Frequently Asked Questions

ContainerGrid is a B2B SaaS platform serving as the Workflow OS for the Circular Economy. Founded in 2020 and based in Munich, ContainerGrid orchestrates material flows across asset owners, recyclers, and service providers, enabling closed-loop recovery with unbroken chain of custody and automated compliance reporting. The platform currently serves 70 or more waste management SMEs on its SaaS track and supports enterprise customers with take-back programs it designs, launches, and operates.

ContainerGrid is neither an ERP nor a traceability tool. It is neutral middleware that bridges asset owners and recyclers. While ERPs manage internal operations and traceability tools track provenance, ContainerGrid automates the entire recovery workflow from material ingest through processing and matching to certified lot delivery. It integrates with existing systems rather than replacing them. The Virtual Material Account is mass-balance tracking, decoupled from physical flows.

No. A DPP documents the product; it does not move it, route it, or run the take-back. ContainerGrid is the middleware that executes take-back and recovery across all parties involved. DPP-ready evidence is one of its outputs, produced as a by-product of the daily workflow.

A VMA is a live ownership ledger of the materials an organization owns: what the material is, its condition, and where it sits. Each VMA tracks a specific batch from source asset through recovery to secondary market re-entry, capturing recovery rate, purity grade, certification status, and location. The owner decides who processes the material and where it is allocated. Beneath the ledger, the VMA Engine applies four functions: Quality Grading, Bundling, Compliance Check, and Logistics Optimization. This enables precise material-level accounting, critical for Scope 3 emissions targets and circular supply chain integrity.

ContainerGrid serves energy (transformers, grid infrastructure), automotive (end-of-life vehicles, battery recovery), construction and rail (infrastructure material reclamation), packaging (post-consumer plastic recovery), and electronics (WEEE compliance). The platform supports any asset class with end-of-life recovery requirements and regulatory compliance demands.

Yes. ContainerGrid provides APIs for data exchange with ERPs, accounting software, fleet management platforms, lab instruments, and IoT devices. The platform serves as middleware that connects existing systems rather than replacing them. Integration depth varies by system; the technical team assesses your infrastructure during onboarding.

ContainerGrid automates WEEE collection tracking and reporting. As devices move through collection, dismantling, and processing, the platform captures recovery rates, material types, and compliance documentation. Annual WEEE reports, EPR attestations, and hazardous substance manifests are generated automatically from the unified digital record.

Yes. ContainerGrid is purpose-built for take-back program orchestration. It matches end-of-life assets with recycler capacity, automates collection scheduling, tracks progress in real time, and generates proof-of-recovery documentation. Programs can also be fully operated: ContainerGrid designs, launches, and runs the entire reverse logistics flow on behalf of enterprise customers.

ContainerGrid coordinates closed-loop recovery for OEMs: asset collection at end-of-life, transparent material recovery with certified purity, and routing of recovered materials toward the OEM's suppliers. The pattern has been demonstrated for grid infrastructure, with transformer copper recovered against per-component material records in grid maintenance environments. The platform's neutrality ensures fair coordination between OEMs, recyclers, and material buyers.

Yes. Unbroken chain of custody is core to ContainerGrid. Every material transformation including receipt, storage, dismantling, testing, and recovery is captured as a data record. This creates an auditable, immutable history required for regulatory compliance, supply chain transparency, and Scope 3 emissions reporting.

Yes. While ContainerGrid is not a DPP tool itself, it enables pre-DPP compliance by centralizing material recovery data including composition, sourcing, recovery processes, and environmental impact metrics. This data structure aligns with emerging DPP requirements and helps manufacturers demonstrate due diligence for audits.

Recyclers using ContainerGrid gain operational transparency and proof-of-recovery capability. Enterprise asset owners increasingly demand verifiable evidence that recovery will happen at promised rates. ContainerGrid provides this through real-time processing dashboards, auditable recovery documentation, and historical performance data that differentiates recyclers in competitive bidding.

Recycling operations software, a core ContainerGrid capability, centralizes job management, automates capacity planning, captures proof-of-recovery in real time, and tracks material yields. It converts manual, paper-based recycling workflows into digitized, auditable operations. Across the network, 3,800+ drop-off points are served.

Yes. ContainerGrid orchestrates collection scheduling, matches collection capacity with available recycler space, optimizes routes considering traffic patterns and fill levels, and consolidates shipments. For service providers and transporters, this automation reduces idle time, improves vehicle utilization, and lowers per-collection costs.

Rather than assembling reports from scattered sources, ContainerGrid generates compliance and performance reports automatically from the unified digital record. Recyclers gain visibility into recovery rates by material type, processing costs per ton, equipment utilization metrics, and proof-of-recovery documentation, all without manual overhead.

