Glen Dimplex Home Appliances

As part of its sustainability strategy, Glen Dimplex Home Appliances is focused on reducing the environmental impact of its packaging. The company recognises that while packaging plays an important role in protecting products during storage, transportation and delivery, it contributes to the overall carbon footprint of the product and causes other environmental impacts.

Their specific objectives include:

• Eliminating environmentally harmful materials: The company aimed to remove polystyrene from its packaging materials, given its adverse environmental impact and challenges in recycling.
• Reducing carbon footprint: Glen Dimplex was looking for a packaging solution that would minimise carbon emissions throughout the product’s life cycle.
• Ensuring robust product protection: Any new packaging solution needed to maintain or enhance the protective qualities required for its products during storage and transit.

Glen Dimplex Home Appliances wished to identify a viable packaging alternative that met its sustainability objectives through a decision-making process supported by reliable data. The key questions were:

• Which alternative packaging material would result in the greatest carbon reduction?
• How would the new material compare to the existing use of polystyrene in terms of environmental impact?
• Would a reusable packaging solution offer a more sustainable option, and under what conditions?

To address these challenges, Glen Dimplex Home Appliances engaged with our consultancy team who provided a comprehensive Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) comparing existing packaging with a foldable cardboard alternative and a recyclable, more environmentally friendly option.

The LCA revealed the following insights:

Foldable cardboard packaging: This option offered the lowest carbon footprint across its lifetime, achieving an 88% reduction in carbon emissions compared to the existing packaging. This made it the most sustainable choice among the options evaluated.

Reusable packaging: Although potentially sustainable, this option would need to be reused twice to match the carbon emissions of the existing polystyrene-based packaging and ten times to surpass the foldable cardboard alternative in terms of carbon footprint reduction.

Our analysis enabled Glen Dimplex Home Appliances to make an informed decision that aligned with its sustainability goals. They opted to pursue the foldable cardboard packaging solution, confident in its ability to significantly reduce its carbon footprint while maintaining product integrity during storage and transit.