TELESONIX REUSABLE PACKAGING

Project: Telesonix Reusable Packaging. 

REUSE : A PACKAGING CASE STUDY 

The mission:

to stream-line a company's shipping and receiving processes by reusing as much packaging as possible. 

About the Project:

Telesonix is a boutique high-end audio company based in Los Angeles. They offer the highest grade wireless microphones and in-ear monitors for music and film productions. They combine these industry leading products with robust wireless coordination and elegant packaging solutions through their partner company Void Rack. A key part of their operation is purchasing the most up to date wireless audio equipment and making it show ready. This is by default a wasteful operation. Audio equipment like all high-end electronics need to ship in custom fit shock-absorbing packaging. Great strides have been made by some wireless providers, like Sennheiser, to remove styrofoam and bubble wrap and replace it with well designed cardboard or eco-friendly foam. However, the use of styrofoam or polymer based foam is still the default. As most of this foam is custom cut for a specific make and model, the majority of this hydrocarbon based foam packaging still hits the landfill.  

The Project Goal:

The goal of this project is to create the lowest waste, most eco-friendly shipping and receiving possible. There were several ways in which we achieved this goal. We developed a way to reuse much of the packaging from receiving, and elegantly rebrand the boxes using climate safe packaging stickers and stamps to prepare them for shipping. We repurposed unused material by shredding paper products to be repurposed as packaging. And we donated unusable or undesirable material to shipping locations to be repurposed. 

The Process: 

Step 1 - Cataloging Inventory:  Before we could build a sustainable program we had to take stock in the current materials on hand and how they were being used. For over a year Telesonix had been saving all packing material from their previous purchases and been trying to re-use them when possible for their shipping. These old boxes and packaging material had to be cataloged and sorted so they could more easily be put to use for all orders. Materials were organized by size of boxes and type of packing material. In this case; craft paper, bubble wrap, foam inserts, shredded paper, and … wait for it…. styrofoam packing peanuts! (looking at you U-line). We also organized all purpose built boxes and packaging by their original contents so those packages could be easily reused when a similar unit of that make and model was shipped individually. 

Step 2 - Reusing the boxes: We had to decide what was reusable and what would be impractical to keep in storage. We went through all the old stored boxes and separated them by the quality of the box.  Boxes that weren’t in good enough condition to reuse got shredded and used for packing material (see step 4) or recycled.  Boxes that were in good shape but unsightly were used for non customer use. All other boxes had their tape and labels removed and were kept in storage for future shipments. 

Step 3 - Rebranding: With the boxes cleaned and the old labels removed we needed to find a way to rebrand the boxes as Telesonix official mailers. We worked with the company Eco-Enclose to purchase non-toxic recycled paper tape and recycled shipping labels. We then purchased custom rubber stamps from Noissue to stamp the box tape and the boxes.

Step 4 - Repurposing packing material: While most of Telesonix shipping entails high end expensive equipment, we were able to work with the team and ascertain a portion of the company's shipping that was less fragile and considerably less expensive. These included small parts and product accessories. For these small items the company had been shredding their paper waste and stuffing it in plastic bags to be used as packing material. We support this crafty DIY solution but wanted to find a non-plastic enclosure for the packing paper.  We found a great product at Eco-Enclose for substituting the current plastic bags with an eco-friendly compostable bag. See below for a list of recommended products from this project. 

Step 5 - Reusing through Donating: At the end of the cataloging process it was clear that there was more material in the shop than needed for the current and upcoming orders. We wanted to find a good home for all the excess packing paper, bubble wrap, and styrofoam peanuts. We were very happy to find that the local UPS store accepts clean packing material and will reuse it.  This is not surprising as UPS has been investing in clean shipping solutions for years through their sustainability program. It felt good to give the material at least one more life. 

Conclusion: 

From our work on this project Telesonix was able to move forward with a sustainable shipping program that is still in effect today. We were most impressed and super inspired by the Telesonix team for their simple and effective approaches and together we were able to establish classy looking mailers from repurposed boxes.