“We help make green companies, greener,†is something I often say in interviews and presentations. And although our company is young, I’m glad to report that we have indeed made good on our claim, making a real impact on the packaging industry and the environment. Here’s a little background on how our firm has advanced along the sustainable packaging path.
With a combined nearly fifty years of packaging industry experience, my wife, Lenora, and I started our MBE (Minority Business Enterprise) company, Salazar Packaging, Inc., in March, 2007. Recognizing the market’s need for sustainable, eco friendly packaging materials, we combined our passion with our profession, and quickly began to focus on green packaging products and solutions.
It was challenging to innovate and influence within a packaging industry that assumed -- and in some quarters even hoped -- that sustainability was merely another passing fad. At the same time, we had to satisfy the requirements of a skeptical green community who accused packaging of being the primary and largest violator of the planet and understandably and wisely questioned every packaging industry claim.
Sustainable Authenticity and Transparency
We Are Active Members of the Green Community
For many the above terms are catch phrases that sound good or look good in an ad or brochure, but for Salazar Packaging sustainable authenticity and transparency are non-negotiable requirements. To overcome the packaging industry’s negative image within the green community, we have made it a priority from day one to be real about our products and claims.
A key to achieving true sustainable authenticity has been the development of our Globe Guard ® green packaging brand, which honestly, openly, and clearly communicates the various degrees and levels of each product’s relative greenness. It is this green, greener, greenest approach combined with years of packaging industry knowledge that have enabled Salazar Packaging to become a trusted supplier partner to countless green companies and green consumers.
Practical, Achievable, and Cost Competitive Sustainability
When the economy took a nosedive (far too soon after we opened shop!) we discovered our products and solutions would have to be cost competitive in addition to being authentically and transparently green. Unfortunately, “saving the planet†was not at the top of everyone’s to do list. But, we were convinced just the same that once perceived cost barriers were removed and savings could be proven, most people would eagerly do the right thing for the environment.
Our unique, multi-faceted product lines enable us to combine different products to help our customers achieve very real and substantial triple bottom line objectives. Few companies work in corrugated and paperboard, paper substrates and plastics, as well as primary/direct contact/retail packaging and secondary/shipping packaging. There are a lot of places people can buy boxes and tape, but few with our ability to design and deliver such a wide variety of eco friendly packaging solutions.
Another exciting example of innovation is the product featured on this website -- our patent pending Globe Guard ® Reusable Box. This first of a kind shipping box enables companies to reduce materials and processing costs by quickly and easily permitting the multiple use of a single shipping box. I’ve often said reuse is the missing “R” of sustainable packaging -- but no longer!
These are two examples among many, but customers should know we are constantly on the lookout for better sustainable options. If we can’t find them … we create them!
Sustainable Packaging Thought Leaders
Salazar Packaging’s blog, Inside Sustainable Packaging has achieved acclaim in the packaging and green communities for an open and generous sharing of cost reducing and environmental protective techniques and ideas. In addition to numerous speaking engagements every year, ranging from high school future entrepreneur groups to national associations, I have contributed to two published books and, with online marketing specialist Brad Shorr, am the co-creator of Eco Ed™, the first green cartoon character. Eco Ed now appears monthly in Packaging Digest magazine and on the Packaging Digest website.
My articles on sustainable packaging have appeared in Sustainable Is Good, Green Biz, Green Design, Packaging Design, Triple Pundit, Green Business Owner, Tree Hugger and numerous other internet and magazine outlets including my featured Packaging Digest blog, “Common Sense Sustainability.â€
Our sustainability work is an endless job and a lifelong project Lenora and I enjoy tremendously. We feel blessed to work and the field we know and love, and we are grateful to our customers and industry partners who are making it all possible. Thank you for reading this, and I hope you’ll contact us to share your experiences, needs, and dreams in this amazing field of sustainable packaging.
--Dennis Salazar, Founder and President, Salazar Packaging, Inc.
About Salazar Packaging
“We help make green companies, greener,†is something I often say in interviews and presentations. And although our company is young, I’m glad to report that we have indeed made good on our claim, making a real impact on the packaging industry and the environment. Here’s a little background on how our firm has advanced along the sustainable packaging path.
