Returnable packaging can compete with the economics of single-use packaging for certain products, a new study from the Ellen MacArthur Foundation has found.
The ‘Unlocking a reuse revolution’ study analysed the benefits of adopting reusable plastic packaging for selected beverage, food cupboard, personal care, and fresh food items when designed collaboratively across the industry and operated at a large scale.
It was developed with input from over 60 organisations, including the European Investment Bank, national governments, reuse experts and major brands and retailers – such as Danone, Nestlé, PepsiCo, The Coca-Cola Company, and Unilever.
The study found that returnable packaging has the potential to offer ‘significant environmental benefits’, as well as compete with the economics of single-use packaging for certain products.
In the most ambitious scenario, returnable plastic packaging could reduce greenhouse gas emissions and water use by 35% to 70% compared to single-use plastics, according to the study.
No single organisation can drive the necessary change by itself; it will require a collaborative effort from businesses, policymakers and financial institutions.
Sander Defruyt, Plastics Initiative Lead at the Ellen MacArthur Foundation, commented: “Scaling reuse will be a major transition and won’t happen overnight. This analytical study gives us greater insight into the key drivers that affect the environmental and economic performance of return systems.
“No single organisation can drive the necessary change by itself; it will require a collaborative effort from businesses, policymakers and financial institutions.
“Together they can kick start the reuse revolution and get the world on track to tackling the plastic crisis.”
The study, developed in partnership with Systemiq and Eunomia, focuses on returnable packaging, which once bought and returned by customers, is professionally cleaned and refilled before being sold again.
The Ellen MacArthur Foundation is calling on the private, public, and financial sectors to expand reuse through shared infrastructure and packaging standardisation and to work collaboratively to achieve high return rates.
The Foundation also highlighted the ‘major opportunities’ of the European Packaging and Packaging Waste Regulation, and negotiations for a Global Treaty to End Plastic Pollution, to put in place reuse policies, such as time-bound, sectoral reuse targets.
