Reusable plastic container company IFCO announced its Lift Lock range in Europe has achieved Cradle to Cradle Certified (Version 3.1) status at the Silver level, become the first fresh-food RPCs to meet the sustainability standard.
The European Lift Lock containers, which are optimized for fruits and vegetables as well as other food products, also earned Gold in the assessment category of Material Reutilization.
“Cradle to Cradle Certified gives leading companies a globally recognized standard for ensuring their impact on people and our planet is a positive one,” said Dr. Christina Raab, vice president of strategy and development for the Cradle to Cradle Products Innovation Institute. “IFCO is paving the way towards a new business model for safe, circular, and responsibly made food packaging.”
IFCO’s products are shared and reused and typically last 100 cycles. Those that become damaged can be repaired and those that outlast their usefulness can be granulated and recycled into new RPCs.
“We couldn’t be prouder of this accomplishment,” said IFCO Group CEO Michael Pooley. “We are committed to sustainability, and that means reusing materials as much as possible. And Cradle to Cradle goes beyond reducing negative effects on the environment. It’s about making a positive ecological impact. Repairing containers and reusing materials instead of throwing them away is a fundamental part of our circular economy business model.”
The Cradle to Cradle products were formulated based on a book from chemist Dr. Michael Braungart called “Cradle to Cradle: Remaking the Way We Make Things.” IFCO was the world’s first company to pioneer RPCs in the early 1990s. It Cradle products are continually checked for material health, product circularity, clean air & climate protection, water and soil stewardship, and social fairness.
