Ask Steve
February 26, 2025
Question from Catherine: Our sister plant in Europe uses paper to wrap their pallets rather than stretch film. Should we consider using it at our plant here in the US?
Hi Catherine,
There are several factors that we need to consider before we get to the YES/NO answer.
Let’s begin by defining why we apply a wrap to the pallet before shipping. It seems obvious, but many times people overlook the real purpose of wrapping a load. You are right, it is to contain the load during transport and storage. Keep in mind that shipping a pallet in the US is different than it is in Europe. The roads, trucks, and even the method of loading and unloading trailers are different. Therefore, the load containment needed to ship products successfully can also be quite different.
You purchase packaging material to secure the load, however, when you boil it down, what you are really buying is load containment. The type and amount of packaging material you will use is a function of your load containment standard. Too little, you have load failures, too much and you waste time and money. Therefore, cost cannot be evaluated based on a price per roll (or whatever the purchase unit of measure), it must be evaluated as the cost per pallet to achieve your load containment standard. That is very important because you may purchase cheaper material (by unit-of-measure) but then apply more of it to meet your standard, losing any cost advantage of using the “less expensive” product.
So far, we know that: 1) There needs to be a load containment standard in place suitable for where and how your product is being shipped, and 2) The packaging cost must be measured on a per pallet basis and not the purchase unit-of-measure price of the material.
With that in mind, we can take the next step, to evaluate the paper vs stretch film performance. Load containment begins by limiting any independent movement of the individual load components. The wrap does that by applying a force around the load, pulling all the contents tightly together. You demonstrate it every time you grasp an object and pick it up. Paper and stretch film have that in common, but now we need to understand where they differ.
Stretch film retracts by some percentage after it has been stretched. This retraction generates a force that is applied evenly around the load and conforms to variations in the load profile. The more you stretch the film and/or the more layers you apply, the greater the unitizing or gripping force applied to the load. Before it is applied, the film is pre-stretched in the wrapping machine, reducing the amount of application tension needed. This is important because too much application tension will pull the load contents off the pallet or possibly even crush box corners. The important takeaway is that pre-stretch and tension can be adjusted independently, giving you maximum flexibility in optimizing for load containment.
In contrast, paper wrap does not stretch, and because of that, no pre-stretch is used before the paper is applied to the load. The unitizing force applied to the load is controlled only with application tension. Paper is not as pliable as the stretch film; therefore, it does not conform to the contours of the load profile. The takeaway here is that while the application tension of paper needed to achieve a load containment standard may crush the corners, there may still be insufficient tension or gaps between the product which will allow independent movement of the various load components, leading to load failure.
Using paper also requires some modification to your wrapping equipment since it was designed to provide pre-stretch.
Finally, let’s look at paper vs stretch film from a sustainability viewpoint. On the surface, paper seems to be the more environmentally friendly choice, but you should know me by now, and that means we will dive a little deeper to find out if that assumption is true.
Producing paper requires a cocktail of highly toxic chemicals and consumes a significant amount of energy. Producing stretch film, by comparison, has less environmental impact. Paper and stretch film, based on our current recycle collection system, both largely, and sadly, end up in the same waste stream. Speaking in terms of bulk, there is substantially more weight and bulk when paper is stripped from the pallet than with stretch wrap and it is more difficult for your customers to handle.
I think we are ready to put everything together and reach that YES/NO answer.
- Will your cost per pallet (meeting your load containment standard) be lower with paper – NO.
- Will you be able to use your existing equipment, as is, if you switch to paper – NO.
- Will paper confidently meet your load containment standard – NO.
- Will paper be more environmentally friendly – NO.
As things are today, paper is not a viable solution for you. If cost per pallet, load containment, and sustainability are goals for your company, we have patented technology that can help you achieve all three (at the same time).
Thanks for asking.
