WicInd Group is designing new labels. These labels (packaging) will be used on all products. We are currently working with a NY printing firm Greg Barber Company for the base printing of our containers labels and office use papers. We are also in conversation with Greg about paperboard conversions for our needs in that form (soap boxes, etc.).
What will be most noticeable about the new labels is that we are not going to be using the background image that was part of our early labels. Even though the background image was significant in that it was an original art piece from our founder Arleta, it no longer suits the new look of our "Love, Gaia" line of natural personal care products.
We will also be including much more information on our labels. Previously our labels effectively contained the minimum of information necessary to meet CPS, FTC and other Federal or governmental regulations. We did include some small amount of marketing information, but for the most part it was only what had to be there to comply with regulations. We still include the regulatory information at proper resolutions, but now we will be including helpful information about the products, the company and/or about general health, beauty and/or environment and/or social issues. This allows us to use our labels for more of an advertising vehicle, while at the same time providing the necessary information and additional information for our customers, thus increasing the value to the customer.
We are still working out better label technologies, such as more environmental adhesives. Currently we use a form of hot applied wheat germ paste for most containers and package labels, however we are investigating other options that will be more environmental and require less energy to use. We must also consider that the labels and packages need to be safe for the customer, so this is large part of our considerations. We always test our new technologies against standards of the industry for safety and for usability, plus we add our own internal test that are usually more stringent than the industry standards. Our objective here is to create a environmentally safe adhesive technology, that is also safe for the product and therefore provide higher value to the customer.
We are still using sealing technologies that are common in the industry. We still use shrink wrapping technologies to ensure safety to our customers. We will be using tamper proof shrink bands on all products to ensure that the product safety from the point of manufacture to the point of purchase. We cannot at this time find a qualified substitute for this process, although we are investigating several alternatives. One particular hopeful that we are currently testing is a polymer made from corn stocks, and one from other vegetable stocks. We have not had sufficient conclusive results from our test to provide further information, or to make a change in our current technology to facilitate any alternative products at this time. We will be sure to update our customers on this issue when new information becomes available.
That's all we have on the labels for now, please check with us later for more information as it becomes available from our Research and Development labs.
Thank you,
James E. Doud
----------------
Listening to: WRVO
via FoxyTunes
Tuesday, October 02, 2007
New Bottle Designs
WicInd Group is working on new bottle designs for all our products that use bottles. We will be featuring them here. For now, we will provide the specifics of the why and what the bottles mean for our customers.
Why we chose to use new bottles.
In our effort to ensure that we are adhering to our high standards of environmental conservation, we are switching to glass materials for our bottles. WicInd Group produces the "Love, Gaia" brand of natural personal care products. In that line we have lotions and creams (as well as other products) which previously were packaged in HDPE plastic bottles and jars. Although HDPE plastics is highly recyclable and often made with high levels of recycled materials, it still is using plastic. In the use of plastic we have found that there is a small amount of transference of the material to the product over time, and therefore we have decided that our customers will be served better by the use of neutral glass materials. Glass is also 100% recyclable, or even refillable, which leads into our return of packaging program. We will be able to provide additional incentives to our customers to return the packaging to the place of purchase (even websites), for a refund on the packaging, which can be directly applied to the new packaging. We do not have a deposit on our products, but we do offer an incentive for the customer to return the package, allowing us to ensure that our packaging is recycled properly. In most cases we will be able to clean and reuse the packaging for new products.
Ugly bottles make better products.
The specifications of the bottles and jars are also important for product protection. For this we require that the bottle or container be of a dark brown, dark amber, or ruby color. We are most interested in the dark brown color as it allows the least amount of light transmission. Although WicInd Group products do include anti-oxidants (tocopherol, etc.) we do not use synthetic or even naturally derived preservatives, and therefore the dark colors of our packaging helps to protect the product from light damage. We were not able to provide this same protection in the HDPE bottles, even with using the opaque white bottles. Unfortunately this can make for a less than pretty bottle or container. We had considered other alternatives, such as metallic sleeves or impregnating the glass with metallic materials, however these operations create problems with the recycling of the containers. Although WicInd Group would like all their customers to return the packaging to the place of purchase so that we could ensure that they are properly recycled or reused, we can not expect that this will occur 100% of the time, even with the incentives we offer. This being the case we have chosen to use the darkest color of glass commonly available that will still comply with most local recycling systems. The containers may be ugly, but at least they are environmentally safe, and safer for the customer, giving them better value for their money.
Glass Breaks, doesn't it.
