Since its incep­tion in 1999 as the Reusable Pal­let and Con­tainer Coali­tion (RPCC), the Reusable Pack­ag­ing Asso­ci­a­tion (RPA) has steadily expanded its mem­ber­ship, resources and exper­tise, strength­en­ing its posi­tion as the industry’s rec­og­nized lead­ing source and voice for the adop­tion of reusable pack­ag­ing sys­tems across all indus­tries. The RPA is a col­lab­o­ra­tive effort between man­u­fac­tur­ers, pool­ers, dis­trib­u­tors, retail­ers, end users, edu­ca­tors and pol­icy mak­ers to pro­mote the envi­ron­men­tal, safety, and eco­nomic ben­e­fits of reusable packaging.

Mem­ber­ship has steadily increased year-over-year as com­pa­nies con­tinue to rec­og­nize the ben­e­fits of being part of the asso­ci­a­tion, includ­ing new busi­ness devel­op­ment and net­work­ing oppor­tu­ni­ties, access to resources to pro­mote and quan­tify the value of reusables, and the oppor­tu­nity to fur­ther advance the adop­tion of reusable trans­port pack­ag­ing sys­tems through­out the sup­ply chain. Recently, the RPA has had an increas­ing num­ber of end-user com­pa­nies join the Association.

The Kroger Com­pany, an RPA end-user mem­ber for sev­eral years, quickly rec­og­nized the value of reusables in the sup­ply chain. “The inter­ac­tion and cross com­mu­ni­ca­tion we have with the reusable sup­plier com­pa­nies in the RPA has been very valu­able in devel­op­ing a bet­ter under­stand­ing of how reusables can in fact increase effi­cien­cies in the sup­ply chain and have a last­ing ben­e­fit to the envi­ron­ment,” says Phil Davis, Senior Fresh Sup­ply Chain Man­ager, The Kroger Com­pany, and mem­ber of the 2011 RPA Board of Directors.

Edu­cat­ing the mar­ket and cre­at­ing busi­ness oppor­tu­ni­ties

The RPA helps cre­ate busi­ness oppor­tu­ni­ties for its mem­bers through edu­ca­tional out­reach, mar­ket­ing ini­tia­tives, and strate­gic rela­tion­ships with other asso­ci­a­tions. Addi­tion­ally, the RPA lever­ages the col­lec­tive expe­ri­ence of its mem­bers to develop infor­ma­tion and tools that clearly demon­strate the sup­ply chain effi­cien­cies, envi­ron­men­tal ben­e­fits, ergonomic improve­ments and cost advan­tages of reusables, and in turn pro­vides these com­pre­hen­sive resources exclu­sively to its mem­bers for reference.

RPA mem­bers span the entire sup­ply chain and pro­vide reusables devel­oped from a vari­ety of mate­ri­als includ­ing wood, plas­tic and steel as well as pro­vid­ing a range of asso­ci­ated ser­vices to the reusables indus­try. As a result, the RPA’s edu­ca­tional mate­ri­als are designed to pro­mote the expan­sion of reusables as the pre­ferred pack­ag­ing solu­tion across sup­ply chains in all indus­tries.

“The term ‘resuable’ has joined buzz­words such as the ‘green move­ment’, ‘social respon­si­bil­ity’, ‘sus­tain­abil­ity’, ‘recy­cling’ and the like,” says Robert Engle, Pres­i­dent, Schoeller Arca Sys­tems Inc., and RPA 2012 Vice Chair­man. “How­ever, when you dis­cuss the con­cept in detail with an end user, it is still some­what mys­te­ri­ous. An orga­ni­za­tion like the RPA has the abil­ity to edu­cate end users by pro­vid­ing details around the var­i­ous reusable options avail­able. As the RPA con­tin­ues to grow, I envi­sion it becom­ing the lead­ing author­ity for reli­able, com­pre­hen­sive infor­ma­tion regard­ing reusable pack­ag­ing, and a resource to con­nect end users with sup­pli­ers.”

One cur­rent RPA edu­ca­tional ini­tia­tive under way is a four-part cur­ricu­lum address­ing key ques­tions and chal­lenges involved in the adop­tion of reusables. Top­ics include deter­min­ing whether reusables are a good fit in the sup­ply chain, fac­tors to weigh when decid­ing whether to buy or rent, and how to pre­pare the sup­ply chain for a suc­cess­ful implementation.

Con­nect­ing the sup­ply chain

“I would rec­om­mend becom­ing an RPA mem­ber to any com­pany cur­rently uti­liz­ing var­i­ous forms of pack­ag­ing,” says Engle. “Man­u­fac­tur­ers of reusable pack­ag­ing are also great mem­ber can­di­dates. With such a large group rep­re­sented, we need an orga­ni­za­tion such as the RPA to pro­vide a one-stop-shop con­sist­ing of con­tacts, case stud­ies, edu­ca­tional venues, and a clear path for any­one inter­ested in sub­sti­tut­ing one-way pack­ag­ing with reusable packaging.”

