Back in 1996, Mercadona decided to take a step that turned its logistics upside down and that, decades later, is still taken as an example of good use of resources and care for the environment: collaborating with the company Logifruit and creating an alliance that had as fruits the traditional green boxes that have already become an inherent element of the Juan Roig trademark.
Mercadona now that 2021 celebrates the 25th anniversary of this measure. The silver anniversary of a new procedure that contributed to reducing the impact of distribution due to recycling and the multiple uses of its components. Thanks to this, single-use boxes and pallets were put aside and the damage to the environment and the promotion of a circular economy began to be reduced.
Logifruit was created in 1996, and that same year it became associated with Mercadona. The objective: to change the company’s single-use boxes for boxes and pallets that comply with the rule of the four Rs (Reduce, Reuse, Repair and Recycle). The result was the creation of foldable, recyclable, repairable and easy-to-wash plastic boxes.
The logic is as follows: with these folding boxes and pallets, three can be placed in the place of one. This leads to cost savings and optimization of resources. Its ease of cleaning and repair, as well as its use throughout the production chain, makes the useful life of the boxes longer and benefits more actors in the process. The speed with which they can be disinfected means that they take very little time to become part of the cycle again. Mercadona estimates that these boxes can have more than 120 uses and be part of 13 complete production cycles, from Logifruit to the supermarket, passing through logistics centers and suppliers.
The rest of the figures that Mercadona handles are as follows: the use of 180,000 tons of materials is avoided, as well as more than 96,700 trips for their transport, which also means a significant reduction in emissions and pollution.
In parallel, Mercadona points out that the objectives of consolidating a circular economy are also helped by the role of the Strategy of Eight, which consists of optimizing the trips of the trucks in the distribution chain and that they do not carry “air”.
In practice, it works as follows: trucks transport used containers for repair or cleaning and disinfection. After these tasks, they are returned to the chain, always under the premise of making as few trips as possible.
Margarita Muñoz, Mercadona’s Director of Social Responsibility defines the main lines of the relationship with Logifruit as follows: “After all these years of collaboration in the implementation of these containers following the principles of the Circular Economy and efficiency, each We are increasingly convinced of the need to continue taking care of the planet and promoting sustainable initiatives and models”.
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