They say a journey’s first step is the toughest, but when it comes to sustainable packaging, the final steps often prove to be the most difficult. That is why many companies give up or stop trying after they take advantage of the initial “low hanging green fruit.”
Totally Committed to Green – Personally and Professionally
When we first met Barry Slotnick, the president and founder of Varisport, we knew he was our kind of friend and customer. We discovered in conversation that he would soon be moving into his new home — soon to be, one of the few LEED Platinum certified houses in Illinois.
His company, Varisport, is best known for their UltraSlide® product, which has been selling extremely well after being featured on “The Biggest Loser” reality TV show and has quickly become a favorite of professional athletes and celebrities. It is serious work out equipment, so as you can imagine that the product is very solidly built, very heavy to ship and not inexpensive to replace when damaged in shipment.
Barry had gone to great lengths to make the UltraSlide® as sustainable as possible, carefully selecting his materials and packaging. However, there were still a few EPS foam packaging components that he had not been able to replace with greener materials.
Corrugated Pads with sample of EPS foam being replaced
Engineered Corrugated Pads
We enjoy working with this product because it is relatively inexpensive and can be configured to any custom size needed. More importantly, it is incredibly strong and able to protect even products as heavy as the UltraSlide®.
After some test shipments to the west coast, Barry was convinced his valuable product was well protected with the corrugated pads we designed. Compared to the EPS foam he was replacing, our components are made of recycled materials and are easily recycled after use.
You can see in the bottom photo that Barry eagerly communicates his green accomplishment on every UltraSlide® he ships, with his custom-printed, reinforced paper tape, which is also from Salazar Packaging.
Please contact us with your green packaging challenge, and we’ll deliver the sustainable results you need.