Stronger, sturdier, and more cost-efficient, RPCs are the superior transport packaging solution compared to corrugated cardboard boxes. When it comes to protecting perishables in your supply chain, corrugated just doesn’t measure up. Here are 7 reasons why RPCs outmatch corrugated cardboard boxes:
#1: Corrugated Cardboard Boxes Get Crushed
When you stack corrugated boxes too high or fill them with product that is too heavy, the stack will likely fall over, damaging the box and the products inside. This is an even bigger problem when the boxes get wet. Tosca’s Reusable Plastic Containers (RPCs) are made from durable polypropylene and have been proven by independent studies to be 4X stronger than corrugated cardboard boxes. They’re also engineered to interlock, creating better load stability, so you can stack higher without worrying about the possibility of the stack tipping over.
#2: Corrugated Cardboard Boxes Waste Valuable Space
Corrugated cardboard doesn’t travel as well as RPCs – period. The variety of sizes and shapes make it difficult to optimize cube utilization, leaving you with wasted space on trucks, which also means wastes fuel. RPCs are designed to stack together securely, making it easier to use every inch of cube space to its optimum capacity.
#3: Corrugated Cardboard Boxes Can’t Handle Moisture
It’s a reality of grocery supply chains: if you have perishables, you have moisture. Corrugated cardboard doesn’t do well with moisture. It absorbs condensation and even leakage from packages. If your corrugated cardboard gets wet, its structural integrity will fail. Because they are made of plastic and do not absorb moisture, RPCs don’t break down when they get wet like corrugated does. Additionally, their enhanced ventilation features even help deliver fresher, higher quality perishables so your eggs, meat and produce make it to consumers in the same condition they left the farm.
#4: Corrugated Cardboard Boxes Don’t Display Well
Grocery stores sometimes put product on shelves in the corrugated cardboard boxes it was transported in. However, with the varying sizes and different graphics – a corrugated display makes for a chaotic presentation. RPCs frame the product and disappear, making the product stand out – not the packaging. In fact, studies have shown that consumers fully embrace the use of RPCs in displays. Better still, those good-looking RPCs have the added benefit of greatly reducing the time it takes to stock shelves.
#5: Corrugated Cardboard Boxes are Incredibly Wasteful
Corrugated cardboard boxes comprise the greatest portion of manufactured packaging product in the waste stream, according to Waste360. That’s a huge amount of tonnage traveling through the waste stream every year, including the portion that gets diverted to landfills and can’t be recycled as intended. RPCs are reusable and eliminate single use packaging from the supply chain. Every RPC that grocery supply chains use eliminates 0.5 kg of corrugated cardboard from entering the supply chain.
#6: Corrugated Cardboard Waste Requires Management
Perhaps the corrugated cardboard your grocery stores use will get recycled, but meanwhile your operation has incurred the costs associated with using, discarding and recycling a single-use packaging product. Corrugated cardboard boxes only go one way through the supply chain. By contrast, each Tosca RPC can be reused more than 100 times before it is recycled to create new RPCs.
#7: Corrugated Cardboard Boxes are Difficult to Lift
Corrugated boxes in the supply chain rarely have handles, making for awkward lifting practices, ripped boxes and worker injuries. Tosca RPCs have standard ergonomic handles that makes RPCs easier to pick up, transport and slide into place, reducing the risk of injuries.
Tosca recently acquired packaging leaders Contraload NV and Polymer Logistics, creating a global business for the entire supply chain. For 100 years of combined experience, Tosca has developed innovative solutions that deliver supply chain improvement and measurable value for suppliers, growers, and retailers. Tosca has been at the forefront of the reusable revolution from the very beginning and enables a future where sustainable solutions for packaging and transport are essential, and disposable is a thing of the past.
