Everpax: Making reusable packaging economically viable
Read further to discover what we’ve learned so far and why these insights matter for scaling reusable packaging.
Reusable packaging is often framed as a simply “better, greener” alternative. But in reality, it is a systems challenge, not a packaging challenge. Before you even think about ecological gains, you must solve the economics, the orchestration and the digital infrastructure. Everpax is a joint initiative by bpost, A.S. Adventure, Torfs, VIL, Universiteit Antwerpen, Fostplus and Twintag, working together to design a scalable, economically viable system for reusable packaging in e-commerce.
While the pilot will go live later this year, we believe it’s important to already share the first lessons learned.
No green premium without business viability
In theory, reuse should reduce waste, raw material use and carbon footprint. But in practice, without a viable cost model, it remains just a good idea.
Research shows that switching to reusable systems only becomes economically superior under specific conditions: high return rates, efficient logistics, enough reuse cycles and minimal idle transport. Many pilots fail because these levers are underestimated.
Even the environmental wins depend less on materials and more on how the system is designed.
For Everpax, this means:
- Choose materials and formats optimized for repeated use, repairability, minimal weight per cycle, modularity.
- Redesign logistics, especially return flows. Every kilometer moved empty is cost and emissions wasted.
- Model losses and friction, plan for damaged units, non-returns, cleaning failures.
- Drive throughput: many fixed costs (cleaning facility, handling nodes, system software) only amortize with high volume.
If economics don’t work, everything else fails. That’s why from day one we structured the network, packaging specs and flows with a zero-waste, tightly engineered mindset.
Someone must own the loop
In a world of fragmented players (brands, retailers, shippers, logistics, packaging suppliers), no single actor will naturally internalize all risks. That’s why a Packaging-as-a-Service (PaaS) model is essential. Someone must own the entire loop, issuance, usage, return, inspection, cleaning, repair, redistribution and settlement.
A logistics operator like bpost is ideally placed to play that role, they already run parcel flows, manage returns, have node infrastructure and know routing. The PaaS provider becomes the orchestrator of the reuse cycle.
But owning infrastructure is not enough. Success depends on retailers willing to give up branded packaging - to use a neutral reusable format and trust the shared pool model. It also depends on alignment across brands, converters, transporters and cleaning facilities.
Digital traceability = scalability (no visibility, no trust, no scale)
In a multi-actor loop, digital traceability is not optional - it’s a foundational pillar. Without it, you can’t:
- Accurately track who currently holds each package and in what status
- Automate deposit/refund logic or penalty/bonus flows
- Optimize reverse routing, redistribution, or node selection
- Detect loss, damage, or bottlenecks in real time
- Establish analytics and feedback loops to improve yield
Twintag’s platform provides that “nervous system” to Everpax: unique package IDs, status transitions (e.g. “in transit,” “returned,” “cleaning needed”), real-time routing decisions and integration with retailer and logistics systems. That digital layer is what turns a manual, high-friction pilot into a plausible scale model.
Why this matters, beyond the pilot
So why share these insights now, before the pilot has even gone live? Because the narrative matters. Everpax is not “just another green experiment.” It’s being built as a deliberate, engineering-first platform for reusable packaging. One designed to scale because it makes business sense.
Packaging buyers consistently report that cost and performance are the biggest barriers to sustainable alternatives. Consumers, too, say they care about sustainability, but when it comes to real choices, price, convenience and safety still dominate.
When you connect Everpax to those broader dynamics, it becomes clear: this isn’t a niche pilot. It’s a blueprint for how reuse can move from small-scale trial to mainstream adoption. Over the coming months, we’ll monitor return rates, cost-per-cycle, bottlenecks, consumer behavior and continuous optimization loops. We commit to sharing learnings - both successes and failures - so that this work can contribute to the broader reusable packaging ecosystem.
If you are a brand, retailer, logistics operator, or interested stakeholder who wants to explore partnership, pilot integration, or learn more about Twintag’s digital layer, we’d love to talk.
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Elizaveta De Muynck
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