The 70,000 visitors to the Hamburg 2024 OMR Festival, which is dedicated to digital marketing and technological innovations, got their refreshments at the site by means of reusable bowls, boxes, and glasses featuring a special machine-readable QR code printed directly onto the packaging. When finished with their meal, they could simply place the used dishes in collection containers without long queues and haggling over the refundable deposit. Visitors to the fan zones of the EURO 2024 football championship or the German House at the Paris Olympic Games had a similar experience – thanks to reusable packaging from Vytal. The trend at large social events is to combine minimal environmental impact with the greatest possible customer comfort.
The innovative approach of Vytal, a Cologne company that uses digital technology to achieve more sustainable, efficient, and economical use of reusable packaging in gastronomy, has also caught the attention of CEZ Group’s Inven Capital fund. In the most recent investment round Vytal secured €8M from Inven Capital and NRW.Venture, raising its total growth capital round to €14.2M.
By analysing the data obtained from machine-readable QR codes or RFID chips on packaging, the Vytal platform can manage the entire system efficiently, from planning to transport and the retrieval of used containers to their washing. This makes the cost of the use of recyclable packaging comparable to that of disposable packaging. Individual customers appreciate the application’s simplicity and user-friendliness. The high-quality food packaging can be used up to 200 times, which, aside from waste elimination, also means an 85% reduction in emissions, compared to disposable packaging.
“Vytal makes perfect use of the options offered by the combination of modern technologies and data analysis for the benefit of sustainability. The recovery rate of their food packaging is 99%, which is a quarter more than in other reusable packaging systems. Their solution perfectly fits in with our effort to create a circular economy, in which the reuse of products makes sense both financially and in terms of the end user’s comfort. Furthermore, Vytal is capable of rapid growth, thanks to its cooperation with third parties in packaging production, logistics, and industrial washing,” said Inven Capital’s investment director Kristýna Machová.
Vytal plans to use the money from investors primarily to enhance the technology-driven solution and to better integrate customers into the process. A significant portion will also go towards expansion in the US, which the company recently entered, and to enhance its business position in Europe. Vytal is particularly interested in entering major cultural, sports, and social undertakings, such as festivals, conferences, and championships. It will, however, also continue to develop its partnership with restaurants (in cities, at airports, and in shopping centres) and canteens (in companies as well as at universities and in hospitals, for example), that offer takeout food.
“With Inven Capital’s expertise in supporting international growth strategies, we are well positioned to further expand our activities, and for our reusable packaging technology solution to become the new standard in gastronomy, as well as at events and in the entertainment industry, around the world,” said Vytal’s co-founder and CEO Tim Breker.
An estimated 66 billion disposable cups and food containers are thrown away in Europe every year. If the volume of this waste continues to grow at the current rate, it will reach 108 billion by 2030. This unsustainable trend, in terms of waste, as well as the needless energy consumption, waste of materials, and high CO2 emissions, is addressed by the new European directive that completely bans the use of certain types of disposable packaging, aiming to gradually reduce the volume of plastic waste by 15% by 2040.