Why You Should Use Biodegradable Packing Peanuts for your eCommerce Business
If you use a cardboard box to ship your parcels then you need a Void Filler to fill the gaps your products has left behind before you enclose your box. In the Void fill industry there are a few options packing peanuts made from foam, packing peanuts made from corn starch (compostable), thick wrinkled cardboard and air pillows which Amazon uses during their fulfilment process.
This article will discuss why we at Awesome Pack recommend Bio Fill (Packing peanuts made from corn starch) over any other void fill product.
What are packing peanuts made of?
Let’s have a look on the materials used for the following options of void fill:
- Packing Peanuts (made from Corn Starch): Bio Fill is a well known brand of packing peanuts in the void fill industry and this because it is very eco-friendly as it is predominately made from corn starch which is compostable and can be broken down when dissolved in water. If you Youtube “packing peanuts dissolve in water” you will see how easily Bio Fill breaks down and great for the environment.
- Packing Peanuts (made from foam): looks similar to Bio Fill above but the material used is totally different. It is made from plastic and not easily recyclable as it can only be done in an industrial setting which is hard to find in any location. Plastic packaing peanuts will take a 1000 years to break down and cause harm to our environment just like any other plastic product.
- Air pillows (made from plastic): users of this product which includes Amazon will buy plastic films without the air inside and then once required they will use an air blower to fill up the film with air. Again plastic film will take a 1000 years to break down and not a renewable resource.
- Thick Kraft Paper that is wrinkled: users of this includes Amazon which they will buy a large roll of think kraft paper and then use a machine called a “Paper Crumpler” to wrinkle the paper to spread the area and cushion the product in the fulfilment process.
Which biodegradable packaging peanuts are best?
Here at Awesome Pack we would always recommend Environmentally friendly packaging and it is the same for Void filler. So, only Bio Fill (void fill made from corn starch) fits that criteria, even though wrinkled kraft paper is also eco-friendly but you will need a Paper crumpler machine which take up space and use power to work.
We have summarised the pros and cons for using our recommendation to give you the information you need to make that informed decision.
Pros of Bio Fill:
- Eco-friendly: Compostable material and fully dissolvable in water, your end customer can just throw it in the bin or home compost and it will start breaking down
- Cost effective: large 400L bag is only $33, or if you only need smaller amount you can buy 100L for $13 and it is packaged in a Cardboard box that is also reusable and recyclable.
- Completely Fill up the whole box: some other methods may not fill up the whole box and therefore the cushioning effect is not as effective
- Lightweight: very light in weight so it doesn’t add much weight to your package to save you money on shipping
- Static free: these peanuts doesn’t stick to your product so your end customer wouldn’t be irritated during the unboxing experience
- Australian Made: Bio fill is made here locally in Melbourne, support Aussie businesses
Cons of Bio Fill:
- Take up large amount of space: whether you have a large warehouse or working from home space is limited and this product although cheap it does take a lot of space. A bag of 400L has an approx. dimension of 60x60x150cm, while even our 100L bio fill in a box is 43x37x64cm.
- Need to reorder quite often: due to the space required to store this void filler you will go through them quite fast and therefore you need to re-order more often than desired.
I hope we at Awesome Pack have helped you in some way by reading this article and we wish you the best of luck in the ever changing eCommerce industry.
Shop Biodegradable Packing Peanuts
Always bringing you value to your eCommerce journey,
Bill Li
Director
Awesome Pack