Tosca has partnered with Avery Dennison, a global materials science company, to support its transition to reusable plastic pallets and reduce CO2 emissions across its European supply chain. By adopting Tosca’s innovative pooling model, the collaboration has delivered significant operational efficiencies while cutting nearly 500 tons of CO2 in just one year. This partnership highlights Tosca’s sustainable packaging solutions which drive supply chain efficiency while reducing environmental impact.

The Challenge: Scalable, Sustainable Solutions

Tosca were pleased to support Avery Dennison in their pursuit of a scalable, efficient solution to meet the growing demand for plastic pallets, while aligning with their strong commitment to sustainability. This includes their goal of achieving net-zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050.

Avery Dennison recognized the need to optimize operations due to increasing demand for wooden pallets, especially impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic. By partnering with Tosca, a leader in sustainable packaging and supply chain solutions, they found the solution.

Tosca’s Solution: Reusable Plastic Pallets

Tosca has provided the solution to Avery Dennison’s challenge with its durable, reusable L1 plastic pallets, designed to enhance efficiency, reduce waste and minimize environmental impact. Initially, Avery Dennison aimed to replace their own plastic pallets with a more efficient solution to meet growing demand. This quickly expanded to switching much of their supply chain to Tosca’s plastic pallets.

A key challenge has been convincing Avery Dennison’s customers to accept goods on plastic pallets, as more participation would optimize logistics and enhance sustainability. Both sales teams worked together to demonstrate the operational and environmental benefits of this choice.

The official partnership began in 2022, and Tosca’s plastic pallets are now used in 13 Avery Dennison factories and distribution centers, shipping to over 400 customer locations across Europe.

Operational Benefits and Sustainability Gains

The partnership between Tosca and Avery Dennison enhanced efficiency and scalability by supporting the growing demand for plastic pallets, addressing availability issues and providing a more cost effective, reliable alternative to wooden pallets post COVID-19. In addition, Tosca's reusable plastic pallets offer cleaner, more hygienic solutions for their warehouses. These improvements align with the company’s goal of enhancing operational efficiency while reducing its carbon footprint.

In 2023, 40% of Avery Dennison’s Euro-sized pallets had been converted to plastic, and the company already achieved nearly 500 tons of CO2 emissions saved annually— exceeding initial estimates.

Due to the Packaging and Packaging Waste Regulation (PPWR), Avery Dennison is rethinking their transport and sales packaging, which increasingly focuses on reuse and circularity.

“Our focus is on the recyclability and circularity of our packaging. By partnering with Tosca, we are moving in the right direction,” said Violeta Gómez Valdivieso, Central Packaging Leader at Avery Dennison. “For example, the PPWR requires that at least 40% of transport or sales packaging be reusable by 2030, and Tosca’s plastic pallets meet these requirements.”

A Strong Sustainability Partnership

Looking ahead, Avery Dennison plans to continue to transition to plastic pallets, with Tosca’s pooling system playing a critical role in achieving both greater efficiency and sustainability in their supply chain. The possibility to use the already integrated RFID tags on Tosca’s plastic pallets for tracking opens improved traceability capabilities and streamlined order management, bringing even greater potential operational benefits in the future.

“At Tosca, we work side by side with our customers in long-term partnerships, and our successful collaboration with Avery Dennison is the perfect example of this. Both companies strongly believe in the concept of continuing the loop,” said Felix Van Ouytsel, Sales Director UK/Ireland at Tosca.

The partnership between Tosca and Avery Dennison shows how collaboration can drive significant sustainability advancements, setting a benchmark for the industry.