arvato digital services, a Weaverville, N.C.-based integrated service package provider for the Video, Audio, Games and IT/Technology sectors, has launched the environmentally sustainable Disc Box Slider (DBS) packaging solution as an option for U.S. media customers. The DBS has the potential to significantly reduce the amount of greenhouse gases by replacing traditional polystyrene with more environmentally friendly, recycled, biodegradable paperboard materials, resulting in a cost- and energy-efficient alternative to standard music packaging.

The DBS was developed by Stora Enso, an integrated paper, packaging and forest products company, and has been successfully implemented throughout Europe by the arvato digital services subsidiary topac. The Five Browns was the first U.S. commercial release to use the new DBS packaging.

Major music retailers in the U.S. and around the world have increasingly sought economic options for sustainable packaging. arvato digital services employed the resources of another arvato division, arvato print (in particular Coral Graphics), to find an effective solution that could be brought to the U.S. market quickly.

The DBS CD case is a carton board case that can hold one or two discs and a booklet. It opens up from the side by moving the slider part (on which the disc is resting) from the sleeve.