What if America could eliminate 140 billion pounds of packaging from its notoriously large waste stream?  And not just once or twice, but every single year?

This isn’t a hypothetical. It’s a call to better product packaging that’s just waiting to happen—at least according to one college student and his senior thesis.  

Water-soluble soap boxes. Tear-and-use tea bags. Aaron Mickelson’s list of highly-inventive, yet super simple product changes is a great segue into some of the exciting packaging alternatives that are already in full swing thanks to stand-up pouches. These are changes that more brands could adopt—often with the added incentive of lower material and shipping costs. 

Watch the video to see how it’s done

Which begs the question: is your packaging a part of the solution… or the problem? If you market products in traditional cartons, canisters, jugs, pails—or even liquids in bottles—you may be overlooking a more cost-effective, earth-friendly answer. A recent case study on Clorox’ move to pouch packaging can prove it. Here’s what the brand discovered:

Stand-Up Pouches Offer a Major Reduction in Materials Used 

Even for economy-sized, 42-pound bags of cat litter, multilayer stand-up pouches offer an 80 percent reduction in packaging materials. Whatever you market, that level of conservation is noteworthy. It equals less material for you to buy and less material for manufacturers to produce—lowering your packaging costs and your global footprint. 

Stand-Up Pouches Improve Stability During Shipping & Distribution

“Stand-up pouches are more stable during shipping and less likely to become damaged during distribution,” commented an associate research fellow from Clorox. "You could open up a truck with pails and it would look like a bunch of cracked eggs…We don't see that at all with the bags."

Stand-Up Pouches Reduce Shipping Costs

Flexible pouches weigh less and conform more easily when stacked on pallets. In the Clorox example, distributors found they only needed 14 pounds of dunnage per shipment versus the 100 pounds required to cushion a shipment of rigid plastic pails. 

Most important, Clorox has seen its cat litter sales volume grow by 50 percent since the switchover to stand-up pouches. 

Are you ready to replace your standard packaging with a smarter, greener solution? Check out our video on flat bottom stand-up pouches. You’ll see your brand in a whole new light—and consumers will too.