Long Life Packaging
Long life packaging is essential in certain situations, namely where the permanence of the items being stored is crucial. Ordinary cardboard can contain acids which over time migrate into the product being stored within, and cause it to deteriorate. This creates problems in the storage of valuable items such as art, books and other products where permanence is crucial. At Caps Cases we are capable of producing packaging in an acid free cardboard material, this guarantees any product in direct contact with the cardboard will not deteriorate for a period of up to 50 years.
The case study below tells the story of a large scale long life packaging project that Caps Cases has undertaken in conjunction with the University of Oxford:
Cost Effective Permanent Storage - Made Possible by Caps Cases
Caps Cases have been sought after to engage in an ongoing project with the University of Oxford to re-house 7 million books in a new offsite storage facility.
Having reached capacity at their current premises in Oxford, Caps Cases were given a brief to design a bespoke packaging system to store, categorise and allow access to a vast collection of publications. Deployed at a purpose built permanent stoage facility spread over an area the size of four football pitches, the design of the packaging material used will need to stand up to 50 years of storage.
Once the brief was agreed our design team worked closely with the University, producing samples on our CAD system, and finalising the designs to produce a user friendly, robust and practical storage solution.
As the packaging comes into direct contact with the books it is important to ensure there is no contamination. In liason with our suppliers we developed a board which is compliant with the ISOCD9706 standard for permanence. The paper has a 0.5% Lignin content and a PH range of 7.5 - 10.0.
The project began production in 2011 and will continue on into 2012.
The book storage facility