Bpost / : Leuven Ecozone is a big success

Aug 21, 2023

A number of key drivers are involved in the success of an Ecozone. A finely meshed network of existing pick-up points (post office, post points and parcel points), supplemented by parcel lockers, has to be rolled out and a completely green city delivery fleet adopted. The results show that this has gone well in Leuven.

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Currently, there are parcel lockers at 27 locations across Leuven, comprising 624 lockers in total. And inhabitants of Leuven are clearly happy to use them. Leuven is home to four of the five most popular parcel locker locations in the key hub cities across Flanders. These are De Bruul park, De Becker-Remyplein, De Bron and Fonteinstraat. The Fonteinstraat and De Bruul park lockers have an occupancy rate of more than 70%. Most other locker locations in Leuven have an occupancy rate of 50-70%.

No fewer than 103,785 parcels passed through lockers in Leuven between November 2021 - when the Ecozone project launched - and June 2023. The lockers in Leuven are mainly used to receive rather than send parcels. Inhabitants pick up five times more parcels than they drop off. Parcel locker usage more than doubled between 2021 and 2022, and has continued to rise in 2023. The success of the parcel lockers has also driven down the share of home deliveries in Leuven by 6%. On the back of that success, in the next few weeks City of Leuven and bpost are set to install parcel lockers at two further locations: Spaanse Kroon and Blauwputplein in Kessel-Lo.

Together with the 16 staffed pick-up points (post offices, post points and parcels points), the parcel lockers create a finely meshed network within walking distance of every inhabitant of Leuven. A large proportion of the parcel lockers are located at transport hubs, known in Flanders as Hoppin points. This a deliberate strategy. City of Leuven offers transport services and sustainable initiatives at Hoppin points to boost the uptake and profile of sustainable transport.

The project drives significant advances in terms of sustainability for both bpost and users. Using bike trailers and reorganising delivery rounds enables bpost to cut the daily distance covered with fossil fuel-powered vehicles by an estimated 240 kilometres. That corresponds to 87,600 fewer kilometres per year, slashing bpost's carbon emissions per parcel by 88% compared with 2018. The Ecozone also unlocks a considerable sustainability advantage for parcel locker users, 98% of whom visit lockers in a sustainable way given that they are located at a short distance.

The Ecozone is also a source of added value for local traders in Leuven. Many of them have their own online store and they deliver orders to parcel lockers. The network also offers them the option of placing a sale in a parcel locker for customers who are unable to make it to their store within opening hours. Customers can pick up their shopping directly without the involvement of bpost.

​City of Leuven and bpost began collaborating on the Ecozone in November 2021. The two parties have now decided to continue the partnership for a further 24 months after the pilot period ends in October 2023. Over the coming months they will examine the business case for installing parcel lockers and opening pick-up points at additional locations to enhance the service to the inhabitants of Leuven. At the same time, bpost will continue to invest in the transition to electric vehicles so that zero-emission deliveries can be extended to other suburbs. The centre of Leuven is already exclusively a zero-emission delivery zone, while most deliveries in Heverlee are emission-free.

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Bpost SA published this content on 29 August 2023 and is solely responsible for the information contained therein. Distributed by Public, unedited and unaltered, on 31 August 2023 04:05:05 UTC.