With a combined nearly fifty years of packaging industry experience, my wife, Lenora, and I started our MBE (Minority Business Enterprise) company, Salazar Packaging, Inc., in March, 2007. Recognizing the market’s need for sustainable, eco friendly packaging materials, we combined our passion with our profession, and quickly began to focus on green packaging products and solutions.
It was challenging to innovate and influence within a packaging industry that assumed -- and in some quarters even hoped -- that sustainability was merely another passing fad. At the same time, we had to satisfy the requirements of a skeptical green community who accused packaging of being the primary and largest violator of the planet and understandably and wisely questioned every packaging industry claim.
Sustainable Authenticity and Transparency
We Are Active Members of the Green Community
For many the above terms are catch phrases that sound good or look good in an ad or brochure, but for Salazar Packaging sustainable authenticity and transparency are non-negotiable requirements. To overcome the packaging industry’s negative image within the green community, we have made it a priority from day one to be real about our products and claims.
A key to achieving true sustainable authenticity has been the development of our Globe Guard ® green packaging brand, which honestly, openly, and clearly communicates the various degrees and levels of each product’s relative greenness. It is this green, greener, greenest approach combined with years of packaging industry knowledge that have enabled Salazar Packaging to become a trusted supplier partner to countless green companies and green consumers.
Practical, Achievable, and Cost Competitive Sustainability
When the economy took a nosedive (far too soon after we opened shop!) we discovered our products and solutions would have to be cost competitive in addition to being authentically and transparently green. Unfortunately, “saving the planet†was not at the top of everyone’s to do list. But, we were convinced just the same that once perceived cost barriers were removed and savings could be proven, most people would eagerly do the right thing for the environment.
Our unique, multi-faceted product lines enable us to combine different products to help our customers achieve very real and substantial triple bottom line objectives. Few companies work in corrugated and paperboard, paper substrates and plastics, as well as primary/direct contact/retail packaging and secondary/shipping packaging. There are a lot of places people can buy boxes and tape, but few with our ability to design and deliver such a wide variety of eco friendly packaging solutions.
Sustainable Packaging Innovation
Dennis and Lenora Salazar
A great example of our ability to create answers for common packaging challenges is our Globe Guard ® line of 100% PCW recycled content corrugated shipping boxes. These are available to customers as a custom product or as stock items on our Globe Guard green packaging e-commerce store -- which, by the way, was the first full line, eco friendly packaging store in the industry.
Another exciting example of innovation is the product featured on this website -- our patent pending Globe Guard ® Reusable Box. This first of a kind shipping box enables companies to reduce materials and processing costs by quickly and easily permitting the multiple use of a single shipping box. I’ve often said reuse is the missing “R” of sustainable packaging -- but no longer!
These are two examples among many, but customers should know we are constantly on the lookout for better sustainable options. If we can’t find them … we create them!
Sustainable Packaging Thought Leaders
Salazar Packaging’s blog, Inside Sustainable Packaging has achieved acclaim in the packaging and green communities for an open and generous sharing of cost reducing and environmental protective techniques and ideas. In addition to numerous speaking engagements every year, ranging from high school future entrepreneur groups to national associations, I have contributed to two published books and, with online marketing specialist Brad Shorr, am the co-creator of Eco Ed™, the first green cartoon character. Eco Ed now appears monthly in Packaging Digest magazine and on the Packaging Digest website.
My articles on sustainable packaging have appeared in Sustainable Is Good, Green Biz, Green Design, Packaging Design, Triple Pundit, Green Business Owner, Tree Hugger and numerous other internet and magazine outlets including my featured Packaging Digest blog, “Common Sense Sustainability.â€
Our sustainability work is an endless job and a lifelong project Lenora and I enjoy tremendously. We feel blessed to work and the field we know and love, and we are grateful to our customers and industry partners who are making it all possible. Thank you for reading this, and I hope you’ll contact us to share your experiences, needs, and dreams in this amazing field of sustainable packaging.
--Dennis Salazar, Founder and President, Salazar Packaging, Inc.