“The RPA helps address our biggest obsta­cle, which is edu­cat­ing cus­tomers about reusables,” adds Fraser League, Pres­i­dent, Quick-Crate. “The col­lec­tive voice of the RPA is stronger than ours alone, plus the RPA does a lot of the leg­work and research to pro­mote reusables. They pro­vide mate­ri­als that detail the ben­e­fits of reusables not just to the envi­ron­ment, but to our customer’s finan­cial bot­tom line.”

Other tools avail­able from the RPA include ROI cal­cu­la­tors to mea­sure and jus­tify the imple­men­ta­tion of reusables and appli­ca­tion case stud­ies. The RPA web­site fea­tures a broad array of indus­try infor­ma­tion and resources related to reusable pack­ag­ing as well as inter­ac­tive tools to facil­i­tate dis­cus­sions and inter­ac­tion with indus­try experts, RPA mem­bers and other visitors.

In addi­tion, the RPA has taken the lead on com­mis­sion­ing numer­ous research projects, con-ducting stud­ies and pub­lish­ing guide­lines on top­ics that impact and help advance the use of reusables through­out the sup¬ply chain. Stud­ies include an RFID Field Trial, Franklin Life Cycle Analy­sis of Pro­duce, and Fire Safety of Reusables.

“Many of the stud­ies con­ducted by the RPA have helped val­i­date and quan­tify the ben­e­fits of reusable pack­ag­ing,” says Mike Hacht­man, CEO and Pres­i­dent of reL­o­gis­tics Ser­vices and RPA 2012 Chairman.

Dri­ving traf­fic through the Reusable Pack­ag­ing Pavil­ion

The RPA aggres­sively pro­motes the val­ues of reusables and its mem­ber com­pa­nies in a num­ber of ways includ­ing its com­pre­hen­sive web­site, reg­u­lar fea­tures in influ­en­tial media out­lets and a monthly e-newsletter. In addi­tion, the RPA hosts indus­try events to edu­cate the market¬place about the ben­e­fits of reusable pack­ag­ing and to drive sales for its mem­bers. One of the high-profile mar­ket­ing oppor­tu­ni­ties avail­able to mem­bers only is the well-established RPA Reusable Pack­ag­ing Pavil­ion at PACK EXPO. The 2011 Pavil­ion was the Association’s third annual event. The sold-out 5,000 square foot Pavil­ion was home to a record 22 member/suppliers of ser­vices and solu­tions for reusable pack­ag­ing. Sev­eral exhibitors reported increased atten­dance and sales as a result of being part of the Pavilion.

“When we exhib­ited alone, atten­dees sort of stum­bled upon us,” says Quick-Crate’s Fraser League. “We had much more traf­fic in the Pavil­ion because peo­ple came to this area look­ing for reusable solutions.”

“There is no doubt that we gained incre­men­tal sales by being part of the Pavil­ion,” says Ron Warner, Senior Vice Pres­i­dent, Sales and Mar­ket­ing, Com­pos­ite Tech­nolo­gies Cor­po­ra­tion (CTC). “But we also joined the RPA because we feel it is impor­tant to be part of the reusable com­mu­nity and sup­port the industry.”

Traf­fic was also steady at the RPA booth with numer­ous atten­dees stop­ping by to inquire about mem­ber­ship. “The Reusable Pack­ag­ing Pavil­ion has become estab­lished as an impor­tant part of PACK EXPO. Atten­dees tell us they appre­ci­ate being able to come to one place to learn about all the facets of imple­ment­ing reusable pack­ag­ing into their sup­ply chains,” says RPA Pres­i­dent, Jerry Welcome.

The RPA Con­fer­ence Ses­sions at PACK EXPO 2011, Imple­ment­ing a Sus­tain­able Reusable Trans­port Pack­ag­ing Sys­tem and Man­ag­ing and Pro­tect­ing Your Reusable Pack­ag­ing Assets, were also a big draw for atten­dees inter­ested in reusable pack­ag­ing. The ses­sions fea­tured pre­sen­ta­tions from RPA mem­bers and end-user com­pa­nies includ­ing Ghi­rardelli Choco­late Com­pany, Coca Cola, and Alpha Bak­ing Com­pany. Addi­tion­ally, a recep­tion the first night of the show gave mem­bers an oppor­tu­nity to net­work with each other, poten­tial mem­bers and the media.

