Discover award-winning recyclable packaging

Easy-to-recycle, EPS-free packaging

At Brother, we use moulded pulp and cardboard in our new printer and scanner packaging, with no Expanded Polystyrene (EPS).
Our packaging is highly durable and flexible, making it the ideal material for the safe and secure delivery of our printers and scanners to our customers.
It uses less resources and is much easier for our customers to recycle - so it's better for you and for the environment.

Compact and durable

Reduced CO₂

100% recyclable

Two men stood shaking hands, with the man on the left accepting an award

Innovative Brother technology

We've developed the packaging using our advanced simulation technology, which determines the energy or impact needed to break or damage our products in transit. Through ongoing testing and analysis, we were able to create smaller, compact cushioning without compromising its strength.

This innovation in our moulded pulp packaging has won the following awards:

APCO SPGs Implementation Award in Australia, 2023
The Technical Packaging Award at The Japan Packaging Contest, 2024
The WorldStar Global Packaging Award for electronics, 2025

Our packaging was recognised for achieving compactness and lightness while maintaining cushioning performance and reducing CO₂ emissions during production and other processes.

Our packaging story

The challenge

While Expanded Polystyrene (EPS) offers excellent cushioning performance, it is difficult to recycle and challenging for our customers to dispose of responsibly - posing the very real risk of becoming microplastics and leading to marine pollution.

There is also a growing movement to legislate Expanded Polystyrene.

So we wanted to develop packaging that was easier for our customers to recycle and better for the environment.

The prototype

After repeated prototyping and evaluation, and by exploring new suppliers of pulp, we succeeded in developing the first generation of paper cushioning material while maintaining the same packaging size and cushioning performance.

However, the cost of the parts was more than double that of Expanded Polystyrene (EPS), which made mass production impossible.

Innovation

However, the innovation does not stop there. A major turning point came with the development of our unique simulation technology that analyses the drop impact.

Normally, physical drop tests are a major burden in packaging development, but developing our innovative simulation technology made it possible to reduce the number of prototypes and shorten development time by 90%, whilst significantly reducing the CO2 emissions associated with prototype production.

Product development

After conducting over 100 tests using analytical techniques, we developed the idea that we could improve cushioning performance by creating a shape that specialises in the eight corners.

This idea was further developed into the "Edge Pad", which is shaped to protect the eight corners of the printer and provide maximum protection.

Minimising resources

The "Edge Pad" is placed at the 4 corners of the top and bottom of the printer, which not only improves cushioning performance but also reduces the weight by 33% compared to the previous pulp packaging.

In addition, this smaller moulded pulp has made it possible to reduce the size of the boxes by 7%. This reduction in the weight and size of the moulded pulp has successfully reduced the amount of resources and costs required to produce them.

The finished packaging

The protective moulded pulp can be easily expanded or contracted to fit a variety of products and weights.

This makes it possible to accommodate a wide range of Brother products, paving the way for the mass production of easy-to-recycle, moulded pulp packaging.

The challenge
The prototype
Innovation
Product development
Minimising resources
The finished packaging

Award-winning

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) about our packaging

Moulded pulp is a packaging material made from recycled paper that involves hydrating fibres to a pulp, moulding them into specific shapes, and then drying them. It's fully recyclable and very durable.

Our moulded pulp is extremely durable and provides cushioning performance comparable to the Expanded Polystyrene (EPS) it replaces.

Expanded Polystyrene is a lightweight and rigid foam material, made from polystyrene beads that contain styrene monomer and pentane gas. Whilst it is relatively cheap and rigid, it can be highly flammable and is difficult to recycle.

All of our new printer and scanner packaging is 100% Expanded Polystyrene-free.

Yes. You can recycle all of the moulded pulp and cardboard packaging, in the same way you would recycle any of your paper or cardboard waste.

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65% less emissions
by 2030

We believe sustainability is about operating responsibly; but more than that, it's an opportunity to support the communities we're a part of and to have a positive impact on the world.

Sustainability at Brother

Market-leading
remanufacturing

Discover Renew By Brother, our ink and toner cartridge remanufacturing programme and find out how you can support us by recycling your used printer cartridges.

Remanufacturing at Brother

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The Brother Product
Life Cycle

From design and inception through to collection and recycling, every stage of our products' life cycle is considered to minimise any impact on the environment.

Discover our Product Life Cycle

Our award-winning recyclable packaging

Easy-to-recycle, EPS-free packaging

Compact and durable

Reduced CO₂

100% recyclable

Innovative Brother technology