Tampa, Florida--(Newsfile Corp. - November 3, 2026) - IFCO is expanding within Whole Foods Market as the grocery retailer utilizes more reusable packaging containers (RPCs) throughout its fresh grocery supply chain in the United States. The collaboration reflects Whole Foods Market's commitment to environmental stewardship and to working with sustainability-focused collaborators to find innovative ways to reduce waste across its operations.
For Whole Foods Market, reducing waste means looking beyond the end of a product's life and finding opportunities to prevent waste before it even happens. Collaboration across the supply chain and innovative circular economy solutions, such as reusable packaging, play a critical role in putting that approach into practice.
"When we stop treating waste as an inevitable byproduct and start seeing it as a signal of inefficiency or untapped value, we unlock a different set of outcomes," said Kaity Robbins, Senior Program Manager of Diversion at Whole Foods Market. "By working with collaborators to design waste out of our operations and create systems that keep resources in circulation, operational efficiency and sustainability can become the same goal."
Whole Foods Market's partnership with IFCO to capture the benefits of reuse
The journey with IFCO began in 2022, when the two companies started exploring how reusable packaging could support Whole Foods Market's waste reduction efforts while fitting seamlessly into its unique supply chain.
As RPC adoption grew, the teams worked together to address operational requirements across stores, distribution centers, and suppliers, with a shared objective to protect produce quality and freshness, reduce packaging waste, and enhance operational efficiency without disrupting day-to-day operations.
Whole Foods Market and IFCO launched an initial pilot replacing single-use cardboard boxes with reusable crates for potatoes, onions, carrots, and root vegetables. What began with a focused group of products laid out the groundwork for a much broader rollout. Following the pilot's success, Whole Foods Market entered into an agreement with IFCO to expand the program across their entire supply chain and convert additional fresh produce products into IFCO reusable packaging containers.
Whole Foods Market scales reuse, reduces packaging waste
Since the partnership began, use of IFCO reusable packaging within the Whole Foods Market supply chain has grown by more than 1,000%. As the program has grown, so has its environmental impact.
By implementing IFCO RPCs at scale, Whole Foods Market has been able to avoid nearly 4 million pounds of cardboard waste from the supply chain since the program started.
Rather than being discarded after a single journey, IFCO crates are collected after use, washed and sanitized, and returned to the supply chain for reuse. At the end of life, crates are recycled into new reusable packaging containers, supporting a circular economy system designed to keep packaging in use and reduce reliance on one-way transport packaging.
Reuse also brings benefits beyond packaging waste reduction. IFCO RPCs are designed to protect fresh produce during transportation and handling and help maintain product quality as fresh fruits and vegetables move through the supply chain.
Turning shared goals into measurable action
The collaboration with IFCO reflects Whole Foods Market's commitment to driving positive impact across the supply chain through innovation and demonstrates how working with sustainability-focused collaborators can turn shared goals into measurable action.
"The growth of this program shows what can be achieved when retailers, suppliers, and packaging partners work together toward a shared goal," said Jon Brooks, Senior Vice President Sales, IFCO North America. "We're proud to support Whole Foods Market as it continues to scale reuse across its supply chain and turn its sustainability commitments into measurable action."
Kaity Robbins, Senior Manager of Diversion at Whole Foods Market
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About IFCO
IFCO is a leading global provider of reusable packaging solutions for fresh foods, empowering customers to participate in the circular economy in 50+ countries. IFCO operates a pool of over 400 million reusable packaging containers (RPCs) globally, which are used for over 2.5 billion shipments of fresh fruits and vegetables, meat, poultry, seafood, eggs, bread, and other items from suppliers to grocery retailers every year. IFCO RPCs ensure a better fresh food supply chain by protecting freshness and quality and lowering costs, food waste and environmental impact compared to single-use packaging. More: www.ifco.com | Follow us on LinkedIn @IFCO SYSTEMS
IFCO: media@ifco.com
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