There are issues of safety of the containers. WicInd Group has considered the safety of the containers. We are fully aware of the dangers of glass breakage. We have had to make a compromise in this situation. In the case of the consideration of breakage versus weight in shipping. We service many of our customers via the internet, and have to ship the product to them through the common carriers. We also have to consider bulk shipments to our stores from our manufacturing facility. The cost of shipping does present a problem that we are still considering, however we are going ahead with this program, with the idea that if shipment becomes an issue, we will reconsider this program, or find another method to transport the product. Breakage is the other major consideration. How this runs into problems that in order to ensure that the container is safe from normal use breakage, we have to make it quite heavy, and that is why we have problems with the shipment. We have decided to ensure that the container is heavy enough to ensure that it will be safe for the customer under normal use conditions. WicInd Group has a concern that outside of normal usage the product is still dangerous. If the customer is to throw the container against a wall and/or it falls on a hard surface from waist hight or higher we are concerned that it will have breakage beyond what we consider acceptable. We are still testing materials and container reactions to various types of internally developed test. Yes we are throwing our containers around, but in more controlled conditions and trying to find what specifications will need to be considered in the compromise we make for both breakage safety and shipping economy. Our basic objective is to specify a safe container and then consider how we will ship it economically.
So that's all we got for now. We will post more when test provide additional information. In the meantime we are continuing to use the rest of our inventory of HDPE containers for our products. We are seeking suppliers of glass materials, and are working with several of them to find the best choice based on several criteria, including environmental considerations of the suppliers. As always social considerations are a large part our decision, however we do have to continue to produce products, so we have to make some compromises, but only when we have to.
Thank you,
James E. Doud
----------------
Listening to: WRVO
via FoxyTunes
Why we chose to use new bottles.
In our effort to ensure that we are adhering to our high standards of environmental conservation, we are switching to glass materials for our bottles. WicInd Group produces the "Love, Gaia" brand of natural personal care products. In that line we have lotions and creams (as well as other products) which previously were packaged in HDPE plastic bottles and jars. Although HDPE plastics is highly recyclable and often made with high levels of recycled materials, it still is using plastic. In the use of plastic we have found that there is a small amount of transference of the material to the product over time, and therefore we have decided that our customers will be served better by the use of neutral glass materials. Glass is also 100% recyclable, or even refillable, which leads into our return of packaging program. We will be able to provide additional incentives to our customers to return the packaging to the place of purchase (even websites), for a refund on the packaging, which can be directly applied to the new packaging. We do not have a deposit on our products, but we do offer an incentive for the customer to return the package, allowing us to ensure that our packaging is recycled properly. In most cases we will be able to clean and reuse the packaging for new products.
Ugly bottles make better products.
The specifications of the bottles and jars are also important for product protection. For this we require that the bottle or container be of a dark brown, dark amber, or ruby color. We are most interested in the dark brown color as it allows the least amount of light transmission. Although WicInd Group products do include anti-oxidants (tocopherol, etc.) we do not use synthetic or even naturally derived preservatives, and therefore the dark colors of our packaging helps to protect the product from light damage. We were not able to provide this same protection in the HDPE bottles, even with using the opaque white bottles. Unfortunately this can make for a less than pretty bottle or container. We had considered other alternatives, such as metallic sleeves or impregnating the glass with metallic materials, however these operations create problems with the recycling of the containers. Although WicInd Group would like all their customers to return the packaging to the place of purchase so that we could ensure that they are properly recycled or reused, we can not expect that this will occur 100% of the time, even with the incentives we offer. This being the case we have chosen to use the darkest color of glass commonly available that will still comply with most local recycling systems. The containers may be ugly, but at least they are environmentally safe, and safer for the customer, giving them better value for their money.
Glass Breaks, doesn't it.
There are issues of safety of the containers. WicInd Group has considered the safety of the containers. We are fully aware of the dangers of glass breakage. We have had to make a compromise in this situation. In the case of the consideration of breakage versus weight in shipping. We service many of our customers via the internet, and have to ship the product to them through the common carriers. We also have to consider bulk shipments to our stores from our manufacturing facility. The cost of shipping does present a problem that we are still considering, however we are going ahead with this program, with the idea that if shipment becomes an issue, we will reconsider this program, or find another method to transport the product. Breakage is the other major consideration. How this runs into problems that in order to ensure that the container is safe from normal use breakage, we have to make it quite heavy, and that is why we have problems with the shipment. We have decided to ensure that the container is heavy enough to ensure that it will be safe for the customer under normal use conditions. WicInd Group has a concern that outside of normal usage the product is still dangerous. If the customer is to throw the container against a wall and/or it falls on a hard surface from waist hight or higher we are concerned that it will have breakage beyond what we consider acceptable. We are still testing materials and container reactions to various types of internally developed test. Yes we are throwing our containers around, but in more controlled conditions and trying to find what specifications will need to be considered in the compromise we make for both breakage safety and shipping economy. Our basic objective is to specify a safe container and then consider how we will ship it economically.
- Heavy Glass Container
- Dark Brown color
- Multiple Sizes and Shapes
- Molding to Our Designs
- Recyclable Content
- Recycled Content
- Re-usability
- Adaptation to closures specified
Basic Specifications:
So that's all we got for now. We will post more when test provide additional information. In the meantime we are continuing to use the rest of our inventory of HDPE containers for our products. We are seeking suppliers of glass materials, and are working with several of them to find the best choice based on several criteria, including environmental considerations of the suppliers. As always social considerations are a large part our decision, however we do have to continue to produce products, so we have to make some compromises, but only when we have to.
Thank you,
James E. Doud
----------------
Listening to: WRVO
via FoxyTunes
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