RRD has introduced a new paper-based e-commerce mailer designed to address one of the less obvious obstacles to making shipping packaging easier to recycle: the closure strip.

The company’s new VersaPac FastTrack Paper Mailer combines a paper mailer with a paper-based peel-and-seal strip, creating a non-padded shipping format intended for curbside paper recycling.

The development targets brands seeking to reduce plastic packaging and move away from mixed-material mailers, while still meeting the speed and automation requirements of large-scale e-commerce fulfillment.

For RRD, the challenge was therefore not simply replacing a plastic shipping bag with paper. The company has designed the mailer around the complete fulfillment process, including sealing, automated handling, dimensional weight and end-of-life recycling.

Why the Peel-and-Seal Strip Matters

Paper mailers can appear relatively straightforward from a recyclability perspective, but small packaging components can complicate the final structure.

Many peel-and-seal formats use release liners or strips containing non-paper materials. Even when these components represent only a small proportion of the package, they can create additional waste or require separation from the main paper structure.

RRD says its new mailer instead uses a recyclable paper peel-and-seal strip.

The company contrasts the design with silicone-coated plastic strips used in some competing products, which it says can contribute to recycling contamination and create loose waste on fulfillment floors.

Using a paper-based closure is intended to make the overall package more compatible with curbside paper recycling while simplifying disposal for consumers.

It also reflects a wider packaging design principle: recyclability increasingly depends on the complete package, not simply its primary material.

Adhesives, coatings, labels, closures and liners can all influence how straightforward a package is to collect, sort and recycle.

Moving Away From Mixed-Material Mailers

The VersaPac FastTrack Paper Mailer also targets applications currently served by plastic mailers and mixed-material formats such as paper-and-bubble envelopes.

Mixed-material packaging can provide useful protective properties, but combining paper with plastic cushioning can make separation and recycling more complicated.

RRD is positioning its non-padded paper format as an alternative where that additional cushioning is not required.

The company says reducing plastic content can also help brands respond to changing packaging regulation, including California’s SB 54, as well as extended producer responsibility programs that increasingly connect packaging material choices with producer costs.

This regulatory dimension is becoming particularly relevant for e-commerce packaging.

As packaging rules increasingly address plastic reduction, recyclability and unnecessary material use, companies need to consider not only whether a package protects the product but also how much material it contains and what happens to that material after delivery.

Flat Design Targets DIM Weight and Empty Space

RRD has also designed the mailer around transportation efficiency.

Unlike padded envelopes or boxes, the FastTrack mailer uses a flat, non-padded construction intended to minimize unnecessary empty space.

That can matter because parcel transportation costs are not always determined solely by actual package weight.

Carriers commonly use dimensional weight, or DIM weight, which considers the space occupied by a parcel. Oversized packaging around a relatively small product can therefore increase shipping costs even when the package itself is lightweight.

Reducing package volume can consequently provide both material and logistics benefits.

For appropriate products, a correctly sized paper mailer can use less space than a conventional corrugated shipping box and eliminate the need for additional void-fill materials.

RRD offers three standard dimensions:

• Small: 5.5 × 8 inches
• Medium: 10 × 13 inches
• Large: 14 × 15.375 inches

Custom sizes are also available.

Designed for Automated Fulfillment

Replacing plastic with paper creates another practical consideration: will the alternative run reliably through existing fulfillment equipment?

This becomes especially important for high-volume e-commerce operations where thousands of packages may pass through automated handling systems.

RRD says the FastTrack paper has been engineered with sufficient surface characteristics for robotic vacuum suction systems.

The mailer also uses an instant-bond adhesive intended to support high-speed fulfillment.

These characteristics illustrate an important constraint on sustainable packaging development.

A packaging material can offer environmental advantages but still face adoption barriers if it slows packing operations, requires new machinery or behaves unpredictably on automated equipment.

For large fulfillment operations, material sustainability and machine compatibility therefore need to be developed together.

Printing Turns the Shipping Mailer Into Brand Space

The mailer can also be produced with six-color flexographic printing, allowing companies to incorporate graphics and branding directly onto the shipping package.

That gives brands another option for using secondary or transport packaging as part of the consumer experience without necessarily adding separate printed components.

RRD is also combining the mailer with products from its label portfolio.

These include VersaTac Liner-Free shipping labels and VersaTac IQ RFID labels, which can add identification and tracking functions to the package.

The FastTrack mailer is the first packaging product carrying RRD’s Versa branding, extending a product family previously associated with its advanced label solutions.

Paper Mailers Move Beyond Simple Material Substitution

The development illustrates how the transition from plastic to paper in e-commerce packaging is becoming more technically detailed.

Simply changing the main substrate does not automatically produce a practical packaging solution.

Companies must consider the closure system, adhesives, automated handling, printing, product protection, shipping dimensions and recycling route at the same time.

“The market for paper mailers has seen explosive growth in recent years, driven by both regulatory pressure and a clear consumer preference for eco-friendly shipping,” said Craig Lombardi, Vice President of Business Development, Integrated Packaging at RRD.

For e-commerce brands, the resulting calculation is increasingly about more than the cost of the mailer itself.

Packaging choices can influence plastic consumption, EPR exposure, fulfillment speed, dimensional shipping costs, warehouse handling and recyclability.

RRD’s VersaPac FastTrack Paper Mailer attempts to bring those requirements into a single paper-based format.

The paper seal may be a relatively small component of the package, but it demonstrates a larger direction in packaging design: as companies pursue more recyclable structures, attention is shifting from the headline material to every component that determines whether the complete package works in both the fulfillment and recycling systems.

Last Updated on 24/08/2026 by Jota Machinery