Mirumiru Wrap

Agency: Woods Agency
Creative Director: Melissa Woods
Design Director: Reuben Woods
Senior Designer: Sara Keranen-Gramner
Client Manager: Amber Gosbee
Location: New Zealand
Project Type: Produced
Client: Salt of the Earth
Product Launch Location: New Zealand
Packaging Contents: Protective packaging for glass bottles and products for freight
Packaging Substrate / Materials: Recycled unbleached paper

PROBLEM #1
Products need protection while in transit. Plastic bubble wrap is the most used product globally for flexible protective packaging of products, US producers alone are expecting to increase production capacity by as much as 75% by 2022.

PROBLEM #2
Traditional plastic bubble wrap is made from polyethylene and is a major contributor to global plastic pollution of the environment.

PROBLEM #3
Plastic bubble wrap does not go away. Ever.

PROBLEM #4
Retail eCommerce sales worldwide are projected to increase from $2.7 trillion in 2018 to $4.2 trillion in 2023. These figures demonstrate protective packaging use and sales will also increase, as will the environmental impact the packaging has on the environment. Plastic protective packaging is a problem.

OUR SOLUTION.
mirumiru wrap™ is an environmentally friendly paper-based alternative to plastic polyethylene bubble wrap. Its unique hexagonal design pattern and structure protect and withstand direct impact, force, and pressure.

mirumiru wrap™ was designed to replace traditional plastic bubble wrap. It can be customized in paper gsm thickness, hexagonal cell height, and length of mirumiru wrap roll. The mirumiru wrap™ was designed for companies of large fragile items and smaller delicate items that need protective packaging during shipping.

It offers a zero-waste alternative to plastic bubble wrap and is lightweight, easy to use, protective and cost-effective.

WHY IT MATTERS.
It is important companies move to alternative solutions for protective packaging as the environment is suffering and plastic bubble wrap is a major contributor and hidden polluter. Plastic bubble wrap will only be used once or twice before ending up in a landfill. NZ Post Chief Marketing Officer Bryan Dobson stated in a recent eCommerce report that New Zealand online shopping is growing at a rate of 13% per year. In 2019 NZ Post delivered 17 million parcels within New Zealand and New Zealanders are spending $4.9 billion annually on online shopping. Ecommerce is growing and so is the use of glass bottles and jars for packaging as companies move away from plastic. This increases the risk of goods breaking or being damaged while in transit. The problem companies face is how to protect their products while in transit while still making environmentally friendly choices. Recycling of plastic is broken and the oceans are swimming in plastic.

KEY BENEFITS AND WHY MIRUMIRU WRAP IS BETTER THAN PLASTIC BUBBLE WRAP.
Reducing the use of plastic bubble wrap is essential. With Covid19 increasing the amount of goods being purchased and posted, it is important that we don’t overlook the environmental implications of our actions – shipping goods fast.

The oceans and environment are full of microplastic fibres, fragments, microbeads and nanoplastics. Sunlight, wind, waves and heat break plastic down into smaller pieces that look like food to plankton, bivalves, fish and whales. Nanoplastics are invisible to the human eye and can penetrate cells and move into tissue and organs. Scientists and researchers are currently trying to work out how to track, measure and trace the impact this is having on human health.

The key benefits of the paper mirumiru wrap™ lay in its ability to protect items from damage during transit without negatively impacting on the environment. It has enhanced environmental performance, made from recycled paper, unbleached and can be reused, reduced and recycled. The mirumiru wrap™ can be paired with rolls of FSC printed branded tissue paper or FSC custom branded paper tape to ensure the packaging is fully recyclable and compostable.

The unique shape and structure of the paper mirumiru wrap mimics the structure of honeycomb in a beehive, cells that each have the ability to withstand pressure from above and below. The Challenge for Woods Agency was how to brand and market protective packaging to the world, catching the eye with quirky imagery on social and informative messaging. The mirumiru wrap is a design and innovation protective packaging product that was developed by Melissa Woods in New Zealand #wasteisadesignflaw #packagingforthepeople