Twinplast is helping a leading honeybee supplier transport live pollinators in bespoke corrugated polypropylene shipping boxes, designed to protect the bees while minimizing weight and transport costs.
Compared to traditional wooden boxes, corrugated polypropylene is expected to reduce both weight and bulk, offering a high strength-to-weight ratio. It claims to withstand the demands of transportation while resisting water, chemicals, and grease to avoid contamination.
At the same time, the box is designed to offer ‘robust’ protection and containment when transporting living creatures. Incorporated performance features are intended to prevent the box from overheating and facilitate effective ventilation and air circulation, which keeps the bees alive in transit.
“Twinplast specialize in taking on technical challenges of the kind presented by this contract,” said commercial director Tim Steer. “We worked closely with the client to design a container with a thick outer casing comprising multiple layers of corrugated polypropylene for extra cushioning and protection.
“We also incorporated an inner casing to house the bee nuc, with substantial spacing between the two casings to enable efficient airflow and full double-mesh ventilated sides. We utilized our in-house printing facilities to add clear labelling on each container, with warnings about its content and instructions on the safe handling and carriage of the live cargo.”
“Twinplast’s expertise in bespoke solutions has opened routes to a wide range of specialist markets, particularly in relation to companies which transport sensitive and delicate cargo,” added managing director Toby Garrett. “This contract was a typical example of how we use our resources to find answers to complex problems.
“A large percentage of Twinplast’s business comes through our ability to serve a set of demands that would be impossible to meet with an off-the-shelf product.”
Previous offerings from Twinplast include a foldable pallet box designed to cost around 85% less than conventional plastic solutions; and custom packaging to store and transport samples of blood and tissue, among other medical substances.
Another transit solution, Akarton’s Hexpand, is now licensed for production and distribution in Europe. The protective cardboard packaging solution is intended to transport fragile goods and unlock easy recyclability at end-of-life.
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