Discount Retail Chain Aldi North Group and Aldi South Group completes their roll-out with IFCO as the exclusive provider of RPCs and pooling services across Europe.
Reusable Packaging Container (RPC) specialist Ifco completed the European roll-out of RPCs for Aldi Nord and Aldi Süd at the beginning of May 2023. Ifco is the exclusive provider of RPCs for fresh fruit and vegetables across the Aldi supply chain, meaning the discount retailers had “secured long-term higher logistics efficiency and even more sustainability”.
”From a logistics perspective, the flat design of folded Ifco RPCs optimises 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 palletisation and transportation of fresh products,” Ifco outlined.
Following the principles of the circular economy and to minimise 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 and 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,” said Christoph Trixl, vice-president North and Central Europe at Ifco.
“This complex project was a success thanks to the close and innovative collaboration between the teams and our shared objectives,” he explained. ”Together, we have achieved a very positive result.
”We’re proud of the customer-centric outcome, which sets sustainability benchmarks for circular models in packaging for the fresh grocery retail landscape.”
