Farnell Bags Green Plaudits

The push to be seen to be green took another step forward at Farnell this week when it unveiled its new environmentally-friendly packaging.

The bags use a unique material which combines static protection for components with biodegradability. It was developed in cooperation with Antistat, a packaging specialist, and is patent protected and exclusive to Farnell. It will replace the polythene bags currently used to package an estimated 3.6 million components despatched by the distributor in Europe each year.

The packaging's characteristics offer the same level of protection as ESD packaging but can be disposed of in composting facilities. The bags are fully biodegradable to the recognised European standard (EN13432) and no harmful chemicals are released into the environment.

Said Paul Horton, supply chain director, Farnell Europe, "As a company involved in the handling of huge quantities of product we take our responsibilities to use environmentally friendly packaging very seriously and are dedicated to making a difference in the communities in which we operate. This latest innovation will enable us to significantly reduce the environmental impact of our business."

The initiative received the thumbs-up from Shaun McCarthy, director, Action Sustainability, a not-for-profit social enterprise established to lead and inspire sustainable procurement. He commented, "The environmental impact of polythene bags in the environment in the consumer market is well documented and visible top us all. The same issues apply to the use of such bags in industry so this commitment to innovative, environmental packaging solutions by Farnell is most welcome. It provides a great example of how businesses can address and meet their environmental responsibilities."  

Comments

[Arthur Jones]

Hi Mick
Many thanks for the feedback. What confused me slightly was the reference in the Press Release stating that "The packaging's characteristics offer the same level of protection as ESD packaging ......". Paul's account seems to contradict that so please thank him for taking the time to explain.
Regards
Arthur

[mick]

Arthur,
I now have a response from Paul Horton, Supply Chain Director for Farnell Europe.

“In response to your reader’s posting, Farnell’s biodegradable static dissipative bags are designed to offer an extremely environmentally friendly alternative to the polythene bags currently used to package the estimated 3.6 million non-ESD sensitive electronics components despatched by Farnell in Europe each year.

They are not designed to afford the shielding protection provided by Metalized shielding bags to ESD sensitive electronic components and should not be used for that purpose.”

Kind regards

Mick

[mick]

Thanks for these comments, Arthur. I'll look into this and respond next week.

Mick

[Arthur Jones]

These bags are dissipative; they are not metallised and therefore offer no shielding protection whatsoever. They are in no way, nor should they even be considered as, a replacement for high quality metallised shielding bags. The main purpose of these bags, apart from filling the composter, is to take non-electrostatic discharge sensitive devices into an electrostatic protected area. Why are we being mislead into believing they will protect sensitive electronic devices? As an electronics engineer my primary concern is that the devices will not have been damaged by careless handling before I receive them.