A new era for packaging: scaling reuse in the UK

Reuse is the future. At Ecosurety we’re passionate about supporting the transition from single use materials to scalable reuse models for a more sustainable world. But how can we scale reuse in the UK? And what benefits will this have for society?

GoUnpackaged, the UK’s leading consultancy specialising in reuse and refill, have launched the results of their landmark research project; ‘A 30%+ Reuse Future for the UK’. The report offers a data driven roadmap for achieving a 30% reuse target for grocery retail and explores the benefits this could present.

We’re proud to have supported the reuse infrastructure modelling project. Two Ecosurety representatives, (James Piper, Non-Executive Director and Richard Marriott, Reuse Lead) also served on the expert advisory panel alongside leaders from Amco, Biffa, CHEP, DEFRA, Innovate UK, Ocado Retail, Reath, Suez, Tesco, WRAP, and WWF.

What will it take to scale reuse?

There is no doubt that scaling reuse will be a challenge. To achieve 30% reuse, the UK will need to develop transportation logistics and sortation, washing and filling infrastructure, none of which currently exists at the necessary scale.

To identify evidence-based, feasible ways to scale reuse, GoUnpackaged’s study took into consideration 25 grocer categories, capturing a cross-section of common products - from coffee to ready meals to shower gel - and various reuse scenarios.

From this modelling exercise, GoUnpackaged have outlined a staged approach to get to 30% reuse with the aim of creating a “North Star” for Industry and Government to collaboratively transition the UK grocery sector to reusable packaging.

The benefits of reuse at scale

The project found that reuse at scale can deliver significant economic and environmental benefits across the whole value chain, including to citizens and society at large.

Benefits of 30%+ reuse include:

• Cost saving for producers: Reuse could save £136m per year in packaging EPR costs and £314m - £577m (12-22%) could be saved per year in end-to-end system costs.
• Environmental benefits: Scaled reuse systems could result in a 95% reduction in CO₂e emissions and a 95% reduction in packaging materials & waste.
• Job creation: 30% reuse could result in the creation of 13,000 net new jobs in the UK.

Shifting the conversation on reuse

The infrastructure modelling advisory panel collectively stated:

'The modelling results show, for the first time, an evidenced view of reuse working at scale in the UK for grocery retail, enabling industry and government to make insightful decisions about how to move forwards to co-create the necessary transition to reuse in the UK. We look forward to bringing the value chain together to kickstart the discussion of the next practical steps towards wide scale reuse in the UK.'

Richard Marriott, Ecosurety Reuse Lead and advisory panel member commented:

Find out more!

You can find out more about the project and explore the full findings here.

GoUnpackaged will also present the findings in a webinar taking place on the 3 July. Sign up now!