Walmart Inc.
Apparatus and method for reusing containers

Abstract:

Systems, apparatuses, and methods are provided herein for reusing containers. A system for container reuse comprises an order database storing a plurality of orders associated with an order fulfillment facility, a conveyor system, and a control circuit. The control circuit being configured to determine container capacity requirements of the plurality of orders in the order database based on dimensions of products in each order, predict container usage for fulfilling orders at the order fulfillment facility based at least on the container capacity requirements of the plurality of orders, determine whether a used container received at the conveyor system should be retained based on a container dimension of the used container and the container usage predicted for the order fulfillment facility, and cause the conveyor system to route the used container to a fulfillment area or a disposal area based on whether the used container should be retained.