Magic-Packaging™
5 minute read
Magic-Packaging™ is all the physical stuff (boxes etc) we use to get architectural lighting from our production line to your project site.
Boxing Match
It transforms irregular shapes into simple cuboids for the logistics of palletisation, trucks, shipping containers and protects them on their journey. But our closed-loop Circular Economy approach means it has to do a lot more than that - we assess the life cycle of all materials that exit our factory, not just the products.
One-way ticket
Reusable milk bottles are still a common sight here in Yorkshire
Protective inserts on Track-Pipe® reusable lighting track
All that glitters is not good
Physical 'stuff' can only either a) stay the same or b) become something different - it's the the laws of science. What began life as ‘eye catching’ packaging 'innovation’, ultimately breaks down to its fundamental (normally toxic) chemistry and enters the environment as gases, liquids or solids. Yes, it’s that simple / grim.
“Everything is designed for you to throw away when you are finished with it. But where is 'away'? Of course, 'away' does not really exist. 'Away' has gone away.”
- Michael Braungart, Cradle to Cradle
Paper trail
Magic-Packaging™ pallet strap is 100% paper 🙌
In practical terms, it means everything we ship, that isn’t product, can be folded down by hand and placed into any regular post-consumer recycling stream.
“It's not a principle until it costs you money”
So what is exactly wrong with plastics?
- Number of plastic variants = very high
- Cost of producing plastics = very low
Plastic waste is harmful to humans and the environment which, due to the realities of recycling it, is where much of it ends up. The low purchase price of plastic is artificially so because this true cost (ie. dealing with plastic waste) is not included. To help address this, the ‘Single Use Carrier Bag Charge’ became UK law in 2015.
It lead to a 94% decrease in usage by 2023 [²] and triggered an uptick in alternative (ie. non-plastic) packaging innovation. It’s limited in scope and ambition but still proof, if any were needed, that government regulation is the only way to achieve change. We (and others) are doing great work at proving what’s possible and we’re growing, but we're a tiny dot in the global lighting industry, no way can we do this alone.
View from the hills above our factory - we go here to escape plastic 😆
Making paper
Getting in to the nitty gritty of how paper recycling works is what initiated and informed the development of Magic-Packaging™. The necessary reprocessing infrastructure and technology is already well-established and when packaging is properly designed for it, 6X reuse is easily achievable (it’s limited only by the fibre lengths, which get a little shorter and weaker each time they’re processed). Paper recycling could hardly be simpler or more efficient.
History Lesson
Tessellation for the nation
‘Cardboard’ or ‘board’ is just paper sheet that’s engineered using a secondary process, such as corrugation or layering, to achieve specific mechanical properties, such as stiffness and crush resistance. Most cardboard contains a lot of air so it's high-volume, low-density and relatively expensive to transport, which is one reason why the infrastructure for making it is so geographically distributed - paper factories are everywhere.
Paper manufacturers have been recycling paper since long before it was cool. Adding ‘used’ paper into the ‘new’ paper process is relatively straightforward and delivers immediate, valuable cost savings (reduced energy, time, ingredients, etc). Here in the UK more than ±80% of paper is already recycled (compared to less than ±10% of plastic). Well-crafted legislation could easily achieve the remainder.
Pallets for shipping can also be 100% paper
Here come the robots
Most importantly, it has revolutionised the sophistication of what we can produce. If it can be drawn in CAD, it can be made - triangular prism shaped boxes, for example, are almost never seen in the wild (even Toblerone went plastic on smaller bars) because their geometry is incompatible with the traditional, highly centralised, stamp/glue process, but they’re definitely part of Magic-Packaging™
Magic-Packaging™ makes new packaging geometry possible
Anatomy of a Magic-Packaging™ Robot
- Long, wide, flat air-permeable conveyor (4000mm x 2000mm) with 4Kw vacuum pump to ‘suck’ cardboard sheet to belt surface.
- Horizontal beam (X axis) travels up/down conveyor length. Moving tool holder (Y axis) travels up/down beam length / conveyor width. Moving tools (Z axis) travels up/down beam height
- Tools: oscillating (3Khz) cutting blade, crease wheel, pen holder (holds any regular pen or pencil).
- Control software accepts any translated 2D vector path (.ai, .dxf, .dwg, etc) to position any tool tip on any XYZ path or point co-ordinates, with a high degree of speed and precision.
- [*¹] : 'Going round in circles: Coca-Cola’s trail of broken promises'
- Author: Talking Trash
- Ref: TalkingTrash_CocaCola
- © Changing Markets Foundation 2020
- Download the report (free)
- [*²] : 'Plastic bags - the Single Use Carrier Bag Charge'
- Author: Nikki Sutherland
- Ref: CBP7241, 19 October 2020
- © House Of Commons Library
- Download the report (free)
Our stories:
- How we got started.
2 - Closed-loop Circular Economy
- The how and why of our manufacturing methodology.
- The most sustainable surface finish ever - explained.
- Mono-materials are what make a closed-loop possible.
5 - Magic-Packaging™ (you are here!)
- Measure everything that leaves a factory, not just the product.
- Don't read this if you want to continue using regular paint.
- Why we exist. Where we are going.