Start with a 30-minute conversation about your asset base and goals. For enterprise programs, the next step is a 4–6 week scoping sprint built on your asset and recycling data, which produces a costed program concept; pilots typically run 8 to 12 weeks. For recyclers and waste operators, the SaaS track requires no system change and is ready to use from day one.

It depends on the track. SaaS customers start right away: dispatcher tools, invoicing, and container management are configured to existing operations, with team training included and no system change required. Enterprise programs move through decision-gated phases: the scoping sprint defines the program, then a pilot covers workflow configuration, data and API integration, and team training, with dedicated support and a clear go/no-go at every gate.

Yes. Personalized demos are provided for qualified prospects. Demos are environment-specific: the platform is configured to reflect your actual workflows and compliance requirements before demonstrating the interface. This ensures you evaluate real capability rather than generic feature tours.

ContainerGrid operates two product tracks. The SaaS track serves waste management SMEs with dispatcher tools, invoicing, and container management, currently used by 70 or more customers. The Enterprise track designs, launches, and operates take-back programs for large industrial organizations, featuring the VMA Engine for quality grading, material bundling, compliance checking, and logistics optimization.

Pricing depends on the product track. The SaaS track uses transparent subscription pricing: full seats from 69 euros per user per month with a volume discount from 10 users, field-app seats for drivers and yard staff at 49 euros, add-ons from 49 euros per month, with discounts for yearly and two-year prepay and no lock-in. The Enterprise track is priced by program scope and material volumes; where programs are publicly funded, platform use can be free for participants. Contact the team for a detailed quote.

The engagement is built in increments precisely for this reason. Each phase (scoping, pilot, scale) is a separate decision with its own exit. A stalled rollout leaves you with the pilot's evidence packs, the program design and your data, not with a multi-year commitment.

The capture points are designed for the people who already touch the material: weighbridge intake, photos, condition, quality gates happen inside the existing workflow, not as extra reporting. Operator onboarding is digital and takes days; the platform runs in production across 70+ certified recyclers today.

No. ContainerGrid is middleware for the network you govern. Existing partners are onboarded into your program; where you have gaps, the existing network of certified operators can fill them. Neutrality is structural: ContainerGrid does not buy or sell material and has no stake in routing volume to any particular processor.

A program starts without deep integration: web and mobile apps for the network, no on-premise footprint. ERP and system integrations (master data, orders, reporting feeds) come later, when the program is proven and the interfaces are worth building. IT involvement in a pilot is typically review, not build.

You can build forms and a register. What is hard to build is the multi-party part: dozens of external companies (workshops, carriers, recyclers) working in one governed workflow with role-based visibility, mobile capture at weighbridges and yards, a standardized material master, and evidence generation that holds up in audits. That is a product, not a project, and it sits outside what ERP, waste-management, or ITAD tools model, which is why the category gap exists. The honest comparison is build cost plus years of maintenance against a program that starts in weeks on infrastructure already running at 70+ certified recyclers.

GDPR applies and is contractually covered: a data processing agreement (AVV) is part of the engagement. Governance is role-based by design: every participant sees exactly the scope its role requires and nothing else, which is the precondition for competitors' service partners coexisting on one platform. Security documentation for your IT review is available in the scoping phase.

Your program data is yours. Evidence packs, order history and material data are exportable in standard formats at any time, including at exit. Multi-party governance is built in: each participant sees only the scope its role requires.

The platform runs in production: 1M+ orders processed, 3,800+ drop-off points served, material standardized against 30,000+ material articles built on evidence from 350,000+ weighing slips. What is new is the program you would run on it, which is exactly what the scoped pilot de-risks.

Sequenced, bounded steps. The scoping engagement is fixed in duration (4 to 6 weeks) and produces the program design and validated business case. The pilot is a defined scope with defined success criteria. Scale is a decision you take on pilot evidence. Commercials are scoped per program and put on the table in the scoping conversation.

The evidence model is chain of custody per handoff: who transferred what, when, in what condition and weight, with the documentation generated at the point of action. Auditors receive a coherent evidence pack instead of assembled spreadsheets. The same records serve recycled-content claims, mass-balance statements and closed-loop certificates.

Less than the current state does. Today's dependency is on individual brokers and undocumented relationships. A governed program makes the network explicit, contractual and portable: partners, rules and history are documented, and your data leaves with you.

The platform orchestrates and evidences; it does not truck material, and it does not take your regulatory obligation off you: the obligation stays yours, the platform produces the proof. Program design still requires decisions from your side (which streams, which partners, which rules), which is what the scoping phase is for. And in the first weeks of a pilot the data is only as complete as the capture discipline of the sites in scope; the workflow is built to make capture the easy path, but a rollout is still a rollout.