Coop and Gordon are launching a joint pilot project where consumers who buy their food online will receive their home deliveries in circular packaging that replaces paper bags. The system is called Gordon Circular and Coop is the first grocery chain to test it.
- "We look forward to starting the pilot together with Gordon. We see the development of circular packaging as necessary given the large volumes of groceries that are delivered to customers today," says Niklas Zeitlin, head of e-commerce at Coop Sweden.
Gordon Circular is developed by the last mile company Gordon, which has coordinated flows of temperature-controlled home deliveries in four Nordic countries. The system consists of physical packaging, a logistics solution and a tech solution for traceability and communication with recipients.
The physical packaging used in the pilot includes an outer, hard, part that protects the goods before they reach the consumer and a soft reusable bag that is adapted for Coop's picking and handling from store to consumer. Gordon delivers the bags of food to Coop's customers, who in turn return them to Gordon on their next delivery. The bags are washed and prepared for a new delivery from Coop.
The potential environmental benefits of the new system are enormous. A life cycle analysis from Linköping University shows that the bag only needs to make five loops for the system to have a lower climate impact than a paper bag, which is only used once. If the bag is used another 20 times, its total climate impact is reduced by 65% compared to the paper bag.
- "Coop's goal is to work with Gordon to better understand how we can find the best ways to facilitate our e-commerce customers and reduce resource use. We are doing this to be able to adjust our operations and then scale up the way we work so that more customers on coop.se can take part in the solution," says Mattis Bergquist, Head of Sustainability for Coop Sweden.
There was a lot of pressure from Coop's customers to take part in this pilot of a circular home delivery solution. It only took one day to fill all the places in the test group.
- "Being able to show so early in the development process that consumer benefits can be combined with environmental benefits is incredibly exciting. Our hope is that consumers will find it easy to receive and return these reusable bags and we are so happy that Coop wants to test this together with us," says Catherine Alsén Gelfgren, project manager for Gordon Circular.
The pilot now launched is followed by a plan to rapidly scale up the system in Sweden.
Press photos
(Click to download high resolution image.)
Contact
Catherine Alsén Gelfgren, Project Manager Gordon Circular,
076-492 26 49 catherine.alsen@gordondelivery.com
Coops pressjour, 010-743 13 13, media@coop.se
Would you like to accompany one of Gordon's drivers during a delivery of food in circular packaging?
If so, please contact Catherine Alsén Gelfgren you can follow the chain, from Gordon picking up the pre-picked bags at Stora Coop Boländerna to the orders reaching their recipients and the driver receiving previously used bags in return.
About Gordon
Last mile company Gordon's mission is to make everyday life easier for people through coordinated, sustainable and temperature-controlled home deliveries. At its heart is an efficient digital platform that connects suppliers, drivers and recipients of home deliveries in Sweden, Denmark, Norway and Finland. Gordon was founded in 2015. In 2022, Gordon had net sales of SEK 568 million. Customers include grocery retailers, meal kit companies, food producers and pharmacies.
About Coop
