In collaboration with its Rotwild specialist dealers, ADP Engineering GmbH wants to reduce packaging waste when shipping bikes and is taking a new approach. Since the 2019 model year, Rotwild retailers in Germany have been able to return the bubble bags used for shipping to ADP and receive a credit note for this.

Maud von Hoff, Rotwild Brand Manager and Head of Sales & Marketing, draws a first positive balance after one year: "Some of our dealers are already taking the opportunity, collecting the shipping bags and sending them back to us in larger numbers. In addition to the monetary incentive, what counts for them is the contribution to environmental protection. We would be delighted if more of them took this step with us."According to Ole Wittrock from ADP, the aim of this measure is to use the necessary packaging material more consciously and not simply dispose of it as packaging waste. In addition to a cardboard box, specially made bubble bags protect the Rotwild bikes during transportation from production to the specialist retailer.

Adapted process in Switzerland

In Switzerland, ADP's take-back offer is not handled in the same way. The customs formalities between Germany and Switzerland complicate and make the process more expensive. Willi Felix, with his Agentur Felix, the supplier of Rotwild bikes in Switzerland, has developed his own system: "We collect almost all bikes ourselves from the factory in Dieburg. We always take bikes that we deliver directly to dealers without packaging. We have padding in our Ducato and can therefore load bikes without boxes. We estimate that this applies to around 50 percent of the red deer we import. So there is no packaging at all for these bikes."

Felix goes on to say: "Caring for the environment is important to us. Cycling without an intact environment is unthinkable for us and probably also for the vast majority of our customers." Felix and his agency Felix are committed to protecting the environment in several areas. For example, around 98% of the cardboard boxes used for shipping parts come from the self-organized recycling cycle in the immediate region. Since June 2019, the Felix agency's sales force has been making most of its customer visits in an electric car, and all other company vehicles are to be converted to electric in the longer term.

Red deer distributor attaches great importance to environmental protection

Felix goes on to say about environmental protection: "Since 2012, we have been producing the electrical energy we need for communication, lighting, PC systems and ventilation ourselves to run our entire office and warehouse. Our own solar power system covers over 100 percent of our needs throughout the year. The output and yield of our photovoltaic system is currently just over 5,500 kWh per year.

And in the winter months, our premises are heated with the waste heat generated by our PCs and also with a modern wood pellet system. We obtain the pellets from a supplier in eastern Switzerland, i.e. from the immediate region without long transportation routes."