The impact on various wholesalers has been somewhat different. By the early 1990s, 30 per cent of Konsum’s handling of fruit and vegetables was in reusable containers. BILLA, a major distributor and supermarket chain, switched entirely to the reusable containers. Even imported goods were repacked in the reusable containers. LGV, one of Austria’s biggest distributors of vegetables and fruit, in parallel with the reusable containers handled seven types of disposable boxes. Depending on the customer’s wishes, peppers (paprika), for instance, were packed in eight different types of containers! This was,
of course, an untenable situation for LGV. It took six to eight people to repack vegetables in order to deliver them to the customer in the desired packaging. Simplification and standardization were necessary in such a situation.