About us and our reusable packaging
At rhinopaq , we have made it our mission to significantly reduce packaging waste in B2B goods shipping. Our robust and reusable reusable packaging is specially designed to meet the requirements of companies and offers an environmentally friendly alternative to conventional disposable cardboard packaging.
By introducing our reusable packaging, companies can not only reduce their emissions and waste, but also save costs and meet legal requirements in the area of sustainability.
The team
Matthias Thesing
Co-Founder
Marc Diefenbach
Co-Founder
Our mission
In our world of tomorrow, disposable cardboard has been replaced by innovative reusable packaging. We offer a packaging solution that is designed to transport many shipments safely and sustainably to the customer. We are convinced that economic success and climate protection are not mutually exclusive. Quite the opposite - we firmly believe that economic success in the future will only work if ecological aspects are taken into account. That is why we are particularly proud that our solution is listed as good practice on the European Circular Economy Stakeholder Platform.
227.5 kg of packaging waste per capita in Germany in 2018
How does the rhinopaq reusable system work?
We sell and rent our reusable solutions to companies that want to join us on the path to a new world of shipping goods without packaging waste. When you deliver goods as a company, you simply use our rhinopaqs instead of disposable cardboard boxes. Your customers will receive all the information about the reusable packaging itself and how it is folded and collected in advance. Your customers can simply throw the packaging into our collection containers. In the rental model, we then take care of the return, processing and re-provision. If you decide to buy reusable packaging, you take over these steps.
What does reusable packaging cost?
The prices for both the rental model and the purchase model depend on several factors. These include, of course, the size and choice of material of the packaging itself, but also the number of uses in the rental model or the number of packages in the purchase model. It is therefore difficult to give a general answer. In general, however, it can be said that the packaging itself is of higher quality than disposable packaging and is therefore also more expensive. Broken down to the use of reusable packaging, however, we are generally at the same level as disposable packaging or even lower. Feel free to contact us and give us some details about your shipping process. We will be happy to give you a price indication based on this information.
How does reusable packaging help?
The concept of reuse significantly reduces the consumption of raw materials, energy, processing, transportation and landfill waste generated by single-use products. Reuse is called a "circular economy" because the end product is used again and again by the same person or by others in the rhinopaq after the raw materials have been processed. As long as we keep the product in circulation and take care of it, it does not end up in the trash. In order to achieve many shipping cycles and thus significantly increase CO2 savings compared to conventional disposable packaging, we need a durable and non-degradable material. We therefore use recycled polypropylene for our reusable packaging. Further advantages of polypropylene are its relatively good environmental compatibility compared to other plastics and its very good recycling rate.
What is the carbon footprint of the reusable shipping box?
In order to justify the increase in sustainability in the shipping of goods through the use of reusable packaging, a comparison of the carbon footprints of disposable and reusable packaging is helpful. The following analysis applies to 25x25x10 cm shipping packaging. Only the packaging life cycle stages in which the two types essentially differ are considered. The same sections, such as shipping from the company to the customer, are not considered in order to reduce complexity.
The main differences are as follows:
- the production or multiple use of reusable packaging
- the return of the reusable packaging
Let's look at production first: in our project, we calculate the savings conservatively. According to a study by Ökopol, published by Praxpack in March 2020, the ratio of CO2 emissions to tare weight for cardboard is around 1. This means that the production of a 150 gram carton produces the same amount of CO2. For our calculations, we use the CO2 factor of 2.5 for polypropylene (PP) with the same packaging weight and thus a CO2 footprint of 375 grams for the production of reusable packaging.
Specific CO2 footprint of different materials
We also assume 10 achievable usage cycles per reusable packaging. Each return generates 36 grams of CO2. In this example, the production of cardboard packaging for 10 orders generates 1.5 kg of recyclable paper waste and releases 1.5 kg of CO2. In comparison, the reusable packaging generates 0.15 kg of recyclable polypropylene waste and releases 0.7 kg of CO2. This example results in a CO2 saving of 51%. You can find more information on the CO2 balance and the general benefits in our white paper.
What else do you get out of it?
Another clear advantage of our reusable packaging is its user-friendliness. While a cardboard box is somewhat cumbersome to assemble, our rhinopaq can be set up and filled in just one step. The second step closes the packaging - stick on the shipping label and you're done. No adhesive tape at all. This not only saves waste and costs, but also processing time.
Facts, figures and data - our whitepaper
For those of you who want to know for sure - a look at the results of our research. Climate change is increasingly coming into focus - in Germany too. It is not only flood disasters and fires in the Mediterranean region that reveal that it is five past twelve rather than five to twelve when it comes to climate protection. With our circular economy model, we want to make an active contribution to reducing climate-damaging CO2 together with you. Find out more about the concept in our white paper! Download our full whitepaper here.
