History

Since its incep­tion in 1999 as the Reusable Pal­let and Con­tainer Coali­tion (RPCC),
the Reusable Pack­ag­ing Asso­ci­a­tion (RPA) has steadily expanded its mem­ber base, resources and exper­tise and become the industry’s rec­og­nized lead­ing source and voice for the adop­tion of reusable pack­ag­ing sys­tems across all industries.

The asso­ci­a­tion began as a col­lab­o­ra­tion between man­u­fac­tur­ers and pool­ers of reusable pal­lets and con­tain­ers who were com­mit­ted to advo­cat­ing the ben­e­fits of reusable pack­ag­ing. Today, the asso­ci­a­tion has grown sig­nif­i­cantly to include all sup­ply chain part­ners includ­ing dis­trib­u­tors, retail­ers, and end users, as well as edu­ca­tors and pol­i­cy­mak­ers, all with a com­mit­ment to the value and mes­sage of re-use. Each year, the num­ber of mem­bers increases as more com­pa­nies rec­og­nize the pos­i­tive eco­nomic and eco­log­i­cal impact of adopt­ing reusable pack­ag­ing. Mem­bers also join to ben­e­fit from the new busi­ness oppor­tu­ni­ties, resources and col­lab­o­ra­tion fos­tered by the RPA.

The RPA has also made a con­certed effort to build rela­tion­ships with other strate­gic asso­ci­a­tions through its Indus­try Rela­tions ini­tia­tive. These strate­gic rela­tion­ships include Stop­Waste, the Cal­i­for­nia Resource Recov­ery Asso­ci­a­tion, EPA, Sus­tain­able Pack­ag­ing Coali­tion, and the Wal-Mart Sup­plier Value Net­work. These rela­tion­ships bring the RPA closer to its cus­tomers, policy-makers and oth­ers who are shap­ing the reusables mar­ket­place.

In addi­tion, the RPA has taken the lead and com­mis­sioned numer­ous research projects, con­ducted stud­ies, and pub­lished guide­lines on issues and top­ics that impact the entire sup­ply chain and help advance the use of reusables through­out the sup­ply chain. The RPA also hosts indus­try events to edu­cate the mar­ket­place about the ben­e­fits of reusable packaging.

Today, the RPA con­tin­ues to lever­age its grow­ing col­lec­tive voice of indus­try lead­ing knowl­edge to advance the adop­tion of reusable pack­ag­ing by clearly demon­strat­ing sup­ply chain effi­cien­cies, envi­ron­men­tal ben­e­fits, ergonomic improve­ments and cost advan­tages to end users in all industries.

RPA Past Pres­i­dents and Chair­man of the Board

• Bob Reivik 1999 – 2000
• James Dobell 2000 – 2001
• Ken­neth Smith 2001 – 2002
• Alan Wasser­man 2002 – 2003
• David Rus­sell 2004 – 2005
• David Rodgers 2005 – 2006
• Fred Hep­tin­stall 2007 – 2008
• Bob Klimko 2008 – 2009