With IFCO as the exclusive provider of RPCs for fresh fruit and vegetable categories for the ALDI supply chain, the discount retailers secure long-term higher logistics efficiency and even more sustainability.

From a logistics perspective, the flat design of folded IFCO RPCs optimizes the capacity of shipments, which reduces the cost and carbon footprint of transporting empty RPCs, while the sturdy nature of the RPCs ensures a more stable and protective palletization and transportation of fresh products.

IFCO provides packaging solutions that are custom designed for the food-safe transportation of baked goods, meat and poultry, as well as selected ambient products. In addition, IFCO’s status as a pioneer in digital solutions offers a huge potential to bring better visibility to the fresh grocery supply chain, which will pave the way to data-driven decision-making and smoother, sustainable operations.

Following the principles of the circular economy and to minimize the environmental impact of the switch, the discount retailers and IFCO worked together to ensure containers from the original ALDI SÜD proprietary pool would not go to waste. Specifically, old containers were granulated, re-manufactured into new robust IFCO RPCs and incorporated in to the IFCO SmartCycle pooling system, closing the loop and avoiding waste.

"Our priority was to ensure the switch to IFCO RPCs across the ALDI Nord and ALDI SÜD European operations would be as sustainable as possible," says Christoph Trixl.

Most notably, the IFCO share-reuse-reduce model, the IFCO SmartCycle, supports organizations in fulfilling the demanding targets currently being discussed within the framework of the revision of the EU Regulation on Packaging and Packaging Waste (PPWR). This regulation requires businesses operating in the EU to switch to a certain percentage of reusable and recyclable packaging by January 1, 2030.

Moreover, the IFCO circular model supports another core target of the PPWR, which is the mandatory inclusion of recycled waste in new packaging and the reduction of primary natural resources in production processes. This is achieved as all IFCO RPCs are 100% granulated at end of service life to create new long-lasting IFCO RPCs.

"Our circular model already complies with the proposed EU standards, which is why we can support companies in making the smooth transition to reusable, recyclable packaging at speed and at scale," confirms Inigo Canalejo, Vice President ESG and Strategic Marketing at IFCO. "Our established circular model provides ambitious sustainability gains."

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