DocMorris sends reusable packaging on its journey

DocMorris tackles sustainability! At its logistics site in Ludwigshafen, the online pharmacy with nine million active customers has launched a pilot project to conquer the mail-order market with reusable packaging instead of disposable cartons. To this end, the e-commerce company is cooperating with Ravioli, a Hamburg-based provider who specializes in reusable shipping solutions for online stores. Their testing aims to evaluate how well reusable boxes are suited for shipping health and personal care products while making a meaningful contribution to environmental protection. 

Instead of conventional disposable packaging, 1,500 customers will receive their products in reusable cardboard boxes. After unpacking, these can be folded flat and sent back, with the postage already paid. Upon their return, the boxes are checked, cleaned and prepared for the next sustainable dispatch. Over the course of the project, it will become evident how well this solution performs. 

Soon, DocMorris customers will be able to choose between single-use and reusable packaging without having to compromise on the protection of the goods during transportation. The goal is to reduce the amount of packaging material and the associated waste volume by up to 50 percent.

The prospect is promising: according to the mail-order pharmacies, each delivery prevents 100 grams of paper waste. In terms of life cycle assessment, the reusable 200 gram box could be ahead of a disposable box of the same weight after only two rounds. “With the reusable packaging from our cooperation partner Ravioli, we may reduce CO2 emissions from shipping materials by up to 80 percent over a service life of ten rounds,” says Anne Walter, Head of Corporate Sustainability at DocMorris. An impressive step towards a sustainable circular economy.