The circular economy in e-commerce with eusable packaging made from recycled plastic
E-commerce is booming – and generating mountains of packaging waste in the process. According to the German Environmental Agency, private house- holds in Germany consumed around 105 kilograms of paper per capita in 2023 alone. More and more shipping cartons are ending up in waste management systems and are often discarded after just one use. Based in Greußenheim near Würzburg, memo AG proves that logistics can be more sustainable by offering customers the option to ship their goods in the company’s own reusable ‘memo Box’ – at no extra cost. These durable containers can be reused up to a hundred times and are made from a recycled plastic called Procyclen – a high-quality, customisable recompound manufactured by Interzero using post-consumer materials. Unsurprisingly, the ‘memo Box’ won a 2025 German Product Sustainability Award in the Resources category for its pioneering combination of reusability and modern recyclates to deliver goods in a less environmentally harmful way.
Making sustainable buying decisions easier
A conversation with Frank Schmähling, CEO of memo AG
For the past 35 years, memo AG has been a leading mail-order and online retail company offering sustainable office and every-day products. What role does the circular economy play in your business?
Enabling and simplifying sustainable buying decisions has been our mission ever since the company was founded in 1990. That’s why circular thinking is deeply embedded in our structure. Every item in our range is tested according to strict environmental and social criteria – including a focus on products made from recycled raw materials and those that can be easily separated for recycling. As an online retailer, we also aim to close the loop when it comes to returns. We promptly inspect returned goods, refurbish them where necessary, and return around 95% to the market.
Sustainable shopping needs green logistics, and you recently received a 2025 German Product Sustainability Award for your returnable packaging system. How does the ‘memo Box’ work?
As far as we know, we are currently the only business dispatching goods with our own functional returnable packaging system – effectively creating our own closed loop. Our customers receive their orders in boxes made from recycled cardboard or can opt for our returnable box made from recycled plastics at no additional cost. The ‘memo Box’ is a shipping and collection box rolled into one; customers can return any used items and packaging materials to us, and we will then arrange for them to be recycled professionally.
Why did you decide to use the recycled plastic Procyclen – and how does that affect your environmental performance?
Part of our work with Interzero involves operating within the dual system framework, and we’ve also received plenty of advice on how to use recycled materials. We were impressed by the fact that Procyclen is made from 100% household waste and meets the strict criteria of the ‘Blue Angel’ ecolabel. Using Procyclen saves around 30% of greenhouse gas emissions compared to conventional plastic during production alone. Shipping containers like these also need to take a lot of punishment – and this material can definitely do that. To date, the first ‘memo Boxes’ have completed 250 cycles, enabling us to save around 28 tonnes of cardboard in 2023. All of this means that anyone ordering their goods in a ‘memo Box’ is contributing directly to better climate action and resource protection.
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