Pick Your Moment – And Pick Your Battle
Progress is often not linear but comes at moments of great change. The companies that will endure the coming uncertainty around markets will be the ones who value sustainability as a core pillar of their existence.
Sustainability = Efficiency.
Waste less, emit less, use less.
Returnable containers check all these boxes.
At Container Pros, we can help you achieve your goals toward a low-carbon economy by demonstrating where the savings will come from for water, energy and carbon reduction and can also outline ROI and cost savings for switching to Returnable Containers vs single use Intermediate Bulk Container (IBC).
Assessing the Opportunity:
What is your packaging spend to receive bulk ingredients?
If you consume > 20 single use IBC units per week, then you are likely in line for significant cost reduction in packaging costs, including all of Container Pros services to ensure you have optimal uptime and ready to use, sanitized containers.
Where do your ingredients come from?
Tomato purees, edible oils, and dairy to mention a few are all produced in Ontario and can flow into our food manufacturers in returnable containers. Container systems like Buckhorn IBC offer efficient self-racking and dispensing systems. Container Pros can offer closed-loop tote wash services to provide all logistics to deliver full product in returnable totes, utilize the same truck to collect totes and return them back sanitized to your producer and squeeze every empty mile out of the transport.
How do you manage empty packaging now?
Cluttered docks with hap-hazard stacks of empty IBCs, drums, recycling and garbage to be handled multiple times are efficiency killers. Empty packaging most often is full of air when sent to the recycler. This is a waste of time and energy. Folding, returnable IBCs are optimal to reduce your storage footprint. Finding the right frequency of deliveries and collection to optimize your labour and dock space while using the least amount of truck transport is a key element of carbon reduction and superior to shippping very little in recoverable material back to the recycler or the landfill. At Container Pros, we offer comprehensive reverse logistics recycling programs to use space inside our trucks alongside your tote wash container returns. Reverse Logistics for Containers
You have reusable totes in your system. Great!
How are you sanitizing them now?
Someone decided that circulating your own totes made a lot of sense. How much space do you have tied up in staging unclean containers, the washing area, and how much water, chemicals and labour hours are involved? Companies that are keen on reducing water usage and wastewater discharge can take advantage of our services to gain improvement in these areas. Not to hide this consumption off your environmental balance sheet, rather we operate with a focus on our own input costs like water and chemicals to be efficient (profitable) and environmentally friendly. Our tote wash systems process many containers from many sources. Your small tote wash system may not be as efficient with water and labour resources. Need some ideas on how to use the space you can create by outsourcing your container sanitation: Where to expand your manufacturing capability
Here are a few ways you can move in the right direction by implementing a returnable container program in your operations and supply chain.
Get paid for packaging.
Sounds simple, but most often packaging cost and type is procured by the end user. If you are a producer, flip the script and offer returnable container IBCs to your downstream customers. Why let a 3rd party packaging company ride on the coattails of your business when you can own returnable container stock to supply your product and charge for both.
Consolidate sanitation operations.
If you are cycling products to and from many facilities, all with in-house space, equipment and labour allocated to sanitizing totes, bulk containers, and vats, hire a Container Pro to provide just in time, ready-to-use container stock for all locations. Industrial tote wash systems at scale can provide significant water and wastewater reduction while returning valuable time and operating space.
Use a returnable container pooling service.
Container pooling services at scale improve cost and drive environmental performance as more companies opt into a common container pool. Container as a service have transformed many supply chains and can work for producers large and small. Each new user offers increased market density which translates into efficiency both environmentally and cost. As well, container pooling companies like CHEP (CHEP’s Container Pooling ) can offer one-way trips across the continent while allowing you, the producer to benefit from choosing an environmentally efficient packaging option to ship your goods.
All of these scenarios are in our service wheelhouse serving container pooling and large producers and manufacturers. Our core competencies ensure companies can use returnable containers in their system without disruption ensuring efficiency and ultimately sustainability, which makes our economy resilient and viable for generations to come.
Speak with a Container Pros now: