For those choosing the latter option at the group’s Elveden Forest village in Suffolk, there is a dedicated on-site store which is open seven days a week and has a dedicated team making deliveries to guests’ accommodation.

Deliveries used to be made in the same plastic bags used in-store, but these were prone to splitting in transit and storing the orders in them was also becoming a problem.

Looking around for a more robust answer to the situation, Center Parcs enlisted the help of storage and materials handling specialist Allibert Buckhorn, who recommended plastic Attached Lid Containers (ALCs).

Made of high-impact polypropylene, the boxes are wide and deep enough to take larger products such as boxes of cereal and bottles of soft drinks and wine. The integral hinged lids lock together securely for stacking and storage, and open fully to make loading and unloading as straightforward as possible.

For delivery they are stacked together onto trolleys, loaded into vans and despatched, with empty boxes being nested together for the return journey. For easy identification by delivery staff, Center Parcs specified the boxes in three colours – yellow for ambient products, green for chilled and blue for frozen products.

A further benefit for Center Parcs has been seen in a dramatic drop in the volume of plastic carrier bags that are used once then thrown away. The boxes are virtually indestructible but can be recycled at the end of their useful life.

Since their introduction at Elveden Forest, the other Center Parcs sites are also looking to adopt the system.

leisure-kit keywords: Allibert Buckhorn