Courier DHL and German retailers Otto and Tchibo are taking part in a new scheme that aims to cut plastic waste and CO2 emissions through reusable packaging.
The Praxpack initiative, funded by Germany’s Federal Ministry of Education and Research, is a three-year project which will see products being sent in reusable bags from RePack.
Upon retrieving their delivery the customer simply posts the packaging back to a return address.
The retailers will introduce the new packages from the beginning of next year.
“With this three-year project, the Otto Group wants to contribute to the establishment and dissemination of reusable systems in online retail in order to substantially reduce the packaging-related use of resources (and related to this, the amount of waste) in the medium term,” said an Otto spokesperson.
Otto said it was assessing whether to develop its own solution or use a third party such as RePack. It also said it was finding out whether the concept of PraxPack could be applied to shipping bags and cartons, as well as which solution is both “ecologically sensible and acceptable for the consumer.”
Consumers are paying more attention to the packaging of their online orders, with a survey by Macfarlane Packaging finding that nearly a quarter of consumers believe they are receiving overpacked items.
Read more: Opinion: Putting sustainable packaging front and centre
