping costs per packaged unit of product.
The Sprint 330 five-pound packaging will soon change from a plastic pail to a recyclable, pre-printed paper bag. This change results in an overall weight reduction for shipping materials (container, shipper and pallets) of nearly 42 percent. In addition, "We can package 50 percent more product in the same size shipping container, which helps customers more effectively manage shipping costs and warehouse space utilization on a per-pallet and per-case basis," says Joe Lara, product manager for the company's turf and ornamental products.
Becker Underwood also will package its Sprint 138 chelated iron in a recyclable pre-printed paper bag by the end of 2008. As with its sister Sprint 330 product, the petroleum-based plastic container will be eliminated in favor of the recyclable paper bag. As with Sprint 330, distributors and retailers will immediately realize improvements in pallet capacity and warehouse space efficiency in managing Sprint 138, Lara notes.
"These innovative solutions create real savings for our customers in packaging, transportation and warehousing costs in these most challenging economic times," Lara says. "But of equal importance, these changes play a role in reducing our use of petroleum-dependent packaging and this contributes toward the greater, greener goals of reducing transportation emissions and enhancing air-quality standards. We intend to seek similar opportunities with other products in our lineup.”
