Green packaging is more than just recycled cardboard and shredded office paper. Sometimes, green packaging means going beyond the traditional areas of waste reduction, and thinking “inside the box.”

Inside a pre-lined box.

Simpad’s pre-lined boxes are some of the strongest entries into the green packaging world in a long time. That’s because we do more than just recycle the raw materials and keep them out of the waste stream. (Don’t worry, we do that too. . Based on our calculations, we kept 1.1 million pounds of recycled foam out of the landfills for 2012.)

But how else do our pre-lined boxes serve as green packaging?

For one thing, they require fewer different shipping products, and less of each. Less two-part foam, fewer packing peanuts, less bubble wrap — all of which have to be made from virgin materials — less shredded paper, less cardboard, less tape. You name it, using a pre-lined box or regular Simpads means less of everything else and more green packaging.

In fact, based on our figures, sales of the Simpads and pre-lined boxes, and based on our customers’ usage, we believe we’re keeping anywhere from 25,000 – 100,000 tons of garbage out of landfills.

How’s that for green packaging?

It’s all based on control. If you use pre-lined boxes, you’re not only eliminating the use of different packing materials, you’re returning control to the shipping department, and to the budget.

When you have different people in the shipping department, their use of the shipping materials will vary wildly. Some will use too little, which results in damage during shipping. Others will use too much, which reduces damage, but causes overruns on shipping costs.

With Simpad pre-lined boxes, you know how many you’re going to order. You can’t overuse any packing materials. Everything goes inside the box, it gets closed up, and you’re done. You know how many boxes to order each month. In fact, if you can get the customer send any returns back in the same box, you can reuse it again, which even reduces your need for more boxes.

To truly use green packaging in your shipping department, consider our pre-lined boxes and cut out all the excess waste and cost overruns. Make shipping green, and keep it in the black.