How to reduce packaging costs by pooling assets. How we manage our pool of reusable packaging solutions – including pallets – works to everyone’s advantage. Discover how pooling works and why retailers and producers see it as the smart choice for the global fresh grocery supply chain. This is how we earn the "smart" in the IFCO SmartCycle.
What is asset pooling?
It’s like riding a bike. Or, more accurately, it’s like renting a bike in the sharing economy. Multiple cyclists share and reuse the same bikes, which makes the bike-sharing system a sustainable, flexible and hassle-free alternative to owning a bike. Simply put, when you rent a bike, you only pay for the time that you use it. The quicker you return the bike, the less you pay. And the more other people can use it. What’s more, you never need to worry about repairing punctures or cleaning frames – that’s the responsibility of the bike-sharing companies. It’s a good example of asset pooling.
Instead of bikes, IFCO has a comprehensive pool of customized packaging containers and plastic pallets. As with the bike-sharing example, multiple users – this time growers, producers, wholesalers, retailers and supply chain stakeholders – share and reuse IFCO reusable packaging containers (RPCs) and plastic pallets. Only with IFCO there are important differences to the standard bike-sharing systems. For a start, our reusable assets travel much further, even across borders.
The IFCO SmartCycle combines the best practices from the sharing economy with a unique circular business model. We run the entire asset pooling process in a closed-loop system – from R&D and design to delivery, from cleaning and sanitizing to collection, from inspection and repairs to 100% recycling at the end of a long and productive life – so that our customers are free to focus on their businesses. We make use of state-of-the-art technology to improve the track and traceability of fresh food products, ensuring more efficient logistics and better asset management. Very importantly, this approach goes a long way in protecting our planet and the environment.
One of the key advantages of partnering with IFCO is the effortless transition from single-use to reusable packaging. We handle every aspect of the process, ensuring a smooth and hassle-free switch for our customers. By managing the entire process, we make it easy for businesses to embrace sustainable practices without any additional burden.
Our closed-loop pooling system reduces waste, not only through the resource-efficient, best-in-class pooling service. At the end of their long service life, our RPCs and pallets are turned into new reusable packaging assets. That way, the IFCO SmartCycle helps customers reduce their costs, waste and carbon footprint. Pooling reusable packaging is also more sustainable than transporting fresh products in single-use containers, as these need to be produced for every product shipment, using valuable natural resources such as timber and water, and generating waste after just one trip. To learn more about our commitment to sustainable business practices beyond the SmartCycle, read our sustainability report.
Our pooling assets include both secondary and tertiary packaging solutions. The extensive range of IFCO RPCs are pooled via our IFCO SmartCycle. We also run the IFCO Pallet SmartCycle, a tailored closed-loop model for two types of pallets, namely Dora, the robust IFCO Plastic Pallet, and Nestor, the nestable IFCO Plastic Pallet. Both pallets are designed to protect and transport our RPCs and other secondary packaging solutions in a more sustainable and cost-efficient way.
We have a worldwide network of service centers, where we sanitize our reusable packaging containers to international standards of food safety, which ensures a secure flow of high-quality food-safe packaging assets. We make sure our pooling assets are kept in continuous circulation and use. No asset of ours ever sits idle for long periods of time. This focus on optimal usage and flow ensures greater cost and supply chain efficiency for our customers.
Cost efficiencies are achieved through a combination of factors. For instance, IFCO RPCs and pallets are easier to handle, so workflows are faster. Our RPCs are designed to provide optimal protection for fresh products, so food loss and food waste is reduced. Moreover, we run a just-in-time delivery, so you save on storage space. Our packaging solutions are designed to make the most efficient use of truck space, reducing the financial and environmental cost of your transport.
Additionally, our reusable packaging is automation-ready, which further streamlines operations and reduces labor costs. IFCO RPCs deliver one-touch benefits from farm to store, minimizing the need for handling as the produce can be displayed in the same containers it was loaded in at the producers. This not only makes displays look uniform and tidy but also greatly improves produce shelf life by eliminating the need for repacking before reaching consumers.
