PreReturnable box: circular packaging in retail and e-commerce logistics
Traditional industries have been familiar with returnable packaging for several years. However, their manufacturers do not always have or provide options on how to modify the packaging and how to dispose of the packaging after its useful life. By closing the material flows between the producer-recycler and its customers – the packaging customers – there is the potential to save material resources, dramatically reduce the cost of packaging materials for companies and reduce the CO2e produced in the packaging sector. The project to develop returnable packaging as a replacement for the original disposable packaging brought with it a number of challenges, but overcoming them gradually resulted in an innovative packaging solution. Cost, ergonomics and safety of transport, quality and reduction of the amount of disposable packaging waste produced were positively affected. Using the example of an implemented project at Telekom in cooperation with Packeta, the presentation will show how returnable packaging can influence the economics and ecology of logistics in e-commerce and retail.
