Running a sustainable RTP circular system is more than just clever product design and hard-wearing materials. There is a whole ecosystem that goes on behind the scenes to track when equipment is diverted out of the supply chain to ensure that our baskets and dollies are retained within the ecosystem and used over and over again before they reach the end of their useful life.
It’s not just the fact that our baskets and dollies are made of recyclable plastic and can be used for more than eight years that reduces the impact on the environment, our products are very carefully designed and manufactured so they make the most efficient use of space possible in storage and in transit - reducing road miles and our environmental footprint.
The Bakers Basco national asset investigations team locates misappropriated equipment and uses negotiation, education, collection and, where necessary, legal enforcement to reclaim the company’s assets and recover financial losses. To date, the division has undertaken just short of 62,000 investigations and recovered over two million Omega baskets and wheels.
Our Omega baskets are made from sturdy polypropylene, which is meant to be reusable for many years. Within the logistics industry, our baskets are categorised as ‘Reusable Transit Packaging’ – packaging which is designed to protect goods in transit, and which is meant to be reused, again and again, not thrown away after one trip.
Plastic, in itself, isn’t the problem – it is how society has become reliant on single use packaging. On average, when used responsibly, our baskets and dollies should last beyond eight years. Only when they have reached the end of their useful life are they recycled, with each piece of kit recycled potentially 400 times during its life span.