At IFCO, we empower our customers to actively participate in the circular economy by replacing single use packaging. By keeping our RPCs and pallets in circulation, we reduce the need to produce more packaging assets, saving on raw materials and the resources used in production processes.
By sharing and pooling reusable packaging, we reduce product lifecycle emissions and support the decarbonization of the fresh grocery supply chain. By avoiding single-use packaging, together with our customers we saved 627,978 metric tons CO2e emissions during 2023, which is the equivalent of circling the planet 132,437 times by car.
We calculate the savings based on peer-reviewed, third-party comparative life cycle assessments. Every year, we award IFCO Sustainability Certificates to our customers to confirm the amount of CO₂e, water, energy, solid waste and food waste they have contributed to avoiding over the year by using the IFCO SmartCycle circular pooling system and IFCO RPCs. Use this calculator to estimate your potential savings generated by IFCO solutions.
As the IFCO SmartCycle is a very customer-centric model it covers a whole range of RPCs for the global fresh grocery supply chain, including fresh fruit and vegetables, meat, dairy and baked goods. We also offer specialized solutions for various other products, including bananas, fish and seafood, as well as fresh flowers. Our portfolio is constantly expanding.
As we continuously invest in research and analysis of the global fresh grocery supply chain, we have a unique understanding of the market conditions, the challenges that our customers face as well as the current and anticipated regulatory requirements. We work closely with customers and experts in the field when developing new products.
Such close collaborations led to the launch of the Banana Lift Lock reusable container, which provides superior ventilation for faster cooling and optimal ripening, an increased strength for ultimate protection and an even better design to increase sustainability throughout the entire supply chain. Another recent addition to our portfolio of reusable packaging is the Marina Fish Crate, which is a digitalized, state-of-the-art, stackable isothermal fish crate with a tight-fitting lid. And then there is Nestor, our ultra-light nestable plastic pallet that is more than 40% lighter than standard wooden pallets, allowing you to maximize your truckload. In total, 42 empty pallets fit in a stack, and 1,386 pallets fit in a full truckload (wooden pallets generally fit 16 in a stack and 528 on a truck). That’s over two and a half times more!
Over 510 retailers and more than 18,000 growers and producers benefit from our best-in-class circular pooling system. Here’s a selection of first-hand impressions of the benefits of pooling reusable packaging containers via the IFCO SmartCycle and pallets via the IFCO Pallet SmartCycle.
"By partnering with IFCO, we now have a cost-effective packaging solution that eliminates waste and supports our teammates. The IFCO innovative circular model secures sustainability wins, while helping us provide the freshest produce possible to our customers."
Mike Tipton, Vice President of Produce & Floral, Schnuck Markets, Inc.
"With the new pooling flow for IFCO RPCs, we have achieved a significant reduction in supply times and costs, which, in terms of sustainability, translates into a substantial decrease in carbon emissions."
Luca Pallaro, Logistics Director, OrtoRomi Agricultural Cooperative
"Thanks to the professional and extensive support provided by the IFCO experts on site at the plantation in the Dominican Republic, the switch to the Banana LL went incredibly smoothly. In terms of quality, sustainability and supply chain efficiency, we’re really impressed with the results."
Marc Oliver Roßmann, Senior Category Buyer Fruit, Flowers and Plants, PENNY
"Using standardized packaging from IFCO is a no-brainer. A broader take-up of IFCO solutions would really make a difference and bring about change volume-wise."
Edward Out, Managing Director and Co-Founder, OTC Organics B.V.
"The main point for us is that IFCO RPCs ensure the most efficient container from farm to consumer, in other words throughout the whole supply chain."
Vincent Omer-Decugis, CEO of Omer-Decugis & Cie
"What I like most about the IFCO model is the fact that it encourages you to be accountable for building a more sustainable operation and food supply chain. It’s in our own interest to keep the IFCO RPCs in circulation"
Mitchell Amicone, COO of AMCO Group
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