You might have seen the change in the packaging as you travel to the different State. The packaging changes with the location, too, and it depends on many factors. We'll discuss the factors which influence the packaging in detail.

Aug. 5, 2019

How Packaging Changes with Location

Updated On: Nov. 29, 2019
None

As you travel from one part of India to another, you'll see a few differences in the packaging & disposables used in the packaging industry. 

You might order the Pizza, and it comes in the biodegradable Areca plate. It makes you think why food joints in your State are still using plastic containers.

It's essential for us to understand some of the factors which influence the availability of disposables & packaging material in an area. 

Raw Material Supply 

The availability of packaging item dramatically depends on the availability of its raw material in abundance and where its manufactured. 

For example, the Areca leaf comes from the Palm tree. The Palm trees are majorly available in South India. So the Areca leaf plates, containers are readily available in South India.

 

Government Policies

Government policies play an essential role. The policies majorly influence the ease of doing business. 

Tax redemption or subsidies provided by the government over the raw material influences the availability of packaging materials.

The ban in plastic in many cities across India have reduced the use of plastics in the major metro cities.

 

Storage & Logistics

Storage & logistics is crucial for any of the packaging items to reach every part of India. The item should be able to fit in the packing boxes easily and effectively. And the packed box shouldn't be very heavy to move around. 

The availability of certain items in an area directly depends upon the quantity and weight of the box. More is the quantity packed, and lighter is the box, the more will be the availability.

I've listed some of the items which fit the context of my blog. Some of the items listed below are 100% biodegradable and can solve some of the issues associated with the use of plastics but still aren't readily available across India. 

Kullad 

Kullads are used to serve tea, coffee, milk from ages. Its not easy to manufacture Kullad everywhere and needs the special kind of clay soil. 

The Kullad is fragile, needs proper packing, and transport which makes it difficult to transport.

The Kullad production is affected by season. Its difficult to manufacture Kullad in the rainy or winter season.

Areca Plates & Containers

The Areca is majorly produced in South India because of the abundance of Palm trees. The Areca disposables need more packing space and will need more packing boxes as compared to paper or plastics, making it expensive to transport.

Glass Bottles

We all know the glass bottles are fragile and need a special type of corrugated shipping boxes with partitions and dividers. There's a limit to the number of glass bottles and glass jars which can be packed together. It's not easy and cheap to pack and ship glass bottles across India.

Tissue Paper

The Tissue Paper is the exception in the paper packaging family, which isn't easy to ship. It's not that the tissue paper is fragile or very heavy to ship. Its the space tissue paper takes. One pack of tissue paper takes the same space as an average mobile phone box making it less cost-effective to transport.

The formula for the disposables to be available across India directly depends on the factors mentioned below.

None

I am Space Efficient

The disposables to be packed should be space-efficient. By space-efficient, I meant the containers, plates, or cups to be packed fits inside one another. One container should go inside the other container cavity.

If the container designed is slightly rounded from the side and doesn't go inside, then its box won't use the packing space efficiently. 

It's one of the reason most of the disposables are straight rectangular or round in shape.

Make one image with 2 containers to show how straight wall containers fits into each other than the rounded one

I am Feather Light

The lighter the weight of packed disposables, the easier & cheaper it is to ship items from one city to another. 

The process of loading and unloading becomes easier, and less human resources are required to ship lighter boxes. If the packing weight is lighter, then you'd spend less on the packaging material needed to send these disposables.

The logistics companies calculate the logistic cost based on the volumetric weight of the box to be shipped. So lighter is the packed box cheaper is the cost of transportation.

Screenshot
None

I am Strong

The disposables to be shipped across India should be strong enough to withstand rough handling and shouldn't encur breakage or damages on the customer. 

The fragile items such as Kullad or Glass Jars aren't sturdy enough, and the customer has to adjust with some percentage of breakage & damages.

 

I am Fast

The disposables made from Areca, Clay Soil, depends on many factors such as climate, soil composition, the technology. All this hampers the production capacity and means its not easy to manufacture & ship substantial quantities in a short time.

For example, its possible to manufacture 1 Lakh plastic containers in a day or two, but it'll take weeks to make 1 Lakh quantity of Areca Plates.

 

Screenshot