F E AT U RE CORRUGATION IS THE FUTURE Guillaume Rochman, founder and General Manager of Sofrapack ISPM15 treatment is chemical... and you need to pay to get rid of wood, whereas the corrugated (used correctly) is green and free to destroy GUILLAUME ROCHMAN the company uses reusable bubble-pack bags in packing wherever possible for example, when packing kitchenware, crystal-ware, silverware and fine china, to reduce the use of tissues/newsprints and brown wax papers. It also reuses cartons salvaged from inbound shipments for domestic removals, and reuses wood salvaged from inbound shipments to make crates. According to Chairman Gordon Bell, it continues to innovate and improve its packaging to ensure environmentally friendly products, safety and durability. Specifically for its domestic moves, the company has developed and uses reusable plastic bins/ containers and cooler boxes to replace carton boxes, and has invested in furniture blankets to protect bulky pieces of furniture during a move. Bell says: By using fully reusable unique Strong Wrap, plastic containers and cooler boxes, as well as recycled cartons for home and furnishings, we constantly give customers possessions the safest handling and protection. We also moved away from wooden pallets meant for international air shipments, and substituted them with recyclable cardboard pallets, which have proved to be stronger, lighter and more environmentally friendly. Corrugated paper pallets made from recycled papers are used to substitute wooden pallets as an alternative for air-palletising operations to achieve zero waste disposal and generate recycling revenue. SOFRAPACKS PRODUCTS All of Sofrapacks products come with worldwide patents. Among its products are: l Specific crates for pianos, motorcycles, paintings and chandeliers l Liftvans that use strong corrugated pallets l Air freight crates l All of its products can come with unique corrugated pallets, which are handmade. 62 FF289FebMar19 pp60-62 Environment.indd 62 Sofrapack was launched 13 years ago by Guillaume Rochman, who is now the companys General Manager. At the time, the ISPM15* international standard for solid wood packaging was introduced for imports into Europe from outside the EU, with the companys goal to supply good quality and green packaging solutions to movers. Rochman says: The future is in corrugated and recycled paper, absolutely not wood and plastic. Rochman adds: I wanted to give possibilities to movers to get strong and high-quality products with other kinds of innovative green-packaging solutions, such as corrugated crates and, later (last year), the PleatWrap. Most French movers, and a large number of other European movers, use our products because they are strong, light, ISPM15-free and green for the environment. ISPM15 treatment is chemical and you need to pay to get rid of wood, whereas the corrugated used correctly is green and free to destroy. Sofrapack manufactures strong corrugated custom crates to replace wooden ones, and strong paper wrap PleatWrap to replace any pad or bubble wrap, saying theyre much greener than using wood or plastic. It has taken time, but Rochman can see a change in movers attitude to the environment. He explains: Its hard to change the habits of movers. In the past, movers only wanted wood because customers wanted it, thinking wood is strong and there is nothing to replace it that can offer the same protection and safety during transport. With time, Sofrapack proved to movers that corrugated crates are the solution. We educated customers, telling them that we use good packaging products that are strong, corrugated and much greener. Rochman says Sofrapacks products are high quality, which their price reflects, and claims alternatives are still 30 per cent cheaper than using wooden crates. According to Rochman, the challenge in making eco products is to design good packaging products that answer all the requirements a mover has. He adds: Making green corrugated crates is easy, but making strong and useful ones is something else. When we decided to make corrugated crates, we tried to anticipate all needs of the removal companies they had to be strong, easy to work with and cheaper. We met all three points. It is also benefits movers to use Sofrapack greenpackaging solutions because it helps them to meet ISO standards. Rochman says the companys next challenge is to try to convince all movers that saving the planet is the job of everyone, and using Sofrapacks green-packaging solutions is a start. *The ISPM15 standard describes the phytosanitary measures that reduce the risk of introducing and spreading pests associated with the movement of wood-packaging material made from raw wood in international trade. Wood-packaging material covered by this standard includes dunnage, but excludes wood packaging made from wood processed in such a way that it is free from pests for example, plywood. WWW. F I D I . OR G 24/01/2019 13:42