Holistic packaging solutions for safety, performance and sustainability
As e-commerce continues to grow globally, the shipping of goods is an increasingly important factor in customer satisfaction, experience and product differentiation. Products that arrive damaged result in returns and lost revenue. Additionally, consumers are increasingly aware that packaging waste has negative environmental consequences.
Therefore, packaging is an essential component of a product and deserves the same care and attention as the product itself. Packaging can represent a significant portion of the cost of goods and serves the critical function of delivering value to the consumer, whether in preserving the quality or safety of the product or delivering it in an easily consumable format.
This is why taking a holistic approach to the safety, quality, performance and sustainability of your products’ packaging can be extremely beneficial for retailers business.
UL’s full range of performance, sustainability and chemical content solutions for packaging — as well as our qualified status as International Safe Transit Association (ISTA) and Amazon Packaging Support and Supplier Network (APASS) testing laboratories — enable retailers and manufacturers across a variety of industries that their products arrive intact while addressing the sustainability and chemical impacts of packaging.
Areas of expertise
Physical and performance testing
Performance and physical testing on your packaging can help determine whether the packaging will hold up during transit and is durable enough to stay intact all the way to retail shelves.
- ISTA Testing
- Amazon APASS and ISTA 6 Testing
- ASTM D4169 - Standard practice for performance testing of shipping containers and systems, including medical devices
- Packaging validation and stability studies for device transport and storage
Chemical and microbiological testing
Chemicals can be present in packaging materials to achieve specific performance goals or unintentionally due to contaminations or impurities. UL provides a wide portfolio of chemical testing according to current legislations of your target markets, such as:
- Heavy metals according to Packaging Directive 94/62/EC
- Short chain chlorinated paraffins (SCCP) and flame retardants according to Persistent Organic Pollutants (POP) Regulation 2019/1021
- Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), phthalates, dimethyl fumarate and flame retardants according to REACH Regulation 1907/2006
- Substances of very high concern (SVHCs) on the Candidate List of substances subject to notification and communication obligation according to REACH Regulation 1907/2006
Food contact materials testing
Testing requirements become even stricter when dealing with packaging that will be in contact with food. UL’s food contact experts know exactly how to evaluate these types of packaging with chemical analysis, testing and advisory services, such as:
- Global migration to different food simulants
- Specific migration and determination of the total content for various substances, heavy metals or of primary aromatic amines (PAA)
- Labels, warnings, and risk assessments
- Protocol development for your target markets
- Supply chain management solutions
Sustainable packaging
Whether conducting carbon footprint measurement to begin assessing true environmental impact or embarking on a comprehensive effort to overhaul packaging starting with sustainable design, UL can help.
- Recycled Content Validation according to UL 2809, the Environmental Claim Validation Procedure (ECVP) for Recycled Content, which authenticates post-consumer and pre-consumer closed-loop or total recycled product.
- For product recyclability needs, UL offers validations for the calculation of estimated recyclability rate according to UL 2789, the Environmental Claim Validation Procedure for Calculation of Estimated Recyclability Rate
- UL 2485, the Environmental Claim Validation Procedure (ECVP) for Recyclability of Paper-Based Products.
- UL’s Environmental Product Declarations (EPDs) provide information disclosure of a product’s environmental impact from a life cycle perspective.
- To help carbon footprint reporting on packaging, UL’s Turbo CarbonTM carbon emissions software makes reporting simple and affordable.
