The booming e-commerce industry is good news for packaging companies, but it also produces seemingly competing demands. A growing push in favor of lightweighting packaging can clash with the goal of protecting products in transit.

As different as these targets may seem, you can achieve both. Balancing package weight with durability may not be an easy task, but it is possible, especially as technological breakthroughs provide new paths forward.

Benefits of Lightweighting Packaging

First, businesses must recognize that package lightweighting is not optional. Lighter packaging means less risk of repetitive stress injuries in the warehouse. It also means trucks can deliver the same volume of products without as heavy a load, which has several crucial benefits.

The most obvious advantage of lighter shipping loads is the cost. You spend less on fuel when engines don’t have to work as hard to ship the same amount of goods. Vehicles will also produce fewer greenhouse gas emissions. Environmental concerns aside, over 60% of companies believe increased sustainability makes them a more attractive long-term investment.

Improving your carbon footprint may also be an important step in complying with rising sustainability regulations. Even if no such restrictions apply to your company, going green could attract additional business. The better customer reputation combined with lower operating costs can yield significant profits.

Strategies to Balance Lightweight Packaging with Durability

As important as lightweight packing materials are, they can’t come at the cost of package durability. Here are five strategies you can employ to ensure your product protections meet both these needs.

1. Right-Size Packages and Dunnage

The first step is to ensure you’re using an appropriately sized package for the item in question. While it may seem simple, it’s an easy-to-miss optimization opportunity. Shaving even a fraction of an inch of unnecessary box material will make the packaging lighter and prevent damage by allowing less room to move.

E-commerce products often ship with 4.5 times as much packaging material as brick-and-mortar purchases. There are many reasons why — you may need to size up to use standardized box sizes, or it could be to make items seem like a greater value — but it entails unneeded weight in any scenario.

You may need to resort to custom packaging to place each product in a box that suits the size and shape perfectly. However, you’ll still save because of lower fuel costs and less dunnage required to stop unwanted movement in shipping.

2. Choose the Right Lightweight Packing Materials

Another effective method for lightweighting packaging is to consider alternative materials. Conventional cardboard, plastics or paper do not always provide the highest strength-to-weight ratio.

PET is often strong enough to protect food and beverage products without excessive weight — a one-liter bottle weighs just 25 grams when using this plastic. Despite such lightness, it’s robust, stretchable and moisture-resistant. Looking for options like this can save you from having to add material to provide extra strength.

Recent research has led to a boom in novel lightweight packing materials, too. Bio-polymers made from corn starch and similar resources are often both strong and light. Nanomaterials can also improve durability while reducing overall packaging weight. While they may cost more upfront, you can save money in the long run through the added efficiency.

3. Mix Materials

In some cases, it may be best to combine materials instead of looking for the perfect singular option. Different packaging types have varying strengths and weaknesses in terms of durability and weight. Mixing them can let you achieve the optimal balance without needing a single alternative to meet all your needs.

For example, you could use a thin layer or rigid material around the perimeter of a box while using a more flexible, lighter-weight resource for the rest. That way, you provide the crush resistance necessary to protect the contents while cutting weight in less critical areas.

Mixed-media external packaging may be difficult in some cases, but heavier exteriors with lighter dunnage achieve similar results. Alternatively, you could place a product in a small, rigid and dense container before storing that in a larger, lighter one for insulation without excess weight.

4. Capitalize on Air

The amount of air within a package also deserves consideration. While it may seem insignificant, air has weight — one cubic foot weighs roughly 1.23 ounces — so minimizing unfilled space can make packaging lighter. Airtight packaging also typically means a reduction in material usage, further lightweighting the item.

In other scenarios, you may want to increase the amount of air. Air bubbles and pockets in plastic dunnage or foam insulation can prevent products from shifting without the weight of a denser material.

Which option is most appropriate depends on what you’re packaging and how much your alternative materials would weigh. Remember, the ideal strategy likely varies between products, so avoid a one-size-fits-all approach.

5. Use AI to Find Lightweighting Opportunities

Because package lightweighting is such a complex issue, it can be easy to miss optimization opportunities. Artificial intelligence (AI) can help here. Some companies have found considerable success by using AI to analyze and refine their packaging instead of relying on manual calculations.

Amazon has used intelligent models to optimize its packaging for years. Since 2015, the e-commerce giant has been able to avoid 3 million metric tons of packing material.

This approach works because machine learning can often spot subtle trends in data humans may miss. As a result, it can highlight small changes in a package’s design or sizing to prevent unnecessary mass. Over time, these savings add up to considerable improvements.

Lightweighting Packaging Is Essential in the Modern Market

Lightweighting packaging is a complicated but necessary undertaking. Companies that fail to balance package mass and durability will incur excessive fuel costs, create larger carbon footprints and miss out on valuable business opportunities. By contrast, those that excel in this area can enjoy higher profits, greater sustainability and an improved reputation among clients.

These five strategies will help you decrease package weight without sacrificing the integrity of the products inside. As technology advances, new opportunities will emerge as well. The future of packaging and sustainability starts with recognizing the need for such improvements.