About

Switchee delivers real-time data that gives social housing providers the insights and tools needed to support residents and proactively manage homes. These actionable insights enable Switchee’s customers to optimise energy efficiency, reduce costs, and improve resident satisfaction.

Brief

As a B Corp company, Switchee maintains high standards of social and environmental performance. The business was particularly interested in responsible packaging that would reflect their commitment to sustainability. Switchee was keen to reduce packaging bulk and waste, increase efficiencies and ease of packing for warehouse operatives, and introduce fully recyclable, recycled, and FSC®-certified materials (FSC®-C186587).

Findings

Actionpoint recognised there were opportunities to reduce the eco impact of Switchee’s packaging and make considerable cost savings along the way. A smaller and more efficient design would allow more boxes to fit per pallet, simultaneously reducing materials used, CO2 emissions, and freight expense.

Solutions

Actionpoint’s Creative Team crafted a range of designs to address Switchee’s packaging problems and goals. Each solution improved on the performance of the existing packaging and introduced fully recycled material. The strength of the paper was increased to maintain the packaging’s integrity and samples were created in-house for Switchee to review.

The approved design, which was faster and easier for operatives to pack, went through rigorous testing to confirm the materials were of the correct grade and quality. This trial phase ensured the boxes were strong enough to survive knocks and drops and able to be fully stacked on a pallet without risk of crushing.

Results

• Sustainable actions such as carbon neutral deliveries, using less packaging, and introducing recycled materials have significantly decreased packaging-related CO2 emissions created by transit.
• As a result of reducing the size of the boxes, palletisation efficiency has shot up by 84%.
• The new, smaller boxes use 22.67% less cardboard, saving resources & reducing waste.
• By introducing FSC® printed board, Switchee can trace the chain of custody of their packaging’s raw materials back to the responsibly managed forests from which they came.