Aalborg Municipality is participating as a Host Partner within MoLo Hubs, focusing on the implementation of smart parcel lockers within the city. These lockers are strategically placed in close proximity to citizens and are designed to operate as multiservice hubs, facilitating a range of services beyond parcel delivery.
During the Sustainability Festival Aalborg in Autumn 2024, Aalborg Municipality tested whether a new deposit box could also be a solution for using reusable packaging and avoiding disposable packaging. The test was conducted in partnership with “new loop,” a company offering circular packaging solutions for businesses, events, and cafés to help reduce environmental impact. Read more >>
Based on the positive feedback and experiences gained during the festival, an implementation will now follow in autumn 2025 outside the pilot area of Aalborg. New loop has just installed 32 reverse vending machines in the Inner City of Copenhagen. Read more >>
Pictures © new loop
Partner Interview
Martin Quintero Hansen, Project Lead at Aalborg Municipality, discussed the key insights from the testing period in Aalborg with Anders Barsøe, CEO of new loop.
How did you identify the user-centric needs?
The first time we went live with the system was at the sustainability festival in Aalborg. First of all, the users validated the system for us, and we were confirmed that it worked. It was incredibly useful for us to experience and see how people used the system. Their behaviour and feedback gave us very valuable perspectives that we could use to develop the system. We identified the user-centric needs by watching the behaviour and by engaging in dialogue with users and asking them about their usage.
What are the key learnings regarding the implementation and scale-up of your piloted solutions?
For example, we saw that it was time-consuming and difficult for users to enter account information. Based on this, we developed the system so that the credit card is now scanned directly. Also, we made a new way to scan the QR code.
The Sustainability Festival gave us the opportunity to test the system with many different phones. We could never have done this ourselves. This experience gave us important knowledge that some phones worked differently than others.
Another point of attention was the actual process time in relation to how many users could return packaging at the same time. Here we could see that it was important to optimize so that there was no waiting time.
It was very valuable to test on so many people at the same time, we couldn't have done that ourselves. In this way, we were able to both confirm the use and need for the system and implement improvements before the system was scaled up.
We have gained great value from collaborating with both Aalborg Municipality and Homerunner. Homerunner has contributed knowledge about logistics and parcel boxes. Aalborg Municipality has contributed with concrete testing at a large event. Both partners have contributed to developing the system and ensuring that it could be scaled and implemented in other places.
What are your future plans?
34 return boxes have just been installed in Copenhagen where cups can be returned. In the coming period, the system will expand to include more cafés, restaurants, and eateries, with additional boxes being set up. It will also become possible to return other types of packaging, such as boxes for sushi, salads, and other meals.
Several districts around Copenhagen are in dialogue about expanding the system, and cities in other regions have also shown interest. We are eager to gain insights from both larger and smaller cities. At the same time, we are seeing interest from companies that are focused on phasing out single-use packaging.
We also have the opportunity to add more features to the system, allowing shops, restaurants, or other drop-off locations to interact more with their customers. This could involve rewarding and retaining customers or other initiatives. We see exciting potential for further development in this area.
The system can certainly work abroad as well. Naturally, there will be cultural differences, such as the level of digital advancement and how transportation networks operate. There are definitely exciting opportunities for scaling and expansion in other countries too.
Source: Aalborg Municipality & new loop