Success Story: From Plastic to Paper: An E-Commerce Packaging Conversion
Client Overview
A large fulfillment program set out to cut flexible plastic and de-risk rising EPR exposure. Adept led two moves: replacing plastic mailers with recyclable paper mailers, and shifting lighter, smaller products out of corrugated boxes into right-sized paper mailers. The economics below are shown per unit — scale them to your own volume.
The Challenge
SB 54 sets two independent source reduction obligations, each 25% below the 2023 baseline by 2032: one on plastic weight and one on plastic component count. A plan that hits the weight target through lightweighting alone fails the component-count target, and at least 10 of the 25 points must come from reuse, refill, or elimination. The client needed a plan that satisfied all three tests, not just the easy one.
Our Approach
Plastic bag → Paper mailer · Workstream A
Plastic elimination
Led development and multi-supplier qualification of the recyclable unpadded paper mailer (extensible kraft), converting the bulk of bag volume to curbside-recyclable paper. Under SB 54 this is genuine source reduction — removal, not substitution —which counts toward the 25%-by-2032 target.
Corrugated box → Paper mailer · Workstream B
Right-size & light-weight
Moved ~15% of boxed shipments — smaller, lower-fragility items — into papermailers instead of corrugated boxes. Same recyclable stream, ~35% less packweight and materially less cube per shipment, cutting downstream transport andhandling cost.
The Impact
| Per 1,000 mailers | Weight | Rate ($/lb) | EPR fee |
|---|---|---|---|
Plastic film (before) | 28.7 lb | 0.90* | $25.79 |
Paper mailer (after) | 77.4 lb | 0.20 | $15.48 |
Net EPR saving | 2.7× heavier | −40% | $10.31 |
Why it saves even though the paper weighs more
Paper is ~2.7× the weight of the film it replaces — so material tonnage goes up. Fees still fall ~40% because the conversion exits the high-rate plastic category (~$0.90/lb all-in, incl. plastic surcharge) for recyclable paper (~$0.20/lb).One mailer: 13 g plastic @ $0.90/lb = $0.026 → 35 g paper @$0.20/lb = $0.015. Heavier bag, ~40% lower fee.
Net EPR savings scale with volume — find your program
- 100M bags/yr $0.7M
- 250M bags/yr $1.6M
- 500M bags/yr $3.3M
- 1B bags/yr $6.6M
- 2B bags/yr $13.2M
- 3.2B bags/yr $21.1M
Let’s Talk Efficiency Gains
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