THE PROBLEM of goods being shipped in vastly oversized boxes, with all the waste both of materials and transport capacity that this entails, shows no signs of abating.
At the end of November the EU Commission published a draft Regulation on packaging and packaging waste. This includes a wide range of proposals, it also includes Article 9, headed ‘packaging minimisation’. This requires that ‘Packaging shall be designed so that its weight and volume is reduced to the minimum necessary’. Businesses will now have to ensure that the empty space ratio is a maximum of 40%.
Space filled by paper cuttings, air cushions, bubble wraps, sponge fillers, foam fillers, wood wool, polystyrene, Styrofoam chips or other filling materials shall be considered as empty space, states the Regulation.
