You’ll be more than aware of the challenges currently facing many businesses trying to make more sustainable switches with their plastic packaging.

With the cost of recycled plastic polymers increasing by as much as 70% during the past year, switching to a more sustainable plastic alternative can have huge implications for your business costs as well as your carbon footprint. Many businesses are discovering that striving for sustainable alternatives can be more expensive than their newly introduced Plastic Packaging Tax (PPT) liability.

At a time when sticking with the status quo can be both beneficial and less disruptive for your business, is it worth making changes to your pallet wrap supply and strategy right now? Or should you sit tight and wait it out until the economic situation begins to ease?

Sometimes, the benefits to switching aren’t obvious.

Find out how much pallet wrap you’re wasting

In order to find out if it’s worth changing your pallet wrap, you need to know how much you’re wasting.

Getting answers about your pallet wrap habits and current practice will show you how much you are spending and how much you could save – both financially and environmentally.

• Assess your current wrap thickness and quality and look at alternatives – a new generation 8 micron thickness wrap perform just as well, if not better, than a standard 23 micron wrap
• Evaluate your machinery and discover where it can be improved for optimal performance – this could be recalibration, performance updates or new machinery that stretches wrap further, for greater economical use.
• Run a containment force diagnostic on different wraps to establish which wrap is best for your needs and products which will save you money and plastic overuse.
• Look at your current wrapping processes and consider staff training to improve efficiency and performance.

Next generation pallet wrap

Many businesses would benefit from switching to next generation pallet wrap, especially during turbulent economic times.

By making changes to your pallet wrap procurement and processes, you could potentially save 25% in costs and reduce your plastic pallet wrap use by 40%. These savings can have a big impact on your business budgets and operational efficiency.

• Its superior strength means fewer breaks, fewer re-wraps and less over-wrapping – a huge source of money leaking and plastic waste in operations.
• It goes further. Staff will change less rolls and speed up their processes – you’ll save around 2,056 hours a year (that’s two weeks of your time) depending on your operation.
• You’ll save 40% of plastic from heading to landfill
• You’ll reduce your PPT liability by lowering the waste you’re producing.

Seeing the benefits

As McKinsey & Company points out, building new capabilities beyond supply chain management is important if businesses are to yield the benefits from making sustainable changes within operations.

And this is what can lead to hesitance among Operations Directors when making any significant changes. Supply chain savings can be immediate, operational changes less so. The length of time it might take to see the potential benefits can be enough to stop progress in its tracks – even when you know it’s the right decision.

Let’s take a look at what happened when a major high street retailer recently invested in new pallet wrap machinery and next generation pallet wrap:

• Production efficiency was paid back on their machinery in just 28 days
• They made a plastic waste saving of 49.66% – a reduction of 45 tonnes of plastic wrap
• They shipped 44 less pallets each year thanks to improved load containment
• They saved £9,000 on PPT
• They made 2,848 less roll changes – reducing downtime and increasing efficiency
• They saw overall savings of £62,759

The benefits of making the switch can be seen very quickly. Pallet wrap really can be the hidden hero in your operations success for 2023 and beyond.

If you’re ready to overhaul your approach to pallet wrap, then we’re here to support you. Download our free e-guide on Pallet Wrap Best Practice here or get in touch with us below to arrange a free audit and find out how much you could save.