Reinventing packaging: BOXO is turning waste into a circular revolution

BOXO started with founder Okke de Jonge, who launched the idea as a student entrepreneur after seeing paper containers overflow with webshop packaging. Packages often designed for single use and boxes that are only half full. A waste. Okke believed this could be done differently. That is why he started BOXO, and to scale the idea into a market-ready system, he teamed up with Marcel Kleizen and Lucas Hullegie.

BOXO creates durable, reusable packaging made from discarded big bags, giving industrial waste a second life. Big bags are large, strong bags used for storing and transporting bulk goods such as gravel, milk powder, or wood pellets. BOXO bags are kept in circulation through a universal deposit-return system, allowing consumers to return them at easily accessible locations. Currently, the return network covers approximately 40% of the Netherlands, giving around 7 million people the option to choose reusable deposit packaging at affiliated webshops.

Durability is central to the business case: BOXO’s bags can be reused up to 500 times, turning packaging from a cost-per-shipment into an asset that improves with each cycle. Reusable shipping packaging, such as BOXO Return, can reduce CO₂ emissions by up to ~90% compared to recycled single-use cardboard boxes.

BOXO’s social impact is integrated, not incidental. Its bags are made and repaired in two social work companies across the Netherlands. The repetitive, clearly structured production steps provide rhythm, responsibility, and job stability for people who face barriers to entering the labour market. Teams in these workshops also contribute to improving design and repairability, so the product becomes better because of the people making it.

In doing so, BOXO addresses both an environmental and a societal challenge. It creates accessible and meaningful work for people who are often excluded from the labour market because standard jobs do not match their needs, turning inclusive employment into a core part of its circular model.

Rabo Foundation has supported BOXO since 2023, starting in the high-risk pilot phase and later financing scale-up activities to expand the return network, build software, and grow production capacity, all contributing to creating more jobs in social work companies. Beyond finance, Rabo Foundation provides valuable expertise and network connections, linking BOXO to other social enterprises, financiers, and market partners.

This support helps BOXO scale its circular mission and social impact faster, laying the foundation for a pre-commercial model to become scalable, investable, and partnership-ready. BOXO’s ambition is to achieve 100% nationwide coverage by 2030, expanding integrations and return options so reusable shipping becomes the default while supporting the growth of growing inclusive employment as volumes increase.