Landgard is committed to developing more sustainable packaging solutions in many individual projects as part of its company-wide sustainability strategy. One example in the area of plant transport trays is Landgard's TrayC water pallet recycling system.
In the future, it will become increasingly important to establish closed cycles with fully recyclable products in the supply chains. The ecological as well as social framework conditions and, not least, the raw material prices make this development inevitable. In this context, the European Union Commission proposed new EU-wide regulations at the end of November 2022 as part of the European Green Deal to reduce unnecessary packaging and to push recycling. To this end, the EU Commission calls for promoting a closed-loop recycling system by ensuring that all packaging on the EU market can be economically recycled by 2030.
After more than two years in practical use, Landgard is taking positive stock of the TrayC closed-loop system: "Together with well-known partners, we put more than six million TrayC water pallets into circulation in 2022 - and were able to save more than 2,500 metric tons of CO2 equivalents compared to the conventional single-use system last year alone thanks to the closed-loop system," reports Johannes Kronenberg, Managing Director of Landgard Blumen & Pflanzen.
At the beginning of 2022, Landgard also integrated the Landgard Cash & Carry stores into the system of returning used pallets to the central recycling station at the site in Lüllingen, in addition to several large customers. "This has once again significantly increased the volume of returned pallets. The process changes for collecting the used pallets and transporting them to Lüllingen went smoothly at the Cash & Carry stores. As a result, the volume of pallets disposed of in the Cash & Carry stores has been drastically and almost completely reduced - this is an important contribution to sustainability," says Stefan Grett-Winkel, Managing Director of Landgard Fachhandel GmbH & Co. KG.
"In order to be able to process the volume of used pallets, we have added a modern channel baler to the recycling station in Lüllingen, Germany, in 2022. This means that the processing of water pallets returned by customers, producers, and cash & carry stores in Lüllingen now takes place on an area of 1,500 square meters," says Johannes Kronenberg.
In 2022, more than 12,500 CC containers with returned material were sorted or processed at the recycling station. In the process, the well-preserved TrayC pallets are sorted out directly for reuse. They offer producers who want to use the used TrayC a low-cost alternative to newly produced water pallets. Thanks to the TrayC quality standards, multiple uses is possible.
A total of 1,030 tons of plastic was sorted at the recycling station and either put back into circulation as a directly reusable water pallet or given to the recycling partner Modiform for further processing. The buyers of the used water pallets made of PS to be recycled commit themselves to producing new trays from the material again. In this way, a used tray becomes a new tray. A maximum short and closed cycle without downcycling. By carefully sorting the different materials PS, PET, and PP in the recycling station, Landgard makes a valuable contribution to the sustainable use of plastics.
New TrayC models
In order to meet the practical requirements of producers and customers even better, Landgard has gradually expanded the TrayC range in the course of 2022. As a result, twelve TrayC variants are now available for transporting common products to customers in pot sizes ranging from 9 cm to 14 cm.
"In 2023, we will work continuously to further increase the share of TrayC among our customers and in our cash & carry stores in order to achieve the broadest possible market penetration. We want to put as many used trays as possible into direct resale and thus further reduce the use of disposable pallets. Of course, we are counting first and foremost on the support of the horticultural businesses, which should use TrayC across the board. Everyone has to join in to achieve the greatest possible effect," says Johannes Kronenberg.
Floritray and TrayC: Commitment to more sustainable plant transport trays
Landgard is committed to developing more sustainable packaging solutions in many individual projects as part of its company-wide sustainability strategy. Current examples in the area of plant transport trays are the Floritray reusable system and the TrayC closed-loop system. With the Floritray, Landgard has developed a functioning reusable tray that is already in use in the trade. Landgard is convinced that the Floritray is currently the most innovative marketable reusable tray. But for a successful launch, the entire supply chain must support the necessary process changes and cost changes. On the way to developing a functioning returnable system for plant transport trays, the TrayC closed-loop system is a solution option and a viable answer for the current situation. For Landgard, TrayC does not contradict reusable systems such as Floritray. The closed-loop system is an optimal supplement wherever the exclusive use of reusable pallets would not be practicable in the future, for example, due to seasonal order peaks.
Source: Landgard