CTT – Correios de Portugal is testing reusable packaging for e-commerce customers in a bid to reduce waste and cut the carbon footprint of parcel deliveries.
The postal operator is trialling the packaging in partnership with Zeroo, a circular economy technology, and Impact World, a benchmark in the development and production of innovative reusable packaging.
The initiative has been developed in partnership with Circular E-commerce EcoLab, a testbed dedicated to sustainable packaging management for e-commerce, and shows a serious commitment to the circular economy, ensuring that the entire packaging life cycle is optimized.
CTT is also identifying SMEs that could participate in pilots in which a set of reusable packaging for their e-commerce shipments will be made available free of charge. The SMEs will also be offered all the reverse logistics of returning empty packages free of charge in the more than 12,000 CTT mail points. The packaging will be cleaned in the warehouse and sent back to participating SMEs so that they can be used again up to five times. Each SME will only pay the cost of sending orders to its customers.
To apply for the initiative, SMEs must meet two requirements: have SME certification and sell their products through e-commerce. They can apply here.
The project is funded by the PRR and is part of the National TestBeds Network.