Transport cartons as retail packaging

The classic plastic bag has rightly lost its raison d'être in the checkout area, and not just from a legislative point of view. Plastic is increasingly being given a bad image as the basic material for private transport containers.

This is true even if many of the plastics can be recycled. Cardboard - often corrugated cardboard - is far better off as a cash box. The waste paper ratio is particularly high in the manufacture of these containers. Cartons have a good reputation when it comes to environmental compatibility and sustainability.

Have you noticed that supermarkets and large discounters are increasingly offering checkout boxes? Do you make use of this offer? We have looked into the subject a little more intensively.

Transport cartons as an alternative to the bag

As of January 1, 2022, retailers are no longer allowed to hand out plastic carrier bags,
which are thinner than 0.05 millimeters.

Certain types of plastic bags may no longer be offered by stores. Nevertheless, companies know that their customers want an alternative for transporting food and other products.

Alongside jute bags and bags made from more sustainable plastics, checkout boxes are increasingly taking over stores. Does this also apply to the hearts of customers? Today, the environmentally conscious customer is increasingly the rule rather than the exception.

This is where a checkout carton made of sustainable cardboard comes in handy if the purchase has unexpectedly become somewhat larger than planned.

Cardboard boxes offer more space and stability than paper bags, for example. They are resilient, easy to carry in the car and just as practical to transport in the apartment or house. And that's not all. The highly functional cartons can also have a second existence in the private household after their use in the store.

Here they serve as storage, a popular play space for cats, and some people even use them a second or third time to transport groceries. Checkout boxes are in vogue. Not all companies have realized this yet, but they are adding them every day.

The checkout carton is conquering more and more stores as an alternative to the plastic bag.

Cash boxes: Sustainable option for multiple use

Cartons for transporting food and other products have many advantages. Sustainability is the top priority here. Today, corrugated board is already made predominantly from waste paper and leaves a low ecological footprint. If you want to demonstrate sustainability as a consumer, choose a sustainable transport alternative in the form of a checkout carton.

However, the sustainability aspect is not the only defining characteristic of checkout cartons. They can be used multiple times. Not only for the next purchase, but also in the private environment in many areas of application.

Cash boxes increasingly have different sizes and shapes, so their reuse can be beneficial in a variety of ways.
As a transport option, they have many advantages over a bag from a practical point of view.

Items and products can be placed in a carton and do not have to be wildly stacked in a bag. This is an excellent way to transport bottles, cans and other containers.

Later, the cardboard box can be used to hold tools, toys, supplies and other products. Consumers perceive a cash box like an added value because they can immediately see the multiple benefits.

Which stores are already using cartons as an alternative to bags?

Large discounters and full-range grocery stores such as Rewe and Kaufland are increasingly relying on the checkout carton. But smaller stores have also discovered the practical carton as an alternative to a bag. The use of cartons is no longer just about the classic checkout carton.

In many cases, the small plastic bags and plastic packaging for fruit and vegetables have long been a thorn in the side of customers. Awareness of sustainability and environmental compatibility continues to grow here. In addition to the currently frequently offered reusable nets for transporting fruit and vegetables, smaller cartons can also be a convincing alternative for this purpose.

The food trade in particular is still finding its feet when it comes to sustainable packaging. In some cases, it is being forced to think about packaging alternatives because the legislator no longer permits certain plastic solutions as transport packaging. In addition, the topic of sustainability is increasingly becoming a competitive factor that companies cannot afford to neglect.

Companies like Lidl are also turning to cardboard materials. Here, for example, they offer foldable cartons at the bakery counter for transporting delicate pastries such as cupcakes. In the medium term, hardly any food retailer will be able to avoid cardboard solutions.

Further use of the cartons by the customer for various purposes - What is possible?

In principle, there are hardly any limits to the further use of cash boxes and other cardboard containers. First of all, the cardboard boxes can serve as storage for other items. Cardboard is a friendly material with a warm, natural look that can be used in many living environments.

