The 10 Most Popular Packaging Materials, Ranked by Use

Materials are jobs, not rankings

There is no “best” packaging material — there is the material whose strength, print surface, cost and compliance match your product. This list covers the ten we specify most often, with the job each one does best.

The ten, by use

• Kraft board — natural, recyclable, one- and two-colour print; eco default
• SBS white paperboard — sharpest CMYK; retail shelf and cosmetics
• E-flute corrugated — light shipping with near-carton print; mailers
• B/C-flute corrugated — crush and stacking strength; shippers
• Double-wall corrugated — heavy and fragile freight
• Rigid chipboard — luxury setup boxes; jewelry, electronics, fragrance
• Recycled-content paperboard — honest eco claims with a real percentage
• PLA-lined board — compostable food packaging where facilities accept it
• Foil and metalized laminates — oxygen and light barrier for pouches
• Moulded pulp — recyclable inserts that cradle irregular shapes

How to choose without guessing

Send us the product — its weight, fragility, shelf context and carrier — and we recommend the material on the quote with the trade-offs explained. The most expensive mistake in packaging is not choosing wrong; it is choosing without knowing the options existed.