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The Future of Reusables: Are Built-In Reuse Systems a Better Way Than BYO?

Vicky Ellmore

Is the expansion of the reuse systems that have remained up and running during COVID-19 and the adoption of imbedded reuse systems by businesses a better way to reuse in the future? We explore why these systems may be better, what is needed for them to be successful, the barriers and benefits of reusable packaging, and the role of legislation.

In the early days of COVID-19, the use of personal reusables such as coffee cups and containers was understandably outright refused. However, the use of swap and go reusable systems that had been put in place by certain cafes and restaurants, such as Returnr and Green Caffeen, has continued and although some grocery stores stopped selling bulk foods and started refusing the use of produce bags, it has been mostly business as usual for those offering online ordering and delivery of unpacked fresh produce and bulk foods in reusables.

Some cafes are slowly starting to accept reusable coffee cups again, having worked out a safe process where the reusable cup brought by the coffee buying individual is never touched by the server or barista, with the coffee being made in another receptacle and poured into the cup. Some bulk food stores are allowing people to bring and use their own jars and produce bags as long as they don’t touch the dispensers and scoops are being used and washed after every use, while others are filling them for customers.

This has made us wonder what the future holds for reusables. Will they now be seen as dirty and unhygienic by people? Will some places that used to accept them continue to refuse them? Will we have to work out new ways of using reusables? Is the expansion of the reuse systems that remained up and running and the implementation of other reuse infrastructure the solution?

Can The Reuse Revolution Maintain The Momentum It Had?

Before the COVID-19 crisis, the zero waste movement and the use of reusables was making massive headway. Acceptance and uptake of this lifestyle and reusables was soaring.

There has been “growing interest around the world in addressing the sustainability challenges of reducing material use and packaging waste through the development of reusable packaging systems”, according to a recent journal article, Sustainability of Reusable Packaging – Current Situation and Trends by Patricia Megale Coelho, Blanca Corona, Roland ten Klooster, and Ernst Worrell.

Sydney Harris from the Product Stewardship Institute shares in the Plastisphere podcast (Ep 8: COVID-19 – plastics in times of the coronavirus) that she is worried that it will be hard to undo consumers’ new view of reusable bags as dirty or reusable coffee mugs as disease vectors: “Those kinds of social norms are very hard to undo – it took a really long time to get to where we were before the virus in terms of social acceptance of reusables.”

She thinks that “it’s clear that some kind of sustainable re-use infrastructure that involves perhaps, you know, some kind of sanitisation through a third party or other way of distributing reusable items that people can trust is going to be really critical in the future, because what we really want to make sure that we do is think ahead to how we can bounce back from this on the waste side of things”.

However, in a Fortune article, Greenpeace USA’s John Hocevar is quoted as saying, “The fear-driven gains the industry was able to win this month are likely to be extremely short-lived. The movement away from throwaway plastic is the kind of awakening that is not going to be that easy for the plastic industry to stop.”

Adam Minter, the author of the book Junkyard Planet, also believes that “despite the pandemic, single-use plastics will continue to fade from the marketplace” according to the Plastisphere podcast. He thinks that “the trend is already clear: consumers want more sustainable packaging and the big companies have started to listen”.

Hopefully, John and Adam are right, but either way, would third party reusable systems be better anyway?

Takeaway Throwaways, a campaign calling on the New Zealand Government to ban single-use disposable plastic serviceware and mandate co-designed, accessible reusable alternatives instead, released a COVID-19 Position Statement at the beginning of the pandemic titled Far from signalling the end of reusables, the COVID-19 outbreak has underscored the importance of reuse systems and reuse infrastructure.

We explore why these systems may be better, what is needed for them to be successful, the barriers and benefits of reusable packaging and the role of legislation below.

Why Imbedded Reuse Systems & Networks May Be Better Than BYO Personal Reusables

“COVID-19 has highlighted weaknesses in current approaches to waste reduction for things like takeaway food and drink”, according to Takeaway Throwaways, which states that ”the frank reality is that we lack the necessary reuse systems and infrastructure to weather public health and civil emergencies”.

The organisation believes that a lesson we can learn from this crisis is that “we need to build systems and infrastructure for clean, sanitised reusables at scale for on-site, takeaways and food delivery”.

Importantly, reuse systems like standardised cup or container lending schemes, “have processes for safe take-back, washing, and sterilisation built into the system (this responsibility is not on the customer)”, it notes.

This means that the cafe or restaurant does not need to trust the customer that it is clean. It knows it is clean. The hygiene of reusables may be seen as less questionable if this is controlled by the cafe, restaurant, or company itself.

The journal article on the sustainability of reusable packaging states that “studies accentuate the importance of facilitating the access to reusables”. Built in reuse systems are a way of facilitating this access, making it easy and convenient for customers to choose a reusable option. They are “convenient and ready-to-go for those segments of the population who will never voluntarily carry around their own reusable cup”, Takeaway Throwaways adds.

In addition, through them incentives such as discounts and loyalty cards for reusing can be offered to increase the uptake of reusable packaging systems and they could reduce costs as “early indications suggest that well-designed reuse systems are cheaper for hospo businesses than single-use serviceware”, according to Takeaway Throwaways.

Lastly, this would start putting the onus on businesses instead of on customers. “To date, attempts to reduce single-use serviceware waste have focused on encouraging and cajoling individual customers to bring their own cups and containers for takeaways. Far too little attention has gone to the hospitality industry’s responsibility to find ways of distributing food and drink on-the-go in reusables, or to local and central government’s role in supporting, designing and mandating reusable alternatives at scale,” Takeaway Throwaways explains.

