Retailers rapidly expand use of RPCs for fresh food

A milestone was reached recently with one billion annual reusable plastic container (RPC) shipments…

A milestone was reached recently with one billion annual reusable plastic container (RPC) shipments from producers to grocery retailers across Europe in a12-month period.

“We are excited to share this momentous achievement with our customers, partners and employees across Europe and around the world,” said Wolfgang Orgeldinger, CEO of IFCO, “Our continued growth is a testament to the value IFCO RPCs offer fresh food supply chains across Europe and around the world.”

IFCO RPCs are used to ship fresh foods in 52 countries across North America, South America, Europe, Africa, and Asia.

According to the company, RPCs reduce costs, protect product quality, and reduce environmental impact and food waste in fresh food supply chains. The annual environmental impact of shipping one billion cases of fresh produce in RPCs is equal to the elimination of:

CO2 emissions of nearly 75,000 vehicles1
Solid waste generated by over 400,000 people2
Water consumed by nearly 600,000 people3

In addition to lower environmental impact, the IFCO RPC system lowers supply chain costs and product damage. Over the course of one billion shipments annually, IFCO RPCs eliminate over 42.6 million kg of food waste caused by product damage4, enough to provide over 600,000 people with the five servings of fruit and vegetables recommended daily – for a full year.