“The Pavil­ion, con­fer­ence ses­sions and net­work­ing recep­tion we hosted at PACK EXPO sig­nif­i­cantly increased aware­ness regard­ing the ben­e­fits of reusable pack­ag­ing solu­tions and our RPA Mem­ber com­pa­nies,” says Drew Mer­rill, Vice Pres­i­dent, Busi­ness Devel­op­ment & Strate­gic Plan­ning, Con­tainer and Pool­ing Solu­tions, and RPA 2011 Chair­man of the Board. “We present a much stronger and com­pelling mes­sage when our col­lec­tive voices and efforts are united in one forum.”

In addi­tion to host­ing its Pavil­ion at PACK EXPO 2012, the RPA pre­sented a Reusables Con­fer­ence at the new MODEX show in Atlanta. The edu­ca­tional and mar­ket­ing oppor­tu­ni­ties pro­vided by the RPA are ben­e­fi­cial. In addi­tion, sim­ply being con­nected to the RPA can enhance a company’s rep­u­ta­tion as a trusted and reli­able provider to the reusable pack­ag­ing community.

“When we read about RPA in an arti­cle, it was obvi­ous to us that it was a good fit for our efforts. Being aligned with the Asso­ci­a­tion gives us added cred­i­bil­ity,” says John McCurdy, Mar­ket­ing Direc­tor of Coro­plast Inc.

Strength­en­ing con­nec­tions while grow­ing the market

The abil­ity to net­work with fel­low mem­bers, end users and other asso­ci­a­tions involved in reusables pro­vides another com­pet­i­tive advan­tage for mem­ber companies.

“The RPA is a good plat­form to get to know play­ers in this field and gain knowl­edge,” says Tony Sun, Gen­eral Man­ager, Founder and CEO of Anwood Logis­tics Sys­tems. “We know a lot about the reusables mar­ket in Europe and China, but the US is dif­fer­ent. We’ve increased our busi­ness by join­ing the RPA.”

The RPA has built strate­gic rela­tion­ships with sev­eral key asso­ci­a­tions through its Indus­try Rela­tions ini­tia­tive. These relation¬ships include Stop¬Waste, the Cal­i­for­nia Resource Recov­ery Asso­ci­a­tion, EPA, Sus­tain­able Pack­ag­ing Coali­tion, and the Wal-Mart Sup­plier Value Net­work. The relation¬ships bring the RPA and its mem­bers closer to their cus­tomers, policy-makers and oth­ers who are shap­ing the reusables marketplace.

“The RPA has allowed me an oppor­tu­nity to gain a greater under­stand­ing of the var­i­ous types of reusable pack­ag­ing and sys­tems beyond what IFCO pro­vides. This under­stand­ing gives me greater insight into pos­si­ble solu­tions for IFCO’s cus­tomers,” says Hacht­man. “In addi­tion, the oppor­tu­nity to net­work with indus­try peers has proven very valu­able. IFCO is able to learn from best prac­tices from across the reusables indus­try to see how we might may apply them to our busi­nesses and ben­e­fit our customers.”

In 2012, the RPA is expand­ing its rela­tion­ship with Stop­Waste, pro­vid­ing con­tent for a series of nation­wide work­shops being con­ducted by the orga­ni­za­tion to help busi­nesses replace limited-use trans­port pack­ag­ing with more durable and eco­nom­i­cal reusable alter­na­tives.

Not only does the RPA pro­vide a wide range of resources, it also helps shape the reusables indus­try. Mem­ber­ship gives com­pa­nies an oppor­tu­nity to influ­ence the future of the mar­ket. The RPA lever­ages the col­lec­tive power of its mem­bers to pro­mote and pro­tect member’s inter­ests by keep­ing track of key polit­i­cal and social issues such as:

• Tax issues
• Envi­ron­men­tal leg­is­la­tion and reg­u­la­tory com­pli­ance issues
• State ini­tia­tives
• Extended pro­ducer respon­si­bil­ity bills
• Trans­porta­tion issues
• Food safety
• Track and trace

“The reusable pack­ag­ing indus­try is not homoge­nous; each provider has its own unique needs for the asso­ci­a­tion to fill — be it research, net­work­ing, best-practices or mar­ket­ing. If your com­pany is not a mem­ber of the asso­ci­a­tion, you’re miss­ing out on the oppor­tu­nity to have your unique needs rep­re­sented and allow­ing your peers — and com­peti­tors! — shape the mar­ket­place for you,” empha­sizes Hachtman.

Mem­bers have the oppor­tu­nity to join the RPA Board of Direc­tors or the var­i­ous com­mit­tees: Indus­try Devel­op­ment, Marketing/Communications, Edu­ca­tion, and Membership.

“We are still a young asso­ci­a­tion and a new member’s input will make a dif­fer­ence in shap­ing the RPA in years to come,” says John Frey, Pres­i­dent of Tosca Lim­ited, and RPA Secretary/Treasurer. “This is a great oppor­tu­nity to have your voice heard and gen­er­ate good debate on how we can grow the indus­try.”