What started as an internal company project for Columbia Sportswear has now turned into full-blown initiative to involve outside companies and customers. The successful “A Box Life” program started in 2009. Paul Zaengle, vice president of the Portland, Oregon based company said,“ ‘A Box Life’ is designed to keep cardboard boxes in use longer, reduce the impacts of shipping products, and encourage people to engage around the concept of reduce, reuse, recycle in a personal way.”

      Currently, over 219,000 boxes have already been reused and more are on their way. “A Box Life” has gained lots of strength recently as sustainability has become a popular move for business looking to stay sharp in the corporate and public eye.  Columbia had always offered their customers with the option to receive their order in a used box. Before “A Box Life” was created there was no way to track the reuse of these boxes. By implementing the use of QR (quick response) codes as a means of tracking the boxes, now the boxes life cycle can be recorded. Customers can scan the box with their smartphone and see where it has been, and companies can utilize this to see how many places the boxes have traveled too.

      Columbia places a sticker with a QR code and some instructions on the outside of the box. If you are not familiar with QR codes, they are becoming a popular trend internationally as a means of sharing information quickly. Most smartphones are able to read these codes by downloading a barcode scanner application. You can see QR codes in stores such as Best Buy, and you will also find them all over the web. (Including www.maxicontainer.com – located on the “Contact Us” page, as a quick way to get directions to our office/warehouse.) Riding the “Green” trend and capitalizing on the rising popularity of QR codes, smartphones, and sustainability, Columbia implemented a rather successful program in a short period of time.

“By offering the option to our customers to have their purchases shipped in a cardboard box, we hope to show that we can make a difference by helping reduce the need for new boxes, and that companies of all kinds can impact the global demand for new boxes by incorporating reused ones into their shipping program.”

–Paul Zaengle
Vice President of Columbia Sportswear

      Though new for many industries, the life cycle of our plastic and steel drums and IBC’s plays a very important part in the Industrial Packaging industry. If it is still good enough to use again, why throw it away? Take for example the plastic drum, our industry has been investigating the life cycle of plastic drums for over forty years now. Recycling one plastic drum is equivalent to recycling 500 plastic beverage bottles, so that is what we do. The reconditioning process reclaims around 50% of plastic drums. There is plenty of useful information about the Reuse, Reconditioning, and Recycling of plastic drums from the Plastic Drum Institute. Another example is Remanufactured IBC’s, if the outer steel cage is good, (especially with high and constantly fluctuating steel prices today) we pop a new inner bottle in it. If its former contents were food-grade, it is washed out and sold for a discounted price. Reuse and Remanufacturing are integral parts of the IBC market. This got me thinking, what if the Reusable Industrial Packaging Industry tried to start a program similar to Columbia’s?

      The possibilities are endless with the mixture of technology and progressive and eco-conscious thinking. Together we can collect data by tracking packages and then make adjustments to our business/lifestyle simply by returning or reusing this packaging, all while documenting it’s travels. On a large scale, this data could help us learn just how many new boxes we are saving and also reduce the amount of packaging needed, saving money and the environment. On a small scale, a company could learn valuable things about how their packages are used, reused, or not. Overall, “A Box Life” showcases how thinking green cannot only be profitable but fun, creative, and most of all interactive. Now it is time for other companies and other industries to take note of Columbia’s success with this program and start to track the internal use of their products as well. Maxi is currently investigating a similar program, figuring out the best way to implement the use of QR codes with our products to track the lifecycle and make it easier to identify the differences in drums/totes.

Related Links

• Plastic Drum Life Cycle Management
• Video: Columbia Sportwear’s Reused Box Program
• Columbia’s official Blog Post: Consider the Box
• Columbia Sportswear
• What Is a QR Code And Why Do You Need One?
• Reusable Industrial Packaging Association

Original Article by Chrissy Kadleck, appeared in the Waste and Recycling News Feb. 21, 2011