From Single Use to Circularity: GS1 Subsidiary butterfly & elephant Invests in reo

butterfly & elephant, the investment company of GS1 Germany, has invested in the startup reo. The Heilbronn based company develops a digital platform that captures the return of packaging via standard deposit return machines and makes the data available for future packaging circularity processes. The goal is to enable reusable systems in retail by building on existing infrastructure.

Transparent Return and Usage of Packaging

reo connects manufacturers, retailers, and other stakeholders through a shared digital infrastructure. This makes return flows traceable across systems and provides the data foundation companies need to make reuse economically viable. The approach is already being tested in the cosmetics industry: packaging from Kneipp, Lavera, Santé, and Logona is being returned by consumers at 20 Kaufland and VollCorner locations in the greater Munich area via standard beverage deposit machines and systematically recorded. Another metropolitan region is currently being connected to the system in order to evaluate usage behavior in less urban areas as well.

The packaging is used for tests and analyses to generate insights from real world operations for the development of functioning packaging circularity systems. For retailers and brands, this creates a return process that requires minimal operational changes and integrates seamlessly into existing workflows.

“Making packaging circular is not an isolated brand issue. It is a question of functioning structures. With butterfly & elephant, we have found a partner that gives us access to exactly the standards and networks needed to achieve this,” says Steffanie Rainer, CEO of reo.

Digital Identity as the Key to Reuse

Unique identification is enabled through GS1 DataMatrix codes that are scanned during each use cycle. This creates a digital twin of the packaging, capable of mapping return rates, packaging conditions, and eventually circulation cycles. The 2D code is more than just a tracking tool. It becomes the central asset that makes the model transferable across industries and lays the foundation for enabling packaging circularity throughout the consumer goods sector.

“Reuse only works when all stakeholders speak the same language. reo builds on standards already used by industry and retail and translates them into a model that is now set to scale across the market. That is exactly where we see the value of this investment,” comments Benjamin Birker, Managing Director at butterfly & elephant.

Image material:

1. Steffanie Rainer, Co Founder and CEO reo – Credit: reo GmbH

2. reo in operation – Credits: reo GmbH 

3. Promotional packaging from lavera – Credits: reo GmbH

4. Benjamin Birker, Managing Director butterfly & elephant - Credits: butterfly & elephant

Press contact:

GS1 Germany GmbH
Marie Euler
Manager Corporate Communications
Stolberger Straße 108 a, 50933 Köln
Phone: +49 170 7009027
E-Mail: marie.euler@gs1.de