Below, find my favourite stories for 2025 from the annals of Reusable Packaging News. I don’t have a particular methodology. This is purely a visceral reaction to a year that saw some great insights. Starting with a list of 36 stories I really liked, I narrowed the selectees down to the following:
Insights from Experts: Six Conversations That Defined 2025
My top story for 2025 isn’t a single article, but a series. Over the course of the year, Reusable Packaging News published six long-form interviews as part of our Insights from Experts series, each one exploring a different corner of the reusable packaging ecosystem through the eyes of people who design, specify, and defend these systems every day.
The series set the tone early with Designing for Durability: Alison Zitzke on Getting Plastic Pallets Right. Zitzke’s interview resonated because it tackled one of the industry’s most persistent tensions head-on: upfront cost versus long-term performance. Rather than selling plastic pallets on sustainability alone, she walked readers through friction, reinforcement, hygiene, automation readiness, and operator training. It was a grounded reminder that plastic pallets succeed not because they are plastic, but because they are engineered for specific applications and future operating conditions.
That focus on fundamentals continued in Inside Diameter vs Outside Diameter in Reusable Packaging: Why It Matters More Than You Think, featuring Bob Klimko. What appeared at first to be a technical explainer quickly evolved into a cautionary tale about design inputs, tolerances, and unintended consequences. Klimko’s real-world examples made it clear that small dimensional decisions can ripple through automation systems, material handling equipment, and return logistics, where mistakes can result in significant cost.
Next came Innovative Material Selection in Reusable Packaging with Mike Ludka, a conversation that quietly challenged some fashionable assumptions in the market. Ludka made a compelling case for restraint, explaining why polyethylene, polypropylene, and carbon steel remain the backbone of reusable packaging systems. His discussion of recycled content, additive tradeoffs, and supply chain resilience reinforced a key theme of the series: sustainable packaging decisions are rarely about novelty; they are about reliability, recyclability, and system-wide performance.
From there, the series expanded into how packaging is made in Understanding Molding Processes Used for Reusable Transport Packaging, based on an interview with James Riegleman. Injection molding, structural foam, thermoforming, extrusion are processes that directly impact durability, weight, tooling cost, and automation compatibility. By connecting manufacturing methods to real-world use cases, the article helped readers understand why two containers that look similar on paper can perform very differently in the field.
Steel took center stage in Insights from Experts: Kevin O’Neal on Steel Racks, ROI, and Reusability, a deep dive into one of the most misunderstood reusable packaging categories. O’Neal explained where steel racks truly shine, how refurbishment differs from repair, and why automation is driving tighter tolerances and smarter rack design.
The pace of logistics accelerated with Reusable Packaging for Parcel and Post: Insights from ORBIS’ Alex Hempel. As e-commerce and parcel networks push toward higher throughput and automation, Hempel outlined why dimensional consistency and durability are no longer optional. From handheld totes to pallets and bulk bins, reusable packaging emerged as a quiet enabler of speed, accuracy, and even lights-out warehousing.
Taken together, the Insights from Experts series stood out because it didn’t chase headlines. It focused on how reusable packaging actually performs once it leaves the brochure and enters the supply chain. For readers who care about ROI, automation, durability, and real-world execution, these six conversations offered more lasting value than any single news story we published in 2025.
Artificial Intelligence, Reusable Packaging, and the Next Phase of Supply Chain Decision-Making
This story stood out for me because it bridged two conversations that are often treated separately: artificial intelligence and reusable packaging. Speaking at Pack Expo Las Vegas, Tim Debus, President and CEO of the Reusable Packaging Association, emphasized a crucial point: AI is moving fast, and supply chains are already feeling the effects.
Tim’s discussion showed how reusable pallets, containers, and trays are quietly becoming data-generating infrastructure. Equipped with RFID, sensors, and tracking tools, these assets can feed AI systems with reliable, repeatable information about movement, dwell time, loss, and utilization. The result is a shift from intuition-driven decisions to real-time, data-backed planning.
Remembering Ed
This was not a breaking-news story, but it may have been the most meaningful one we published all year, particularly for readers rooted in the wood pallet sector. Remembering Ed paid tribute to Ed Brindley Jr., the founder of Pallet Enterprise Magazine and a quiet architect of how information, ideas, and professionalism spread through the North American pallet industry.
For long-time pallet professionals, it was a moment of collective reflection. For newer readers, it offered insight into the values and people who helped build the industry they work in today. It reminded us that progress often comes from those working quietly behind the scenes.
