Keeping tags on reusable boxes

Fuji Xerox and Starway have developed a packing box that can be used over a hundred times and tracked using RFID tags. Conventional recyclable packing boxes are only used twice.

Fuji Xerox had been using cardboard containers when delivering new spare parts and recovering used ones, and these containers could only be used for one round trip. The new container is based on Starway’s E-Star Pack (ESP) and is customised for transporting Fuji Xerox’s spare parts.

It is durable enough to be used more than 100 times, reducing the total amount of new packaging materials by 1,294 tonnes and container purchasing costs by 55 per cent by 2010. Carbon dioxide and nitrogen oxide emissions generated during producing and recycling of the materials could also be reduced by 658 tonnes and 0.82 tonnes respectively by 2010.

The returnable containers will be used for about 70 per cent of spare parts transportation

Fuji and Starway are applying for a patent on the box, which will come with an RFID tag to enable tracking, so that the discarded boxes can be tracked and collected for further recycling.