This Dutch Company Wants to Create the World’s First Emission-Free Delivery Service

The conveniences afforded to us by modern ways of life make existing infinitely less stressful. Unfortunately, there’s a frightening downside to our ability to accomplish tasks with little to no difficulty, and its showing up in our environment’s deteriorating state. From the foods we consume to the clothing we manufacture, purchase, wear and discard at alarming rates, our current modes of operation are working for and against us. But a Dutch parcel delivery company RJP (Red je Pakketje, Dutch for “save your package”) hopes to make a major positive contribution in reducing environmental pollution.

The largest same-day delivery package service in the Netherlands, RJP moved forward with plans to introduce a sustainable solution to the industry in the form of Future Logistics, a global crowdfunding campaign to launch the world’s first zero emission delivery network with national coverage.

Helmed by 25-year-old CEO Sam Rohn, the company’s main goal is to “minimize the negative impact on people and the environment.” So far, RJP has made huge strides towards this endeavor by becoming the first country to solely employ sustainable methods for delivery.  They started out using an electric van for deliveries, and the company pays its drivers an hourly wage as opposed to paying them per package, which eliminates the pressure for employees to drive at dangerous speeds through residential areas in an effort to increase their earnings. Additionally, the company utilizes software that allows package shipments to be accurately tracked down to the second. 

In a press release, Rohn expressed his hope that others will use RJP’s sustainable approach as a blueprint for delivery practices.

“We hope that thanks to this crowdfunding campaign, other carriers will soon realize that sustainable delivery is indeed possible and not necessarily more expensive,” Rohn said. “This is the only way we can drastically speed up the transition to sustainable delivery worldwide.”

The company has already raised the bulk of its crowdfunding goal of €300,000 or $330,000 USD. Upon receiving the full amount, Rohn predicts RJP will be in a position to make 2 million CO2-free package deliveries by the first quarter of 2020.

Correction: An earlier version of this post mistakenly said Red je Pakketje means “little red package. It actually means “save your package”. We’ve updated it to be more accurate—hopefully, we can blame it on Mercury retrograde.