CT shipping company goes green, using cardboard, not plastic

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PACT, a cardboard container company in Watertown, uses recyclable materials to ship materials for military family moving companies, defense companies and other clients. Company President and Chief Operating Officer Rodger Mort shows a collection of packing boxes, which can be safely stacked for shipping.

PACT, a cardboard container company in Watertown, uses recyclable materials to ship materials for military family moving companies, defense companies and other clients. Pictured is President and Chief Operating Officer Rodger Mort, whose patented products include a fireproof paper suitable for shipping dead but dangerous lithium batteries.

PACT, a cardboard container company in Watertown, uses recyclable materials to ship materials for military family moving companies, defense companies and other clients. Pleated cardboard with more paper inside replaces plastic bubble wrap.

PACT, a cardboard container company in Watertown, uses recyclable materials to ship materials for military family moving companies, defense companies and other clients. Wooden boxes are still used for transporting hazardous materials, like lithium-ion batteries.

PACT, a cardboard container company in Watertown, uses recyclable materials to ship materials for military family moving companies, defense companies and other clients. Plastic tube rolls are used to protect fragile laboratory equipment, and can be reused.

PACT, a cardboard container company in Watertown, uses recyclable materials to ship materials for military family moving companies, defense companies and other clients.

PACT, a cardboard container company in Watertown, uses recyclable materials to ship materials for military family moving companies, defense companies and other clients. Its corrugated cardboard boxes are stronger and can be stacked for transport safely, company president Rodger Mort says.

PACT, a cardboard container company in Watertown, uses recyclable materials to ship materials for military family moving companies, defense companies and other clients. Rolls of pleated cardboard are used for packing, rather than bubble wrap.

PACT, a cardboard container company in Watertown, uses recyclable materials to ship materials for military family moving companies, defense companies and other clients. Its COO is Rodger Mort.

WATERTOWN — Packing materials used in the moving industry can generate tons of waste: packing paper, rolls of tape and millions of cardboard and wooden boxes, along with plastic bubble wrap and sheets of thicker plastic wrap used to secure stacks of boxes.

At Packaging and Crating Technologies LLC, or PACT, in Watertown, the company has changed the way cardboard is used — and reused — saving tons of materials from ending up in a landfill.

PACT President and Chief Operating Officer Rodger Mort is an expert on the subject of cardboard. A veteran of the corrugated paper industry, Mort was working for a company in Portland before it relocated to Ohio in 2010.

Around that time, he met Michael Jackson, owner of Wood Free Crating in New York City. They became friends and worked together to improve the company's packing methods. Jackson died in 2022; Mort now runs PACT with Jackson's sons.

"When I joined PACT, we were looking at ways to make our operations more efficient," Mort said. "We had 20 people making 20 (cardboard) crates a day, and we changed that to 11 people making hundreds of crates a day."

PACT's specially designed, corrugated cardboard crate is strong, water resistant and able to withstand extreme pressure and temperatures, he said. The crates use thicker, more durable cardboard parts, which can be assembled by hand quickly. Unlike single-layer packing boxes, PACT's boxes are longer lasting and can be used again and again.

"Companies using wood packing crates don't want to switch over at first, because they worry about damage," Mort said. "But when we shipped one of our cardboard crates, and they saw how safe and efficient they are, they like the corrugated crates.

"One of our customers ships their lasers three to a crate. Each one is (costly). I was told that they have eight or 10 of those shipments damaged each year. Now that isn't happening. They saved money, and they had less damages," he said. "They spent 30 percent less on shipping, too, because the cardboard is so much lighter."

Instead of bubble wrap or rolls of Styrofoam packing materials, the company uses rolls of pleated cardboard, which also keeps materials from breaking in transit. The company's patented process consists of cross-core lamination with triple-wall, double-wall or fiber board for the container. The boxes are available in a variety of sizes that can safely transport anything from fine art and glass to motorcycles and furniture. For fragile shipping, PACT uses plastic material that absorbs impact if the container were to be struck or dropped; that plastic material also can be reused.

The company's line of products include the LiftVan, a large, durable container that comes in five sizes to accommodate the transport of heavy-duty items up to 2,000 pounds, and can be stacked up to three bins high; PleatWrap, paper bubble wrap that has an engineered pleated center sandwiched between a tissue and a Kraft paper layer; the J-Crate, a corrugated cardboard insert to protect from shock and dust; the Spiral Foot, a cardboard box that sits on the ground and attaches to a crate for protection against vibration; the MP40, a crate with four built-in dividers for fragile items; the Sofa Crate for larger furniture, which can be stacked up to six boxes high; and the Motorcycle Crate, with corrugated walls inside to protect against shock.

PACT provides boxes for companies charged with moving military families, and is the only company in the U.S. to do so, Mort said.

"We work with major movers for the military, for those families who move from base to base every two years," he said. "Our crates hold 1,500 pounds and can be used for years. Once you've finished with them, you can store them flat, so there's no need for a warehouse to store them."

Some of PACT's other customers include Lockheed Martin, an American aerospace, arms, defense, information security and technology corporation; Gentle Giant moving company; General Dynamics, an aerospace and defense corporation; and Tier One Transport.

According to Mort, PACT is a member of the Commercial Relocation Network, the Council on Safe Transportation of Hazardous Materials and the International Association of Movers. It is also a preferred vendor for the U.S. Department of Defense and has been awarded a special permit from the U.S. Department of Transportation for the shipping of lithium-ion batteries, as well as passed the proposed SAE-G-27 test standard.

Mort's newest product is Thermo Shield, a sustainable, paper-based packaging material that suppresses and controls lithium-ion battery fires by "confining thermal runaway," he said. The specially treated paper sleeves, envelopes and boxes are used to contain dead batteries.

The specially-treated type of paper is used to make envelopes and other containers that can be used to store discarded batteries. According to Mort, if the batteries ignite, the container encased in the Thermo Shield keeps the ignited battery from burning through, thereby preventing a fire.

In February, the Associated Press reported that lithium-ion batteries used to power electric bicycles and scooters had sparked 22 fires that caused 36 injuries and two deaths in New York City this year, four times the number of fires linked to the batteries by this time last year, according to officials.

Mort is all too familiar with that story, and many others. His Thermo Shield, or as he calls it, "my ink" can be used to store discarded batteries; if they ignite, the container encased in Thermo Shield keeps the fire inside, preventing injuries and more fires.

"Lithium batteries blow gas into the atmosphere," he said. "Lithium supply recycling has to happen; it's a big problem."

Mort said he is always looking for ways to improve his products and find solutions for problems. "People are finally starting to catch on that this is serious," he said. "The batteries can't take being crushed, or hit. They release gas; they burn like a fireball. They have to think about disposing of them in a safe way. Lithium batteries are unpredictable."