Germany : Apollo & Schoeller Allibert’s Returnable Container Awarded Pro-K Award
In cooperation with Schoeller Allibert, Germany’s leading optician chain Apollo has developed a returnable container for delivery to its branches. The empty load carrier can be returned easily and cost-effectively. The highlight here is its new folding mechanism. Thus, the company will save up to 100 tons of cardboard waste and reduce its CO2-emissions by 96 percent in the long run. Apollo has now been recognised with the pro-K award for this solution.
Apollo delivered to its 1000 branches exclusively cardboard boxes so far. As a result of this, more than 100 tons of cardboard packaging was accumulated as waste, to be disposed. The optician and hearing aid specialist wanted to bring about a change – waste prevention instead of waste disposal. In collaboration with the returnable plastics specialist Schoeller Allibert, the company developed a machine-processable, returnable container, which makes the shipping carton unnecessary, saves up to 96 percent of CO2-emissions and can be completely recycled at the end of its service life. The jury of pro-K Industrieverband Halbzeuge und Konsumprodukte aus Kunststoff was convinced by this clever solution. They awarded the container with the pro-K award 2020.
The basis for the new container is the Schoeller Allibert classic Clever Move Box (CMB). The CMB with closed sides measures 400 x 300 x 240 millimetres and can be folded to only 52 millimetres when empty. It has two handles on the narrow sides and can be sealed to prevent access from outside. The key feature of this excellent load carrier, however, is the option to clip it to other containers and to return it cost – effectively and without any additional expense. Thus, a positive-fit unit is developed for the KEP-service provider, which is subsequently counted as one packet.
