PPWR and RFID: How to Track Reusable Product Carriers Across the Supply Chain

What is the PPWR?

The PPWR is the new European regulation for packaging and packaging waste. The legislation focuses on the entire lifecycle of packaging and encourages companies to switch to more reusable packaging systems.

For sectors where reusable crates, trays, pallets, and containers play an important role, this means that circular logistics systems are being scaled up further.

This creates a new challenge:

How do you manage thousands of product carriers moving continuously through the chain?

Reuse requires insight

The more often a product carrier is reused, the more important it becomes to have insight into:

• The location of assets
• The number of rotations
• Cleaning status
• Availability
• Loss and damage
• Responsibilities within the chain

Where organisations used to primarily track products, there is now a growing need to also monitor the product carriers themselves.

RFID plays an increasingly important role

To manage reusable assets efficiently, more and more organisations are using RFID technology.

RFID tags allow crates, pallets, trays, and containers to be automatically identified and registered as they move through the supply chain.

This offers benefits such as:

• Fewer manual registrations
• Faster processing
• More insight into asset usage
• Better inventory accuracy
• Less loss of product carriers

For pooling companies and large logistics organisations, RFID can play an important role in controlling operational costs.

Digital Product Passport: more transparency in the chain

Alongside the PPWR, Europe is also working on the introduction of the Digital Product Passport (DPP).

Its purpose is to make relevant information digitally available throughout the entire lifecycle of products and materials. Although the exact implementation may differ per sector, this development fits within the same broader movement: more transparency, more traceability, and more data-driven decision-making. For reusable product carriers, this could mean that information on usage, maintenance, cleaning, and lifespan becomes more accessible to all parties within the chain.

Asset tracking is becoming increasingly important

As more organisations switch to reusable packaging, the importance of asset tracking also increases.

A lost crate or pallet may seem harmless, but on a large scale this can lead to:

• Additional investments in replacement assets
• Disruptions in logistics planning
• Higher operational costs
• Reduced circular efficiency

By creating real-time insight into asset locations, organisations can better predict when product carriers will return, where bottlenecks arise, and where losses occur.

Supply chain visibility as a competitive advantage

The circular economy requires collaboration between manufacturers, logistics providers, retailers, pooling companies, and processors. This makes supply chain visibility increasingly important.

Companies want to know not only how many assets they own, but also:

• Where they are located
• How often they circulate
• Which parties use them
• When cleaning is required
• Which assets require maintenance

The combination of tracking, automation, and data collection makes these insights possible.

Data collection becomes the basis for optimisation

More reuse automatically means more data.

Organisations increasingly collect data on:

• Turnaround times
• Rotation speed
• Cleaning performance
• Capacity utilisation
• Water and energy consumption
• Asset availability

By using this data intelligently, processes can be further optimised, and companies can demonstrate that their circular system operates efficiently.

Responsibilities within the chain are changing

An important effect of the PPWR is that responsibilities are increasingly shared within the chain. Where the focus used to be on ownership of packaging, attention is now shifting towards joint management of reusable assets.

Manufacturers, pooling companies, logistics providers, and retailers are therefore becoming increasingly dependent on the same data and processes. This is precisely why standardisation, tracking, and transparency are more important than ever.

What does this mean for the fresh produce sector and pooling companies?

This development is particularly relevant for the fresh produce (F&V) sector. Fruit and vegetable supply chains have relied on large numbers of reusable crates and containers for years. As the focus on reuse grows, these systems will only become more important. For pooling companies, this creates both opportunities and challenges:

Opportunities

• Increased demand for reusable product carriers
• Higher asset rotation rates
• Greater need for tracking and data services
• Increased focus on chain collaboration

Challenges

• Limiting asset loss
• Ensuring availability
• Scaling up cleaning capacity
• Creating insight into supply chain performance

The role of Numafa

A circular supply chain depends on the availability of clean, ready-to-use product carriers. As tracking, data collection, and chain transparency become more important, one factor remains unchanged: reusable product carriers must be cleaned quickly, reliably, and hygienically after every rotation. With our cleaning, drying, and automation solutions, we help organisations get their crates, trays, pallets, and containers efficiently ready for the next cycle. Because the future of circular logistics is not just about reuse — it’s also about insight, control, and reliability.