Packaging
Packaging people keep on the shelf
The secret to packaging that never makes it to the recycling bin, plus a few boxes we’re still secretly proud of.
Good packaging gets used twice: once to sell the thing, and again as a pencil pot, a plant pot or a treasured shoebox.
That second life is the best advertising you will never pay for. Your name sits on a kitchen shelf for years, long after the coffee has been drunk.
Run the second-life test
Before we draw anything, we ask one question: what will this box be doing in six months? If the honest answer is “landfill”, we start again.
Here are a few second careers we have seen with our own eyes.
Packaging | Second life |
|---|---|
Coffee tin | Pencil pot |
Bakery box | Button box |
Canvas tote | The weekly shop |
Glass jar | Spice jar |
What keepers have in common
Look along anybody’s shelf of saved packaging and the same three qualities turn up.
They’re sturdy
Nobody keeps a box that collapses when the cat sits on it. Thicker board, a proper lid and corners that survive the journey home all earn their place.
They’re useful
A tin with a tight lid, a jar with a wide mouth, a bag with long handles. The container should be good at a job beyond holding your product.
They’re a bit lovely
Pattern inside the lid. A joke on the base. One colour printed beautifully beats four printed badly.
A word on cost
Sturdier stock does cost more per unit. Set that against free shelf space in a customer’s home, and the sums usually come out smiling.
“Our takeaway tins come back as plant pots on the windowsill. Best free advertising we’ve ever had.”
Sam Rivera, co-owner of Paper Kite Cafe
How Tiny Giants got kept
Tiny Giants Coffee roast micro-lots from small farms, and their old bags looked like everyone else’s on a crowded shelf. We switched to sturdy kraft, gave each farm its own tiny giant character and printed the roast number large enough to read at 7am.
The part we’re quietly proud of is what happened next. Regulars started collecting the characters, and the empty bags now hold everything from teabags to clothes pegs.
Before you send anything to print
Hold the mock-up in your hands and be strict with yourself:
Would you keep it if it arrived at your own door?
Does it still look good once the label is peeled off?
Can it be refilled, reused or handed on?
Two yeses and you’re close. Three, and you have packaging that will outlast the product inside it. If you’d like a second pair of eyes first, book a 30 minute call.
