In a joint pilot project supervised by the University of Upper Austria and organized and managed with Austrian Post, five retail companies in Austria are using new types of reusable shipping packaging. Among the online retailers in the project is Intersport Austria. Four different types of packaging made of cardboard, wood fiber and recycled PET are used to ship selected items and have a service life of between 10 and 125 cycles, depending on the material.
In the course of the pilot project, participating retailers process their online orders as usual and send specific products in reusable packaging by snail mail. The recipients remove the products, fold up the packaging – instructions are printed on it or enclosed – and return it to the retail companies via mailboxes, post offices or self-service zones, depending on the size. Packaging from retailers DM, Thalia and Tchibo can also be returned to the companies’ respective branch locations. After being returned, the packaging is processed and cleaned before being sent out again.
“With the data obtained in the pilot test, we can carry out a comprehensive life cycle analysis of the packaging and analyze its service life and practicability. We hope to achieve meaningful results with a high added value for online retailing,” says FH Prof. DI Franz Staberhofer, head of the Logistikum at the University of Upper Austria.
