IFCO trays (also known as RPCs (the abbreviation for reusable packaging containers), or reusable containers, or reusable crates) are a type of

reusable packaging Reusable packaging is manufactured of durable materials and is specifically designed for multiple trips and extended life. A ''reusable package'' or container is “designed for reuse without impairment of its protective function.” The term ret ...

for transporting fresh food produce. IFCO SYSTEMS is the name of the company that first developed a pooling service for reusable plastic trays for fresh produce in 1992, when the company was founded in

Pullach Pullach, officially Pullach i. Isartal, is a municipality in the district of Munich in Bavaria in Germany. It lies on the Isar Valley Railway and is served by the S 7 line of the Munich S-Bahn, at the Großhesselohe Isartalbahnhof, Pullach and ...

, Germany. IFCO is the acronym for International Food Container Organization. They are attractive for environmental reasons due to their ease of reuse, their capability of being stacked when full of produce in many different configurations and that they can be flattened when empty for compact return to producers/shippers/growers or for storage purposes.

Reusable packaging

The IFCO RPCs and trays are used for transporting perishable products and are available in different designs customized to the requirements of the produce. There are IFCO trays for

fresh food Fresh food is food which has not been preserved and has not spoiled yet. For vegetables and fruits, this means that they have been recently harvested and treated properly postharvest; for meat, it has recently been slaughtered and butchered; fo ...

, fruit and vegetables, bananas, baked goods, eggs, dairy, convenience foods, meat and fish.

Zero Waste

When the IFCO trays reach the end of their service life and can no longer be repaired, they are granulated and made into new IFCO RPCs. The raw material stream for the IFCO reusable crates is fully traceable. The company uses 100% of the available material from the broken or end-of-use crates. The IFCO trays generally have a life span of more than 10 years, before they are made into new crates. There is no

packaging waste Packaging waste, the part of the waste that consists of packaging and packaging material, is a major part of the total global waste, and the major part of the packaging waste consists of single-use plastic food packaging, a hallmark of throwawa ...

and there is a 100% material reutilization.

Pooling

IFCO trays are only available through the IFCO pooling service. Customers of the service share the reusable containers in a continuous closed loop. IFCO SYSTEMS refer to this pooling loop as the IFCO SmartCycle. IFCO supplies the reusable containers to farmers and producers of fresh produce and perishable items. Customers that use the SmartCycle are supplied with clean, sanitized IFCO RPCs at harvest or at the end of the production cycle. The produce is shipped or transported in the reusable plastic containers on pallets to the retailers, where the produce generally goes on display at the Point of Sale in the IFCO trays. This reduces the number of touchpoints with the produce and aims to reduce the potential for produce damage and waste, extending the

shelf life Shelf life is the length of time that a commodity may be stored without becoming unfit for use, consumption, or sale. In other words, it might refer to whether a commodity should no longer be on a pantry shelf (unfit for use), or no longer on a ...

of the fresh food produce in the process. When empty and used, the reusable containers are recovered and returned to the IFCO wash centers, where they are checked, repaired (if necessary), washed, and then supplied to customers and used again.

Circular economy model

The IFCO pooling service of RPCs and material reutilization is based on the circular economy model, which promotes the reuse,

sharing Sharing is the joint use of a resource or space. It is also the process of dividing and distributing. In its narrow sense, it refers to joint or alternating use of inherently finite goods, such as a common pasture or a shared residence. Still ...

, repair, refurbishment, remanufacturing and

recycling Recycling is the process of converting waste materials into new materials and objects. The recovery of energy from waste materials is often included in this concept. The recyclability of a material depends on its ability to reacquire the p ...

within a closed-loop system in order to avoid

waste Waste (or wastes) are unwanted or unusable materials. Waste is any substance discarded after primary use, or is worthless, defective and of no use. A by-product, by contrast is a joint product of relatively minor economic value. A waste prod ...

and reduce the environmental impact of industrial designs.

Sustainability

Compared to disposable products and packaging, reusable containers help reduce the overall environmental impact of the fresh grocery supply chain. As the IFCO trays can be folded compactly, they require less space in the

reverse logistics Reverse logistics encompasses all operations related to the upstream movement of products and materials. It is "the process of moving goods from their typical final destination for the purpose of capturing value, or proper disposal. Remanufacturin ...

as they are mainly the same size and are therefore compatible when folded. More IFCO RPCs can be stacked in trucks and in storage, saving food miles, energy consumption and storage costs.

Cradle to Cradle Design

The IFCO European line of Lift Lock reusable plastic containers (RPCs) are the first and only reusable food packaging containers to be awarded Cradle to Cradle Certified® (Version 3.1) at the Silver level by the independent non-profit Cradle to Cradle Products Innovation Institute, which is based on the

Cradle to Cradle Cradle-to-cradle design (also referred to as 2CC2, C2C, cradle 2 cradle, or regenerative design) is a biomimetic approach to the design of products and systems that models human industry on nature's processes, where materials are viewed as nutri ...

design philosophy of Michael Braungart and

William McDonough William Andrews McDonough is an American architect, designer, and author. McDonough is founding principal of William McDonough + Partners, co-founder of McDonough MBDC, and co-author of '' Cradle to Cradle: Remaking the Way We Make Things'' ...

. These IFCO trays were awarded Gold for Material Reutilization.

Food safety

The IFCO RPCs are washed and sanitized to food-grade quality after each use. The washing process is independently audited.

Company history

Founded in 1992 in Germany, the company originally focused on Europe and expanded into the US market in 2003, when it launched the first Black RPC. IFCO serves customers in over 50 countries, has offices in over 30 countries, 89 service centers and employs around 1,100 people. The company has a pool of over 314 million reusable plastic containers, which are used in over 1.7 billion shipments of fresh produce every year. Over 14,000 producers use the IFCO trays, and over 300 retailers. IFCO is an independent company since its acquisition by Triton and Abu Dhabi Investment Authority (ADIA) in May 2019 from the Brambles company who had owned IFCO since 2011.

Innovation

IFCO Systems has filed a total of 1,174 patents for the IFCO reusable plastic containers and pooling system.

Slogan

The company slogan is: “A better supply chain serves us all. Let’s eat.”

Controversy

Their adoption has generated controversy between developed countries which are consumers of produce and developing countries which are producers, primarily due to the cost of using the trays as opposed to using locally produced containers. In particular, many developing countries lack the capital-intensive infrastructure to develop and support the hi-technology plastic molding machinery necessary to produce the returnable trays. Analysis continues to compare the relative benefits of reusable trays, which require a full cycle (use, cleaning and return) versus one-time-use disposable containers which do not require return to the shipper, but instead are disposed of after one use. Disposable containers create a waste-disposal burden on recipients, while the returnable containers burden producers who must purchase containers and arrange for a return cycle.

References

External links

IFCO website
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