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A Cardboard Box That Requires No Glue nor Packaging Tape

Yuto Packaging's Zero-Glue Express Box

By Rain Noe - March 12

in Packaging | Sustainability

Corrugated cardboard is recyclable and compostable. However, the hot-melt glue used to hold the boxes together, as well as the packaging tape that seals them, is not. Unwary gardeners who throw old Amazon boxes into their compost piles introduce microplastics or fiberglass filaments (the strands in that paper packaging tape) into their soil. Recycling facilities have extra machinery that filters those things out during the pulping process.

It would be better if no glue was required to hold a cardboard box together. Thus Chinese company Yuto Packaging has designed this Zero-Glue Express Box. It not only holds itself together, but obviates the need for packaging tape to seal it shut.

Instead, the sheets have been designed with a locking tab of "an ingenious design — it cannot be opened without causing damage," the company writes, "effectively preventing theft and tampering while ensuring aesthetics, practicality and environmental sustainability."

Not only can the box be recycled or composted with ease, but the burden on the packagers themselves is reduced. By eliminating packaging tape, tape guns and glue lines from the production line, the packager can reduce their own SKUs.

While the Zero-Glue Express Box has won awards including the China Pack Star Award and the iF Design Gold Award, curiously, it does not appear as a product offering on the company's website. Whether it's simply a concept or yet-to-be-launched wasn't clear at press time.

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Colin Warnes

a month ago

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I work in the packaging machinery industry and there's nothing innovative about this box/carton. It's basically an auto-bottom carton with a double tuck top flap. These are all designs that have been around for decades. There are also a number of alternative designs that do not use glue (cold or hot).

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Andy Collins

a month ago

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Am I being a bit thick here? I can't see any evidence of glue. It all looks clean to me.

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- Zach W
  
  Andy Collins
  
  a month ago
  
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  The initial production of the box requires gluing. When it's being put together (assuming at the manufacturing site) glue is applied to the three areas I highlighted in green. The final "closure" step is the only part that does not require glue.
  
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Zach W

a month ago

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Based on the blank shown, it also uses glue to hold the bottom together (auto-lock bottom). There is actually quite a bit of glue used in the assembly of this box.

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Zach W

a month ago

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Misleading title.
This box still uses glue to hold itself together like a traditional RSC would. Had they used an RELF style box they might avoid glue completely but this design still uses glue.
-The main box itself has a glue-flap (visible in the first picture, left side of the blank). It doesn't need glue or tape to seal shut, but it still has a glue-flap used during initial assembly.

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