The Reusable Box Story

dennis and lenora salzar with globe guard reusable boxes

Dennis and Lenora Salazar

The Globe Guard® Reusable Box (patent pending) is the result of over two years of thought and discussion, followed by a few months of design and testing. As is often the case, there is usually one major design hurdle or obstacle that has to be overcome but once that happens, the rest is tweaking and testing. That is when the pieces fall into place and an idea becomes an invention and ultimately a product.

One of the advantages of being a privately owned, relatively small company is that we are able to bring a new product to market at amazing speed and the development of the Globe Guard Reusable Box is proof of that flexibility. With no board meetings required, departments to consult, or consensus to be negotiated, our design, prototype and testing phases were accelerated and our patent application was filed.

The “Three R’s” of Sustainability

The world now accepts and agrees the “Three R’s” of sustainability are:

Reduce – Using less of anything is good and helps to conserve valuable resources for future generations. With almost fifty years of combined packaging Industry experience, we are uniquely qualified within the green community to deliver material savings as well as productivity efficiencies. We typically show companies how to use less of every packaging material they use.

Recycle – Our three year old company has been on the forefront of secondary packaging sustainability with a focus on the use of recyclable products made of as much recycled content as possible including our Globe Guard 100% PCW (post consumer waste) recycled content boxes.

Reuse – Green minded individuals are big on reuse because extending the life cycle of any product eliminates the need to create another one to replace it. Unfortunately, the packaging industry has traditionally and for the most part, been focused exclusively on the manufacture of single use products. It is in this obvious contradiction of opposing objectives where we saw the greatest opportunity and challenge to create new secondary packaging products able to be used multiple times.

The Green Packaging Problem

My wife and partner, Lenora, and I learned that most, (probably 99% or more) of packaging products are being used a single time and then discarded. Most people also agree that as a society, we probably recycle less than 40% of the products that are recyclable so life cycle extension is an ideal eco solution for many obvious reasons. Think about the raw materials required, manufacturing energy used and transportation and shipping space and energy consumed to make any packaging product.

globe guard reusable boxes

Reusing Is Even Better than Recycling

After a single use, most corrugated shipper boxes are structurally sound and able to be reused but most are not for cosmetic reasons such as the labels, packing list pouches, markings, scuffs and scrapes resulting from its one and only use. So, the obvious solution to us was to invert the box, inside/out so it could be used again. We also asked ourselves, “What if a company could buy and use half as many boxes?” “What if a company is able to dramatically reduce their processing costs in their recycling, closed loop efforts?”

The Green Packaging Solution

We soon discovered some short sided manufacturers are not eager to create a multiple use product for many financially driven reasons and that we would have to lead and finance the development ourselves. We also concluded that the product we had in mind would have to be easy to use, competitively priced, as well as versatile and customizable

With those criteria in mind, we believe we have satisfied those requirements and have created a reusable shipping container that is ideal for:

  • Promotion and premium shipping and exchanges
  • Packaging reclamation programs (recycling and up cycling programs)
  • Warranty and defect parts replacement
  • Product being exchanged and returned in e-commerce situations for quality, size, shipping error or other reasons (shoes, DVDs, books, etc.)
  • Repair and return situations (electronics, jewelry, cell phones)
  • Utility and service companies (cable and telephone)
  • Inter office or inter company closed loop shipments
  • Green companies shipping to other green companies

Environmentally and Financially Sustainable

The Globe Guard Reusable Box was invented to minimize your carbon footprint as well as increase your bottom line. Please allow us to discuss and review your potential application and remember that custom grade, custom size and producing custom printed green packaging is what we do.

We have yet to encounter an application for which we could not develop a solution. The Globe Guard Reusable Box is truly green by nature and reusable by design.