Furthermore, cardboard is gaining more and more friends in decorating rooms. Cardboard furniture sets new trends with flexible solutions especially in small rooms. Therefore, it is not impossible that an upside-down cash box will take its new function as a small table. At least temporarily. Cash boxes are also valuable helpers during the next move or the new order in the garage.

After all, cash boxes can be used again and again to transport purchases. Once placed in the car, they can repeatedly do their job. Robust as they are, they have a long service life.

The overview shows which purposes cash boxes can still fulfill after their first use, among others:

Storage
durable transport solution
Decoration
as a small piece of furniture (under certain circumstances)

The carton for the ecological conscience and as an advertising message

Cartons are an often underestimated advertising medium.

Checkout cartons and other cardboard containers for shopping satisfy the desire for sustainable transport solutions. They give customers a good feeling. Moreover, the respective company also conveys a clear advertising message: For us, sustainability and the environment are top priorities.

We continue to provide our customers with practical transportation options, but we do not neglect the environmental aspect.

Nonverbally, an advertising message is possible, which is transported by the practical and functional, sustainable cash boxes. Just with the announcement for the introduction of new cash boxes or cardboard solutions, companies can draw attention to their offer.

They also make use of these opportunities. Rewe, for example, repeatedly publishes articles on the sustainable packaging and transport solutions that the company has newly developed.

info Sustainable packaging solutions such as checkout boxes enable corporate promotional messages associated with the environment.

Cardboard boxes - more than decoration and furniture?

Cartons are no longer of importance and interest to consumers only as checkout boxes. In addition to high functionality, these products convey emotions. They become the symbol of a sustainability society. Cartons have many lives. They become decorative objects and furniture.

Cartons are used many times over. Another major advantage is often underestimated: cash boxes and cardboard containers can be easily disposed of when they become defective or unsightly after many uses.

At the same time, consumers do not have a guilty conscience because they can put these transport solutions in the waste paper. On closer inspection, the sustainability and environmental compatibility of checkout cartons should not be a reason to be wasteful with these transport solutions.

Even though they are mainly made from waste paper, their production also requires a certain amount of fresh paper and water. Production costs energy.

Nevertheless, the life cycle assessment of cardboard solutions as a means of transport is better than that of many other containers. When used in other areas until the end of their life, they combine function, decoration, environmental awareness and clean chic in a way that has never been achieved before.

At the same time, the increasing popularity for the checkout cartons and other cartons is often an unconscious matter. It is only when customers are approached about it that they consciously think about the subject of checkout cartons.

Here, too, there is a subtle opportunity for companies to get their marketing messages across. Today, companies need to present themselves through sustainability and environmental friendliness.

Conclusion: Transport alternative with added value

In most cases, companies do not provide checkout boxes to customers free of charge. Nevertheless, many of the consumers will feel that they have added value with this transport solution. According to their personal perception, they opt for a sustainable transport solution that can be used multiple times.

The added value lies not only in the practical benefit of the cartons, but also in the impetus for social conscience and social responsibility. Furthermore, cash boxes are simply practical.

This is true at least as long as food and other products are transported in cars. On a normal bicycle, the cash box is already worse from a certain size.

On the cargo bike appreciated by some people, however, he was allowed to take his place just as well. Companies such as supermarkets and discounters understand the cash box as a means to convey the message of their own environmentally friendly image without words.

They also never tire of promoting the added value of the transport solution. You can be curious to see whether cardboard and paperboard will become even more value-added sales containers in the future.

FAQ

Why can a checkout carton be a good alternative to a plastic bag?
Carton solutions for transporting food and products are a more flexible and robust transport alternative. Likewise, they are more sustainable and environmentally friendly. They also allow companies to project a clean image to the outside world.
Does the checkout carton have a future?
At the moment, everything looks like more and more stores will be offering checkout cartons in one form or another. Most companies seem to be having good experiences with offering their customers added value with the cartons. Multiple uses and use as decorative objects or storage for the home make cartons attractive.
Are checkout cartons really a sustainable transport solution?
Most of these cartons are made predominantly from recycled paper. Provided they are used multiple times, the cardboard solutions are the better and more sustainable choice compared to plastic bags.