Our History

How do you become a European market leader in returnable trays? Euro Pool System had very unconventional beginnings: we are the product of frustration – frustration with the limitations of the existing one-way and multi-way trays for fruit and vegetables.  In the old system there was never-ending production of new trays, a great amount of waste, and logistic inefficiency in the fresh products supply chain.

In 1992, three packing pools – that formed part of the cooperative auction associations in the Netherlands, Belgium and Germany – wanted to end this logistical impasse. They joined hands to develop a standard container for fruit and vegetables. The super resistant, blue, reusable container in four different sizes was born, transforming the way fresh fruit and vegetables can be distributed throughout Europe.

Euro Pool System – a European pool organisation steered by the packing pools themselves – was appointed to manage this concept with a simple but tightly-organized process. The recipient of each container pays a deposit of € 3.86. This amount is passed on to the following link in the chain, and so on. The person who returns the container to Euro Pool System receives the deposit.

From the start, the container was a great success. The trays are strong, visually appealing, stackable, clean, durable, and always available in all of our many European service centres. Most importantly the trays are standardized!

In next to no time, there were millions of blue Euro Pool System trays circulating the markets and supply chains of Europe and its use increased annually. In addition, the system of maintaining cash-value in the crate proved effective in promoting excellent rotation rates and solving many of the previous wastage issues. Thanks to the substantial growth of Euro Pool System, the organisation became independent in 1996 and the auction associations remained as shareholders.

By that time, its recycling trays were not only used for fresh fruit and vegetables, but for fish, meat, bakery and convenience products. Retailers had discovered the advantages of this extensive standardisation. The trays were widely accepted all over Europe, and not just the Benelux region and Germany. Euro Pool System established a presence in Spain, France, Italy, the Czech Republic and Slovakia, and business opportunities in Great Britain were tested.

As the empty trays travelled farther every time, in 1997 Euro Pool System launched a further innovative product: the foldable container, a collapsible version of the rigid container. It is stackable – just like the rigid container – but with up to 86% less volume when folded, it is thus considerably more efficient in the return logistics supply chain. The foldable container was received with the same enthusiasm as its rigid counterpart. However Euro Pool System also encountered some unlikely setbacks. Some supermarkets were not pleased with the colour blue – they preferred the colour green. Maintaining our own colour preferences did not make any sense – after all, the client is always right. The green foldable trays came into circulation.

Growth continued at a steady pace, and by 2009, there were 128 million trays in rotation, reaching a record high of 600 million rotations per year. Euro Pool made permanent investments in washing facilities; service centres; research on the incorporation of an RFID chip for traceability; research into the possible implementation of automatic order picking; and E-web registration of our trays. We became increasingly oriented toward the provision of services to retailers. If we want to maintain this growth, we have to focus on the provision of a diversified range services since the retailer – the most important driving force in the supply chain of fresh products – demands more. In reality we do much more than managing returnable trays: our strength lies not only in our packaging, but also in our knowledge of fresh products logistics and service concepts. Euro Pool is ready to meet the challenge.

Innumerable opportunities await us in the fresh products and return logistics markets. By combining our logistic activities with those of the retailers, we can save our clients thousands of transport kilometres and drastically limit their carbon footprint (by which the CO2 emissions are measured) – two results that benefit the whole fresh-product supply chain. Practical examples from Spain, Belgium and Germany prove this.The way we work requires close collaboration between retailers, Euro Pool System, and other chain partners, so unsurprisingly, we carefully foster our cooperative roots.

This is the main reason why we stand with both feet firmly on the ground, the reason we remain perceptive to the needs of our clients and the market, and the reason we are continually innovating to meet these needs. Thanks to this perception, we can remain the European standard in what we do, par excellence.