1 July 2024 - OfficeMax New Zealand, the country’s leading workplace solutions specialist, is introducing a fully recyclable paper strap to replace the plastic polypropylene (PP) strapping on its copy paper boxes.
A box of copy paper, which includes five reams, is traditionally bound with plastic strapping to secure the box lid and act as a handle to support weight bearing when carried. The innovative paper strap, made primarily from recycled pulp and virgin long fibre, can support weights of up to 40 kilograms.
With OfficeMax holding more than 45 per cent of the white copy paper market*, the innovation is significant. If adopted by the whole paper market, the paper strap has the potential to prevent approximately 1,930 kilometres, longer than the length of New Zealand, of plastic strapping going into landfill each year**.
OfficeMax Director of Merchandise, Richard Meares, says supplier responsibility is an important part of creating a circular economy.
“Increasingly, our customers are looking to us to take a leading position in product stewardship, and that includes addressing the environmental impacts of our products; from sourcing, packaging, right through to their disposal,” says Meares.
“Designing out waste from existing products is one way to speed up New Zealand’s transition to a low carbon future and this is another great example of our focus in this area.”
OfficeMax was the first company in New Zealand to introduce a fully recyclable copy paper wrap in New Zealand back in 2020, which diverted almost 36 tonnes of waste in just three years***.
“We are still the only NZ retailer that sells a carbon neutral copy paper with recyclable wrap, and after seeing the ongoing positive impacts that these changes have made, it made sense to see how we could make our copy paper products even more sustainable,” he adds.
UPM Specialty Papers APAC supported OfficeMax with the research and development of the paper strap to ensure the product was 100 per cent recyclable in New Zealand and met the Australian Packaging Covenant Organisation (APCO) standards.
“The addition of this paper strap to copy paper packaging means we have now completed the journey to ensure all of the copy paper materials are fully recyclable,” says Area Sales Director at UPM Specialty Papers APAC, Will Killinger.
“We are delighted that we were able to successfully develop a paper strap that supports OfficeMax with delivering more sustainable copy paper products to their customers,” adds Killinger.
The paper strap has been rolled out on New Future Opti copy paper, and all OfficeMax branded copy paper will transition to the paper strap later this year.
*Based on A4 and A3 white copy paper only.
**Approximated numbers based on the NZ market size of all white copy paper being 20,000 tonnes.
***Assumes copy paper wrap is recycled 100% of the time.