STREAMLINED LIFE CYCLE ASSESSMENT*

E-COMMERCE SHOE PACKAGING

CASE STUDY

The standard
measurement for
this study.
SHOE PACKAGE COMPARISON
Clothing and footwear represent a key area of significant growth in e-commerce.
For this case study, shoes were purchased from two separate e-commerce
retailers, both of which shipped the shoes in a traditional corrugated shoe box.
One retailer placed that shoe box into a corrugated overbox for e-commerce
shipping while the other used a flexible pouch with a feature to enable returns—
both scenarios were evaluated with a cradle-to-grave boundary.
SHOE BOX WITH SHOE BOX WITH
FLEXIBLE POUCH OVERBOX

FOSSIL FUEL CONSUMPTION

The shoe box with an overbox results in approximately
14% more fossil fuel use than the flexible mailer. This is
largely driven by the flexible mailer using less than half
(228.5g vs. 536.6g) the amount of packaging material
for an e-commerce delivery.
6.26 7.15
MJ-EQUIV MJ-EQUIV

GREENHOUSE GAS EMISSIONS

The shoe box with the overbox results in greenhouse gas
(GHG) emissions about 66% greater than the shoe box
and flexible mailer. Driven by the amount of material used
for the overbox scenario, the material impact alone is
greater than the material, manufacturing, transportation and .3943 .6529
end of life GHG impacts combined for the flexible mailer. KG-CO2 EQUIV KG-CO2 EQUIV

WATER CONSUMPTION
Water use for the shoe box with the overbox and the poly
mailer are nearly identical, with the production of LDPE
being more water intensive on a per gram basis than
corrugated, even though far less material is used.

94.23 92.68
L L

*All environmental impact metrics were developed using the streamlined life cycle assessment tool, EcoImpact-COMPASS®
END OF USE SUMMARY
SOURCE REDUCTION BENEFITS
Flexible packaging offers the ability to source reduce, which is one of the most preferred methods
of waste management, according to the U.S. EPA Waste Hierarchy.
As a result, a major benefit of flexible packaging is the high product-to-package ratio that it offers.

HIGH product-to-package ratio: LOW product-to-package ratio:

75.4% 24.6% 56.6% 43.4%

Product weight Package weight Product weight Package weight

RECOVERY BENEFITS In either scenario, all of the packaging material can be recycled using existing infrastructure:
the corrugated shoe box and the overbox can be recycled in the curbside system; and the
HDPE bubble wrap dunnage (used with the overbox) and HDPE flexible poly mailer can be
recycled as part of store drop-off recycling programs—if they go through the How2Recycle®
certification process, that is.
The corrugated overbox scenario results in less material being discarded to landfill because
of the high recycling rate and consumer convenience in recycling corrugated. This highlights
some of the tradeoffs that must be considered when looking at the environmental impacts of
any packaging material in an e-commerce application.

IMPLICATIONS
The results of the shoe e-commerce case study show that the flexible mailer results in a lower environmental impact across fossil fuel
use, greenhouse gas emissions and water use than the shoes arriving in an overbox. However, the flexible pouch results in more material
discarded in landfill due to the low recycling rates for the flexible mailer and additional steps consumers need to take by cutting out labels
and taking the mailer to a store drop-off location. Both package formats allow for product protection during delivery, though the flexible
mailer may hold up better in a wet or humid environment, while also allowing for easy opening and returns, important considerations for
consumer convenience.

PKG
FORMAT FOSSIL FUEL GHG WATER PRODUCT-TO-
LANDFILLED
CONSUMPTION EMISSIONS USE PACKAGE RATIO
(G)/1,000 KG
(MJ-DEPRIVED) (KG-CO 2 EQUIV) (I) AND PERCENT WT.
SHOES

FLEXIBLE
3.1:1
E-COMMERCE 6.26 0.3943 94.23 80,259
75.4%:24.6%
POUCH

OUTER 7.15 .6529 92.68 1.3:1 63,819

OVERBOX (+14.2%) (+65.6%) (-1.6%) 56.6%:43.4% (-20.5%)

For more information and methodologies of assessments, please visit www.flexpack.org to download the
“Sustainability and Life Cycle Impacts of Flexible Packaging in E-commerce” report. For additional findings
on the impact of flexible packaging on dimensional weight and shipping costs, visit www.flexpack.org/
resources/sustainability-resources.
Disclaimer: The products selected in this case study were all purchased online from standard e-commerce sites. They were meant to
be representative of packages in a particular category, though results may vary based on a specific package that was purchased.