Since 2020, the mail-order company OTTO has been making partial use of packaging made of "wild" plastic from the Hamburg-based start-up Wildplastic that was collected from the environment. From 2021 to the end of 2023, OTTO collected around 308 tonnes of plastic waste from the environment for these dispatch bags, and thus saved 740,053 kg of carbon dioxide.
 

 

Now, since February 2024, OTTO has been exclusively using the "wild" dispatch bags. These bags, developed in cooperation with the company Wildplastic, consist of at least 80 % plastic waste that can be described as "wild" plastic. According to Wildplastic, this is waste that is collected on land – for example, from illegal dump sites, in the countryside or in urban areas – by people in countries that do not have an adequate waste management industry, such as India, Indonesia, Thailand or Senegal. This helps to prevent the plastic from getting into waterways such as lakes and rivers, from where it can be discharged into the oceans. Wildplastic says it works together closely with local organisations and makes sure that those collecting the waste are paid fairly and that their working conditions are improved. The further processing of the collected plastic waste, says Wildplastic, is then carried out in Europe.
 
"We have already reached our joint aim to make OTTO's dispatch bags 100 % from wild plastic. By doing this, we have shown that the Wildplastic supply chain can not only save large quantities of plastic from getting into the environment, but also opens the door to high-quality applications," explains co-founder and CEO of Wildplastic, Christian Siegmund. "As the largest German online shop, we bear responsibility for reducing packaging waste and, by using solutions like those from Wildplastic, we also take this responsibility seriously," comments Tobias Gruber, Head of Sustainability OTTO, the partnership.
 
Sources:

• OTTO press release (30.1.2024)
• neue-verpackung.de (1.2.2024)
• Photo: © OTTO