Tooled and manufactured in the UK, the OakRA unit (Oakland Returnable Asset) is a reusable sustainable alternative packaging solution for the home and business direct delivery market. Its excellent thermal performance along with a multi positional divider makes it ideal for deliveries across all temperature bands; frozen, chilled and ambient.
Encompassing considerable impact resistance whilst remaining lightweight and strong, OakRA units feature secure, tamper evident banding, along with its water and pest resistant properties, OakRAs is the perfect choice for doorstep deliveries. Many companies have been concerned at the quantity of cardboard their deliveries generate, and the headache this can give consumers to dispose of the packaging, but little or no alternative has been available. OakRA now offers a solution, which is capable of being fully reused. The OakRA closed loop returnable asset provides a substantial reduction in cardboard packaging per unit used, making it a completely new and sustainable way to approach packaging. This will be a revolutionary delivery experience for the consumer and comes with a simple collection process for its return.
Oakland Group Innovation Officer Lindsay Winser said: “Setting out to develop a solution that was not just good enough to be recycled, but that would be wholly reusable and able to be fully tracked, OakRA has been 2-years in development with extensive R&D testing ensuring we selected the ideal materials for both sustainability and performance.”
Throughout the pandemic Oakland issued over 15 million units direct to homes and became all too aware of the shortcomings of packing in cardboard from a sustainability and practical point of view. OakRA operates through an asset tracking portal with a unique RFID tag on each unit. Through marrying to dispatch IDs and feeding back to the portal via API links, the last location of each unit will be known, allowing all concerned to keep track of assets and ensure each unit returns for reuse.
Operational trials were a total success with positive feedback from both end users and carrier drivers, particularly on the strength, thermal performance, ease of handling and weather proofing. An additional and significant advantage of the OakRA reusable packing solution is the potential impact on customer retention, a major influence for brands signing up to the exclusive scheme.
Added Lindsay: “Great attempts have been made to encourage the recycling of cardboard waste, but we are a long way off from preventing any cardboard packaging going into landfill.
“Reduce. Reuse, Recycle is a hierarchy. Reuse is the preferable option, particularly if the item can remain in the economy indefinitely. The need for alternatives was evident, and we wanted to find solutions to offer our customers as we all strive to make significant reductions in our carbon emissions.”
Developed and launched by Oakland International, which operates 24-hours/7 days a week and is a D2C/B2C/B2B specialist in contract packing, storage, picking, food distribution and a brand development support provider for ambient, chilled and frozen food to the retail, convenience, discount, wholesale and food service markets in the UK, Ireland and via their partner in Spain.
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