Reusable packaging defined

The newly adopted Packaging and Packaging Waste Regulation (PPWR) in the EU and rapidly evolving Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) laws are radically transforming the type of transportation packaging systems a company requires, with a move to more sustainable and cost-effective solutions focused on reuse over recycling, and a pooled approach. ​That’s our business in a nutshell!

Durable and Smart

At Tosca, our reusable, recyclable plastic pooled packaging solutions comply with the EU PPWR and minimize — if not remove — the costs associated with ​the EPR laws both in Europe and the US. In addition, we engineer food-grade packaging products for strength, durability and optimal ventilation to reduce food waste and preserve product freshness across the supply chain. By eliminating single-use packaging with our reusable solutions, Tosca helps customers achieve their ambitious sustainability goals while reducing costs and complying with those increasingly stringent packaging regulations.

See our Cultiva Farms Video for how they are using Tosca RPC’s to reach their goals.

Transforming the transportation packaging sector

Helping our customer to do what they do best: sell their goods.

Transportation packaging is the unseen and unsung hero of the supply chain. Procuring, storing, repairing, packing, and moving packaging efficiently while navigating regulatory requirements and achieving sustainability expectations is not easy from several perspectives:​

Cost: The hidden cost associated with excess labor and time required to handle single-use packaging, product loss due to damage and cost to replace along with regulatory compliance and EPR fees (and potential fines), all strain resources.​

Environmental: Manufacturing, storing, washing, and transporting single-use packaging increases emissions, water use, and waste along the supply chain.​

Safety: Corrugated boxes and wooden pallets expose ​workers to ergonomic strain, cuts, and splinters and can pose risks in food production areas (splinters) or during transit (puncturing contents).

Tosca’s pooling solutions address all of these issues.

Using Less, Saving More: Sustainable Circular Packaging

Tosca takes a comprehensive data-driven approach to quantifying the value proposition for reusable packaging ​and pooling solutions. Covering everything from costs to labor to sustainability, we give our customers the collective result of adopting our circular packaging solution.

Our reusable packaging benefits include: ​

Logistics optimization: Customers can fit more product per truck through improved cube efficiency due to the consistent sizing of containers. Maintaining product quality reduces the need for replacements to be shipped. These two enhancements result in less transportation needs and thus lower emissions. Tosca takes a comprehensive data-driven approach to quantifying the value proposition for reusable packaging ​and pooling solutions. Covering everything from costs to labor to sustainability, we give our customers the collective result of adopting our circular packaging solution.

Regulatory compliance: Tosca products support customers’ circular economy principles and compliance with packaging regulations like the PPWR and EPR laws, while enabling cost reduction, due to our packaging being reusable over 100 times before being 100% recycled.​

Sustainability targets: Emissions and water use associated with asset manufacture, use, and movement are ‘shared’ amongst all users, reducing individual footprints and supporting Scope 3 (supply chain) reductions. ​

Product quality: Our carefully designed RPCs allow effective ventilation which reduces product shrink by over 50% and their rigid form prevents products being from crushed and damage, particularly vulnerable items like eggs, protein products, and fresh produce. ​

CASE STUDY: R. Brush Farms

R. Brush Farms, an Ontario broccoli farm, struggled with traditional cardboard packaging issues like sogginess and deterioration, leading to potential product compromise. By switching to Tosca’s durable, ventilated, and standardized reusable plastic containers, R. Brush Farms improved food safety and product preservation along with increased efficiency in their packing and shipping process. Tosca’s U.S. Wash Process’ are ISO 22000 certified to the industry’s most stringent food safety management standards.

How R. Brush Farms uses Tosca products

The key benefits of Tosca’s reusable packaging crates (RPCs) as recognized by R. Brush Farms:

“It’s been easier to work with Tosca overall. We can count on your product being something that we can use.”

— Regan Brush, Manager at R. Brush Farms

A Plethora of Circular Packaging Benefits

• Operational efficiency: Standardized, durable, and reusable plastic packaging creates consistency that enables automation, reduces handling time by over ​50%, streamlines logistics, and minimizes downtime ​from damaged packaging.​​

• Supporting traceability: Tracking and tracing technologies support logistics planning and movements and support speedier compliance with regulatory response requirements during product recall events. ​

• Stock management: Traceability also supports improved stock management, replacing the first-in-first-out approach with one that considers exposure of the products to temperature, humidity, and shock ​
  during transport. ​

• Consumer (and worker) protection: Tosca plastic packaging is made from food-safe materials, so ​
  there’s no unwitting exposure to non-food grade plastic, nails, splinters or PFAS, which has associations to ​paper products. 

When three leading U.S. retailers switched to Tosca’s RPCs, the results spoke volumes — proving that Tosca delivers scalable, measurable impact.

• 62% Shrink Reduced
• 61% Fewer GHGs
• 59% Less Water
• $70m Annual Shrink Savings (Eggs)
• 90 Trucks Eliminated Per Year

CASE STUDY

Transforming the transportation packaging sector

Tosca helped a pan-European customer, with a portfolio of >25 well-known brands, transition from over 150 different types of transportation packaging used by a wide range of suppliers, to a series of standardized reusable alternatives.​

The variety of packaging posed significant problems for the company, ranging from:​

• handling small batches of many different sized packaging ​
• significant storage space requirement for both new packaging and filled products​
• the need to handle multiple waste streams ​

In partnership with other transport packaging providers and transport companies, and by implementing a pooled system, Tosca reduced packaging-volume requirements, empty packaging-storage space needs and streamlined truck movements.

The result was a reduction in the number of trucks and their movements with an overall increase in operational efficiency and significantly reduced greenhouse gas emissions.