Void fill is one of those purchasing decisions that gets made once, standardised on whatever the first supplier recommended, and never reviewed. The result is businesses using air pillows for products that need rigid support, foam inserts for products that would do fine with crumpled paper, or tissue paper as the only protective material in a box going through a courier network.
The right choice depends on your product's fragility, its weight, your volume, your carrier pricing structure, and whether your packaging carries recyclability claims you need to back up. Here's how each main option performs.
Air cushion packaging: the right choice for medium-volume light-goods e-commerce
Air pillows or air pouches, inflated on-demand from film rolls using a machine, are the dominant void fill format in UK e-commerce distribution. On-demand inflation means you store flat film rolls rather than pre-inflated product, which is a meaningful warehouse space advantage at any significant volume.
Air cushion packaging works well for lightweight to medium-weight goods that need cushioning without compression. It adds almost nothing to parcel weight, which matters when your carrier charges on actual or dimensional weight. At medium to high volume, the cost per unit is competitive.
Where it doesn't work: heavy goods, products needing rigid support, and anything going to a consumer who will try to put the packaging in their kerbside recycling bin. PE air pillow film is technically recyclable but not accepted in kerbside collections. It needs to go to carrier bag collection points, which most consumers don't use. If your brand makes recyclability claims, air pillows complicate them. Paper-based alternatives exist but cost more per roll.
The machine is a capital purchase (£500-3,000 depending on throughput) or available on rental. Factor this into the cost comparison at lower volumes.
Paper fill: the most versatile option for most applications
Crumpled kraft paper, either pre-cut sheets or dispensed from a roll, provides genuine cushioning, adapts to irregular product shapes, and is kerbside recyclable. Customers can put it in the recycling bin without qualification.
Paper fill is appropriate for fragile goods, irregular shapes, anything going to consumers with sustainability concerns, and brands making recyclability commitments. It performs reasonably on heavier goods when sufficient volume is used.
The disadvantages are real. Paper fill adds 50-100g per box to parcel weight, which is a direct cost on weight-based carrier pricing. It takes more storage space than flat film rolls. A crumple machine for roll dispensing carries a capital cost similar to an air pillow machine.
Foam: justified for high-value fragile goods, not much else
EPS moulded foam and polyurethane foam inserts offer rigid protective encapsulation. For genuinely fragile, high-value products, a custom-moulded insert provides a level of product immobilisation that no loose fill material matches.
The constraints are significant. EPS is not accepted in kerbside recycling anywhere in the UK. Foam inserts have a high per-unit cost, take substantial storage volume, and sit badly with any recyclability narrative. For a £400 piece of precision equipment, a £2.50 moulded foam insert is appropriate. For a £25 consumer product, it almost never is.
Making the call
For most standard UK e-commerce operations, paper fill or air cushion covers the majority of applications. Paper fill wins when recyclability matters, when carrier pricing isn't weight-sensitive, and when you're shipping fragile or irregular products. Air cushion wins when parcel weight is a genuine cost driver and your product doesn't need rigid support.
Foam is justified for high-value fragile goods. Tissue paper provides presentation value but no meaningful product protection; it should supplement protective fill rather than replace it.