Bol.com releases ‘Kartonvreter’ in Amsterdam to clean up cardboard after Sinterklaas
The Dutch are ordering online more often and that has a visible effect on the street. Notably during the holiday season, piles of cardboard often form around the wastebasket. These floating dozen create a streetscape and the cardboard is often no longer suitable for recycling. In order to do something about the cardboard waste on the street itself and to create more around the approach to this problem, bol.com, in collaboration with the municipality of Amsterdam, is setting up the cardboard eater in. On December 10 and 11, this converted garbage truck will drive through Amsterdam-South and Amsterdam-East to collect as much cardboard as possible from people. Even if the cardboard is not from bol.com. Afterwards, the collected cardboard is taken to the municipality, which can later be recycled into new cardboard.
“We consult with large web stores and parcel deliverers about ways to structurally reduce the amount of cardboard. I am very curious about lean solutions from the industry. The fact that bol.com is already helping out during the holidays to collect some of the cardboard is very welcome. We have a common interest and a responsibility to deal with packaging and thus also to ensure a cleaner street. Together with the people of Amsterdam, whom we ask to make cardboard small and to throw it in the container,” says alderman Jakob Wedemeijer (Cleaning Amsterdam).
Less cardboard
As an online webshop, bol.com ships a lot of cardboard. That is why the company is initially looking at what they can do themselves to use less cardboard. “We want to minimize the impact of packaging on the environment. That’s why we use dozens of cardboard as thin as possible and packaging machines that pack to size to send as little empty air as possible. This has ensured that we used 12% less cardboard per article last year than the year before,” says Jori Ebskamp, Sustainability Manager at bol.com. “We also ship millions of packages without a shipping box if the original packaging of an item is sturdy enough. This allows us to store packaging material and space in the delivery vans. And this brings us one step closer to our ambition to achieve a climate-neutral goal by 2025.”
With this campaign, bol.com is investigating what they can do themselves about cardboard waste on the street. the company wants to create with consumers about how to throw away the best cardboard. For example by tearing the cardboard so that there is more past in the containers. For the time being, it concerns a previous pilot in Amsterdam around the holidays.
Route through Amsterdam-South and Amsterdam-East
De Kartonvreter runs a fixed route through Amsterdam and stops at various ‘feeding spots’. Here children and residents from the area can feed the Cardboard Eater with their cardboard, even if it is not from bol.com. When the cardboard ends up in the car, the Cardboard Eater starts growling and spewing smoke. In this way, throwing away waste is made fun.
The Kartonvreter will start next Friday at 12:00 pm at the Olympic Stadium in Amsterdam and will then drive through various districts of Amsterdam South that day. On Saturday 11 December, the Kartonvreter will drive through Amsterdam-East. On the promotion page, bol.com shares the route taken by the Cardboard Eater, so that local residents can feed him with cardboard. This page also shares tips for properly disposing of cardboard and bol.com shares what they do to save cardboard.
For more information about the Cardboard Eater, visit: bol.com/kartonvreter.
Image: the Cardboard Eater from bol.com