Smartmile launches ‘one tree per parcel’ sustainable locker

Parcel locker company Smartmile is launching its most sustainable Automated Parcel Machine (APM) yet with a ‘one tree per parcel’ initiative in collaboration with long-term partner Eden Reforestation Projects.

The company is dedicating its APM at the newly opened CO2-neutral Lidl store in the Dutch town of Almere to reforestation as an expansion of its Smartmile Open Doors sustainable initiative.

For every parcel sent, received or returned through the locker at the Lidl Zero store, the company is donating funds for one tree to Eden Reforestation Projects. Smartmile expects the locker to offset 845kgs of CO2 every month, thus “transforming parcels into trees”.

Frank van Os, CCO of Smartmile, said: “We are very excited to be part of this initiative with Lidl. As a purpose-driven company, we are set to create a positive impact on society and the planet, and to work with partners who share that vision to make a bigger impact together.”

Under its Smartmile Open Doors Initiative, which launched last December, the company has managed to plant 2,475 trees so far. Smartmile currently has a network of 129 lockers in the Netherlands and Finland.

Eden Reforestation Projects is a nonprofit organization that works in developing countries to rebuild natural landscapes destroyed by deforestation. It employs thousands of local people to plant, grow and protect millions of trees each year. Since its foundation, it has planted more than 583 million trees, currently at the rate of about 20 million per month.