Material handlers can improve end-of-line packaging sustainability by reducing stretch film consumption.

The sustainability of packaging is less about the physical package and more about lowering the social, environmental and economic impacts of packaging across the supply chain. Reducing stretch film consumption is essential for improving the sustainability of transporting pallet loads.

If, at first glance, conserving a packaging material as insubstantial as stretch film seems trivial, consider that in 2006, the year the Freedonia Group used as a base for an analysis of U.S. stretch film consumption, organizations spent $1.5 billion on this material. Freedonia analysts predict that the U.S. market for stretch film used in pallet wrapping will increase 4.7% annually from 2006 through 2011. At that time, more than 1.9 billion pounds of petroleum-based resin will be consumed in the manufacture of stretch film for the U.S. market. With the cost of a barrel of oil at unheard-of highs, companies must effectively reduce usage of all petroleum-based materials, including stretch film, to contain costs.

Another look at the impact of stretch film comes from Dow Chemical. Dow reports that advances in chemistry and enhanced products, processes and services have allowed it to down-gauge stretch film by more than 25% in the last decade. The company calculates that this reduction saves, on a global basis, 1 billion pounds of polyethylene resin a year. This is the equivalent energy savings of 293 million gallons of gasoline or heating and cooling for 643,000 homes for one year. As Freedonia and Dow indicate, there is nothing insubstantial about stretch film.