B&Q to Roll Out Multi-Trip Packaging Following WRAP Trials

The retailer has ordered over 5,000 of the reusable Carrierpac bags used in the trials from supplier Storsack Dorton Ltd. It believes that if each bag is used 15 times the system will save the retailer £300,000 per year in packaging costs alone.

WRAP key account manager Mike Robey said: “The re-usable packaging trials were a resounding success, so we are delighted that B&Q now has the conviction to use the system across its worktop range. I hope that it will encourage other companies in the sector to look at the business and environmental benefits available from these closed-loop returnable systems.”

Trials with the Carrierpac reusable bags also showed that they can significantly reduce product damage, and so have the potential to further increase savings. Product damage savings include costs associated with product replacement, such as raw materials, processing, and transportation as well as waste management of damaged goods, customer dissatisfaction, and staffing to manage returns.

In addition to cost savings, the use of multi-trip packaging results in several environmental benefits including improved resource efficiency, waste reduction and packaging waste minimisation.  For consumers, the removal of the packaging by the delivery team for reuse takes away the inconvenience of recycling or disposing of the bulky single trip packaging.

The initial WRAP and B&Q trial demonstrated that multi-trip packaging can be commercially viable, but is dependent on tightly controlled logistics and tracking. A case study and full report about the trial are available from www.wrap.org.uk/retail

B&Q is also investigating other opportunities for multi-trip packaging, particularly where there are high rates of product damage. Kitchen panels and kick rails, white goods, doors and radiators are opportunities where using reusable packaging could result in cost savings and environmental benefits.