Have You Heard It? SunChips New Sustainable Bag

by Rob Busse, CPP - Chainalytics

We are very excited about SunChips’ new 100% compostable chip bag. It’s made from PLA (polylactic acid), which is a derivative of corn starch and decomposes in 14 days under prime composting conditions.

This is a great step forward with sustainability; the only thing to mention is that the new bag can make eating chips a little more noticeable. The crisp bag is so loud when touched that we suggest transferring the chips into a resealable bag or bowl right after opening. That way you can get the bag into the compost pile as soon as possible.

Massive Shipping: Transpacific supply chain is now shorter!

by Eric Carlson, CPP - Chainalytics

Maersk, a leader in global logistics, container ships and shipping has built a truly astounding container ship for the express purpose of transpacific shipping and global shipping, the Emma Maersk. This ship exceeds the Panamax, which is the largest ship to transit the Panama Canal; however it can still pass through the Suez Canal and is approximately 180’ longer than an aircraft carrier. The ship was built to carry 1,400 more containers than the next largest ship.

Panamax: Length = 965 ft, Beam = 106 ft

Emma Maersk: Length = 1302 ft, Beam = 184 ft

Specs: http://www.emma-maersk.com/specification/

The Emma Maersk is powered by the world's largest single diesel unit, weighing 2,300 tons and capable of 110,000 horsepower allowing the ship to travel up to 25% faster. With a cruising speed rated at 31 knots, this ship can make the trip from Hong Kong to Los Angeles in about 9 days – this compared to nearly 14 days (19 knots) for a typical container ship.

To get an idea of how much faster this ship can make the journey, calculate your journey here: http://www.searates.com/reference/portdistance/

The ship also has several features to protect the environment. This includes recycling the exhaust, mixed with fresh air, back into the engine for reuse. This not only increases efficiency but also reduces engine emissions.

ISO adopted the intermodal container standard to more efficiently transport goods across the world in the late 1960s. Ever since then cargo containers have revolutionized global trade.

Time and distance have shrunk again with the Emma Maersk!

Dell Goes Green with Sustainable Bamboo Packaging

by Rob Kaszubowski, CPP - Chainalytics

In November, 2009, Dell unveiled its newest innovation into “green”, sustainable packaging: bamboo.

The packaging sustainability initiative has been growing exponentially over the past decade. More companies have started to migrate away from the use of environmental contaminants, like PVC, and have started to make the push into more environmentally friendly plastics.

From a protective packaging standpoint, foams and molded pulp have long been the traditional packaging material. With the green push, molded pulp has become more and more prevalent throughout electronic industries.

Bamboo has been deemed a highly sustainable resource due to its ability to re-grow to full term within 2-3 years, whereas trees generally take nearly 20 years to grow before they can be consumed for paper usage. As more companies turn to bamboo, I imagine it would help drive down the cost of molded inserts, which could then create a significant cost savings opportunity for multiple industries.

From a packaging engineer’s perspective, it will be interesting to watch and track the performance of this new protective packaging. The performances of foams and pulp have been known and tested for decades, but I would be curious to see how much, if any, testing has been done related to the performance of molded bamboo, especially with highly sensitive and expensive electronics.

Bamboo wood flooring has also been on the rise, due to its high sustainability rating and unique look, so it’s no wonder that the packaging industry has caught on to this exceptional plant as well!

See more about Dell’s sustainability push here: http://content.dell.com/us/en/corp/d/corp-comm/earth-products-packaging.aspx
*Photo courtesy of Dell