By Olivia Cahoon
The use of corrugated substrates in digital print continues to grow as customers demand smaller runs and personalization. Brand owners are also driven to digital packaging options for environmental reasons, as they seem require “greener” alternatives for packaging and shipping supplies.
Packaging Redesigned
Founded in 2007, Salazar Packaging, Inc. is a digital print provider and design firm in Oswego, IL. The company focuses on sustainable packaging and branding with a focus in e-commerce packaging. Its products and services include brand, custom, retail, reusable, stock, sustainable, and temperature-controlled packaging.
The shop has ten employees and recently moved into a 3,500 square foot facility. The company serves large and small companies on a national level. Salazar Packaging helps clients maximize its brand presence and enhance the customer experience at low costs with a unique process. The company is certified as a GOLD member by Green America’s Green Business Network.
“We believe sustainability begins in design so the objective is always to create the smallest possible packaging container made of the greenest possible materials—ideally reusable or at the very least easily recyclable,” says Dennis Salazar, president and co-founder, Salazar Packaging, Inc.
Sustainable Packaging
With nearly 40 years of combined packaging industry experience, Salazar and his wife started Salazar Packaging to take part in economic and environmental solutions for packaging. When the company first began, Salazar noticed few packaging suppliers interested in environmental sustainability. Soon after came the green movement with liberal doses of green washing. “Everyone was trying to get a piece of the booming market. Fortunately, most of them dropped out after a few years and moved onto the next hot market,” he explains.
As the hype of the ecofriendly movement subsided, the company soon gained recognition from the packaging and sustainability communities for its print work. Salazar Packaging has consistently remained environmentally sustainable and as a result attracted customers committed to greener solutions.
Additionally, as e-commerce and subscription packaging gained popularity, the company quickly became national leaders in helping clients to promote and reinforce their brands with green methods.
The company also considers itself to be “eco-consistent,” a term created by Salazar Packaging referring to clients that sell green products to environmentally coconscious consumers, which require packaging consistent with its environmental marketing values.
Salazar Packaging advises its customers to adhere to the basic idea of the three R’s—reduce, recycle, and reuse. “In other words, minimize and use less, use as much recycled content as possible, make sure the end result is also recyclable, and whenever possible create packaging with extended life cycles,” explains Salazar.
According to Salazar, sustainability reduces costs and improves productivity while minimizing waste. “We can help you achieve your sustainability goals and your financial goals simultaneously. It does not have to be a choice of one or the other,” he offers.
Eco Media Choices
Salazar Packaging uses sustainable film solutions including shrinkable and non-shrinkable PE, PP, and other film structures made from non-petroleum resins. The company prides itself in providing recyclable, biodegradable, and compostable film. Its film solutions are available in nearly any configuration and size, printed for retail, industrial, and mailing applications. The company uses shrink bands printed and unprinted in earth-friendly resin blends. Its pallet wrapping stretch films are designed to minimize waste and deliver high yield.
For sustainable corrugated packaging and paperboard solutions, Salazar Packaging uses Globe Guard shipping boxes, die cut mailers, paper board cartons, and rigid wall retail boxes from recyclable, high recycled content materials.
Salazar Packaging owns Globe Guard, an eco-friendly packaging shipping supplies company for green corrugated and sustainable packaging materials in the U.S. The company offers eco-friendly packaging like paperboard folding cartons, corrugated boxes and mailers, paper and plastic mailer envelopes, reusable packaging, stretch film, void fill and cushioning, and shipping supplies.
The company also offers sustainable solutions for packaging fill, interior packaging, and cushioning. Its recyclable, high recycled content, and inflatable void fill bags offer product protection while eliminating bubble packaging or packing peanuts.
Salazar Packaging extends is environmental awareness into packaging supplies and shipping products as well. The company uses pouches, mailers, and envelopes made from recycled papers and films, corner board to secure pallets with a minimum of stretch film, reusable totes, containers, pallets, and earth-friendly tapes.
The company doesn’t rely on specific brands or vendor partners to focus on sustainability. “As a design firm, we have the freedom and flexibility to engage the best of the best and most often the greenest manufacturing partners,” says Salazar.
Greener Solutions
Sustainable packaging represents a unique segment of digital print in that it requires environmentally sustainable solutions like packaging fill, recycled papers and films, and eco-friendly paperboard folding cartons. Print providers with a passion for greener alternatives take advantage of the availability of sustainable solutions and satisfy clients with a greener concept.
Nov2017, DPS Magazine
