IFCO achieves 2 billion reusable packaging shipment milestone enabling customer environmental savings

Munich, Germany, February 16, 2023:IFCO, the world’s leading provider of Reusable Packaging Containers (RPCs) delivered over 2 billion reusable packaging shipments of fresh produce, meat, poultry, seafood, eggs, bread, and other fresh grocery products during 2022. With a circular economy business model based on share-reduce-reuse principles, IFCO enabled its supply chain customers to achieve substantial environmental savings.

In comparison with single-use packaging alternatives, IFCO RPCs reduce carbon emissions, water and energy usage, solid and food waste generation, and timber consumption. By sharing and reusing IFCO RPCs across global fresh product supply chains, in 2022 IFCO customers saved:

• 614,072 metric tons of CO₂e - equivalent to driving to the moon 8,900 times
• 11.8 million cubic meters of water - equivalent to 4,736 Olympic sized pools
• 42,214 terajoules of electricity - enough to power over 5.2 million electric vehicles for a year
• 339,116 metric tons of solid waste - equivalent to 41,535 truckloads of waste
• 55,140 metric tons of food product waste - equivalent to over 88 million meals 
  

IFCO calculates and quantifies these science-based savings through independent Life Cycle Analysis (LCA) scientific studies and awards customers with their portion of the savings through annual environmental savings certificates. These certificates help fresh food growers, producers, and retail customers quantify the environmental benefits of IFCO´s solutions and how these contribute to their own sustainability KPIs.

“Two billion trips at a global scale is a monumental accomplishment. The magnitude of the environmental savings created through our circular business model reflect IFCO’s ability to achieve our purpose of making the fresh grocery supply chain sustainable and our capacity to enable our customers to achieve their own sustainability goals.”, says Michael Pooley, CEO of IFCO. 

In recognition of its efforts in managing their ESG program, IFCO has recently been recognized by Sustainalytics, a leading independent ESG Risk Rating Agency, as a 2023 ESG Top-Rated Company in Europe.

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¹ Environmental savings are calculated based on the following external studies:

“Carbon Footprint of Food Packaging” conducted by the Fraunhofer Institute for Building Physics (IBP), peer-reviewed in accordance with the international standards on Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) ISO 14040/44,

“Determination of spoilage levels of fresh fruit and vegetables according to the type of packaging” conducted by Fraunhofer Institute for Logistics and Material flow.

“Comparative life cycle assessment of reusable plastic containers and display- and non-display-ready corrugated containers used for fresh produce applications” conducted by Franklin Associates, peer-reviewed in accordance with the international standards on Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) ISO14040/14044,

Conversion factors are sourced from various well recognized organizations such as the Environmental Protection Agency

Picture material is available under: https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fo/bv64yohkts9oex2sq0j1f/h?dl=0&rlkey=21zd27zl7x0ub4djvdsln0x70

For more information, contact: 

Inigo Canalejo

Vice President, ESG and Strategic Marketing

marketing@ifco.com 

Additional information

IFCO is the leading global provider of reusable packaging solutions for fresh foods, serving customers in 50+ countries. IFCO operates a pool of over 370 million Reusable Packaging Containers (RPCs) globally, which are used for 2 billion shipments of fresh fruits and vegetables, meat, poultry, seafood, eggs, bread, and other items from suppliers to grocery retailers every year. IFCO RPCs ensure a better fresh food supply chain by protecting freshness and quality and lowering costs, food waste and environmental impact compared to single-use packaging. More: www.ifco.com | Follow us on LinkedIn @IFCO SYSTEMS