Big Projects, Big Numbers, and Proof That Reuse Scales
This cluster of stories earned its place because it showed reusable packaging operating at a scale that’s hard to ignore.
In Abandoned Trolleys: An $800M Problem and IoT to the Rescue, we explored a surprisingly large and persistent problem hiding in plain sight. With global trolley losses estimated at $800 million annually, the article reframed abandoned carts not as a nuisance but as a solvable asset-management challenge. IoT tracking, geo-fencing, and low-power networks offered retailers a way to reduce loss, fines, and labor costs while treating trolleys as reusable infrastructure rather than disposable equipment.
Scale took another leap in Auchan Deploys 50,000 IBM Smart Green Pallets, as Auchan committed to a connected pallet fleet large enough to influence food quality, shrink, and carbon emissions across its network. By turning pallets into live data platforms, the project demonstrated how reusable assets can support cold-chain assurance, waste reduction, and ESG goals simultaneously.
That theme continued globally with JD Logistics Rolls Out 500,000 Reusable Cold Chain Delivery Boxes. With half a million insulated reusables added to circulation, JD Logistics showed how closed-loop packaging can scale even in the world’s largest parcel market, targeting a projected 127,000 tons of CO₂ reduction.
Finally, Deutsche Post, DHL and Reusables: 1 Million Trackers Strong revealed what happens when tracking becomes foundational. With nearly one million trackers deployed on rolling cages and trolleys, DHL demonstrated that visibility at scale is no longer experimental. It’s operationally indispensable.
Together, these stories made one thing clear: reusable packaging isn’t just growing. It’s growing up.
Celebrating Sleeve Packs: Quiet Workhorses, Growing Impact
This cluster earned its place because sleeve packs continue to be one of the most underappreciated success stories in reusable packaging. I’ve been partial to sleeve packs ever since first meeting sleeve pack inventor, reusable packaging pioneer, and Shuert Technologies founder Lyle Shuert back in 1996.
That evolution was on full display in Sleeve Packs: Customization, Sustainability, Cost Savings in Bulk Packaging, which brought together industry leaders from Cabka, Shuert Technologies, ID Plastics, Hiperpack, and Technology Container Corporation. The discussion traced sleeve packs’ journey from niche alternative to mainstream bulk solution, highlighting why their lightweight design, collapsibility, and extreme customization make them so compelling across automotive, retail, food, and industrial applications.
Design excellence came into sharper focus with FalConic® Sleeve Pack Container: CHEP and Cabka Win Second Red Dot Award. The double award validated what many practitioners already know: sleeve packs are an opportunity for a range of applications.
The Cost of Poor Label Selection for RTP
I’ve been hearing about label problems for as long as I’ve been covering reusable packaging. Visits to RPC wash plants in Sweden and Japan left a lasting impression, rows of containers moving through wash lines, and people scraping stubborn label residue by hand. Still, researching this article gave me a much deeper appreciation for how central labeling is to reusable packaging success.
The Cost of Poor Label Selection for RTP showed how a failed label can ripple across an entire supply chain. Studies cited put the annual cost of labeling failures in the millions for large operations, while poorly releasing adhesives and unreadable barcodes undermine automation and traceability. In high-cycle reusable systems, label performance directly affects asset recovery, food safety, compliance, and ROI. Investing in the right label technology is far cheaper than paying for repeated failure.
Retailer Mercadona Moves to Acquire Reusable Packaging Specialist Logifruit
Spanish grocery leader Mercadona’s decision to acquire long-time partner Logifruit marks a quiet but important shift in how leading retailers view reusable packaging. After nearly 30 years of collaboration, Mercadona chose ownership over contract renewal, signaling that reusable transport packaging is no longer a peripheral service but a core component of logistics infrastructure.
While not a model most retailers will follow, the move sends a clear signal: as reusable packaging becomes more automated and operationally critical, some retailers are beginning to treat it like distribution centers or IT platforms, as strategic assets worth owning.
There were too many honorable mentions to list, and that is a great sign for a modest industry that continues to scale.
Rick LeBlanc, EMBA, is the founder and editor of Reusable Packaging News (subscribe to the free newsletter) and editor of Western Pallet Magazine. A supply chain journalist with more than 30 years of experience, he specializes in pallets, reusable packaging, material handling and related operations. Rick is co-author of Pallets: A North American Perspective and Pallets & Progress: A Collected History of Pallets and Palletized Handling 1922–1945. He is also an advisory board member of the Virginia Tech Center for Packaging and Unit Load Design. Read Rick’s full bio.
