“Historically, the white box was a marketing tool. White is clean, and our filters makes the air clean. That’s the message the white box was sending,” says Markus Koch, Product Manager Comfort at Camfil.
Camfil is a leading manufacturer of premium clean air solutions, they provide systems for air filtration and air pollution control. Markus Koch continues:
“Recently, our customers have started to ask for brown boxes and we asked ourselves: would a brown box be better for the environment?”
Sustainability project to reduce climate impacts and save energy
In 2022 Camfil started a large project focusing on sustainability, aiming to save energy and cut down on CO2 emissions caused by their business. Now, they had a strong reason to take a good look at their entire business and supply chain, including the corrugated boxes used as transport packaging.
Improving the boxes became a project within the project, and Camfil reached out to Stora Enso with two questions: Would a brown corrugated box lower our CO2 emissions? If yes, can you help us switch out the white boxes?
“That first question never has a simple answer since a change in one component of the corrugated board affects the rest. So, we did a holistic investigation of the total climate impacts of the board and put together a report,” says Ivan Deviatkin, Sustainability Manager Life Cycle Services at Stora Enso.
It turned out that, yes, by moving from bleached white board to unbleached brown the CO2 emissions could be reduced.
Switching out the box and saving 50 tonnes of CO2 emissions yearly
Camfil and Stora Enso worked closely together to find the best and most sustainable solution for the corrugated boxes. The Stora Enso team’s investigation resulted in a report recommending replacing white boxes with brown ones from the climate change point of view.
Camfil decided to make the switch.
The new box is contributing to Camfil’s sustainability project by reducing the CO2 emissions by more than 50 tonnes yearly. This equals a reduction of 13% per box compared to the previous solution.
“We have the know-how to help customers become more sustainable. When a customer is as engaged and curious as Camfil, it’s a perfect match. This could not have been done without Camfil’s commitment and expertise regarding their business and products,” says Kent Liljesson, Sales Manager at Stora Enso.
The switch was completed in only three months and was done for the boxes transporting HiFlo air filters sold in Europe. Camfil will now expand the project to include more products and markets.
“It’s a never-ending story to keep improving our products and what’s associated with them. The box now gives a good perception, but not only that, it also generates real value and tonnes of CO2 saved,” Markus Koch ends.
