The auto industry is impacted by sustainability both directly through efforts to develop hybrid, electric, and lower-emission gas engines, and indirectly through factors that include the sustainability of logistics supporting the industry. While the majority of automotive businesses are reacting to consumer, and potentially regulatory pressures to enhance their sustainability, a significant 46% of consumers believe that the auto industry is falling behind in sustainable packaging.

Many auto parts are heavy, many more are fragile, and a fair number are both. To ship these parts, it’s not uncommon for business to seek out cushioning solutions that have a reputation for high-performance. The protective properties of plastic foam-in-place, which combines two chemical components that expand into foam around a product, have made it popular in the automotive industry. But aside from the challenges that come from working with chemicals, the foam that is created is rarely recycled, and requires specific facilities and expensive processes to break down when it is. More often it will end up in a landfill where it breaks down into microplastics over time.

Embracing sustainable packaging for the automotive industry without sacrificing performance is possible. In fact, the right solutions can improve sustainability while also increasing protection in the most common damaging drop scenarios.

Ranpak’s paper cushioning consistently outperforms plastic foam-in-place across key metrics gathered from real customer pack-outs.

• Absorbs 40% more shock than foam on average
• Up to 70% in the box savings on materials costs
• Packs up to 50% faster than foam-in-place
• 78% of consumers prefer paper to plastic in-the-box packaging
• Paper is curbside recyclable and biodegradable
• Foam is rarely recycled outside of specialized facilities, and can sit in a landfill for generations before it breaks down into microplastics

Paper isn’t just a sustainable, highly recycled material, it’s also strong enough for the most critical cushioning applications. Learn more when you read our full whitepaper: Paper vs. Foam-In-Place