What Is Needed For A Successful Reuse Scheme?

The journal article on the sustainability of reusable packaging gives the example of beer bottles, which have been successfully reused for several decades. They say this is due to high turnover rates, relative short transporting distances, and well-designed packaging systems.

The journal article notes that a reusable system is not necessarily a feasible or sustainable alternative for all supply chains and packaging. It explains that “switching to reusable packaging can also have negative impacts if not carefully managed due to e.g. increased use of (currently) unrecyclable laminated materials used in pouches, increased transport movements, complex logistics, cleaning, food safety, and others”.

Reusable packaging needs to be “seen as a product-service system, in which instead of simply selling a product, a service is provided to the consumer”.

Outpace’s experience shows that training of users and monitoring of the reusable is needed. It developed the Carrierpac, a reusable transit packaging for kitchen worktops replacing cardboard boxes, and in the beginning, bags got lost due to inadequate communication of new staff and third-party logistics, according to the journal article.

“The design of a reusable packaging system” is also mentioned as “key for a successful reusable packaging system” in the journal article.

The following factors have been identified as affecting consumer acceptance:

  • the inconvenience of a reusable packaging system such as having to bring empty containers to be refilled or the ease of use of refilling,

  • the risk of unavailability of refills,

  • the first cost of a parent dispenser in a refill system,

  • ineffective communication, which may result in the disposal of reusable systems, and

  • bad pricing policy by retailers or manufacturers (resulting in equal or higher costs for a reusable system).

These systems need to be easy and convenient to use and return and reduced costs and price incentives such as discounts for reusing can increase the uptake of reusable packaging systems.

“Deposits and refund systems (both in B2B and B2C) induce customers to return the packaging in good condition and in a timely manner.” but they can’t be too high as to affect customer acceptance.

The Barriers To Reusable Packaging & Containers

Potential barriers to companies switching to and using reusable packaging noted in the journal article are:

  • a change from single-use to reusable packaging may mean a change in the supply chain due to the introduction of reverse logistics,

  • the retailer needs to invest in space and labour to sort and clean the returned reusables,

  • due to the costs of the packaging material, shipping and washing, the price of the product may need to increase (but in some cases reusing packaging can save money - read more on this in the section on benefits below),

  • where costs savings will be gained over the lifetime of the system, initial investments (e.g. additional storage space) are a hurdle to introducing reusable systems, and

  • concerns around hygiene and product safety.

According to the journal article, the biggest barriers to implementing reusable packaging are “the change from the standard (one way) business practices and the restructuring of the business model” and increased logistic complexity.

The journal article says that “the overall costs of a reusable packaging system could be lower than that of single-use packaging, although a variety of factors influence the benefits”, noting that “full environmental life cycle costing methods are essential to determine the economics of sustainable packaging systems”.

Lindsey McCoy, founder of Plaine Products, which sells hair and body care products in aluminium bottles that can be returned by mail to be cleaned and refilled by the company at the company’s cost, which has meant that its products have become more expensive, says the company is growing and its products are still selling well because “consumers are looking for products with reusable packaging because they want a more sustainable option”, according to journal article.

It adds that “around 70% of the packaging gets returned even though consumers do not get a refund for it”.

However it is also noted that “for the general public, the ‘feel-good factor’ is not enough, and hence a financial incentive may be important to change consumers to switch to a reusable packaging system” and that “companies experimenting with reusable packaging in e-commerce highlight that consumers generally favour sustainable retailers; yet, when given the option to pay more for a returnable packaging, the majority of customers will decline”.

Concerning product safety concerns, it shares that a study on the impacts of reusable plastic packaging on food quality and safety found that generally, “reuse does not significantly influence any of the properties investigated”. 

And when it comes to retailers, “reusable takeaway container companies provide cleaning, maintenance and transport for retailers while bringing financial and green marketing for the company, removing most barriers that prevented innovation”.

In addition, despite a perception of cleanliness, Takeaway Throwaways notes that “single-use disposable items may not be any safer than properly washed reusables”. They “are not sterile unless explicitly marked so” and they “can harbour viruses and pathogenic bacteria from exposure during the manufacture, transport and storage processes”.

The organisation adds that “the only way to prevent surface transmission of coronavirus is to sanitise product surfaces” and that “single-use items do not get washed with soap and hot water nor put through dishwashers before or after use”.

And it further notes that “it’s also important to remember that food packaging contains a wide range of chemical additives that many hazardous to human health and migration of these toxic chemicals from disposables into our food and drinks is not an issue with non-plastic reusables”.

The Benefits of Reusing & Reusable Packaging Systems

The benefits of reusing include:

  • environmental benefits,

  • possible cost benefits for both users and businesses,

  • refill-concepts and the need to return packaging might result in increased consumer loyalty, and

  • increasing a brand’s image of being sustainable.

After summarising environmental impact studies on reusable packaging systems, the journal article concludes that the studies generally show that “environmentally, a reusable packaging system has a lower environmental impact than single-use systems”.

It adds: “The key trade-offs are the impacts associated with materials production and disposal on the one hand, and the impacts of increased transport on the other hand. Furthermore, the disposal and recycling of both reusable and single-use system are important. A special factor affecting B2C systems may be the failure and disposal of a parent dispenser (in the case of refills) that may result in a higher environmental impact.”

According to the journal article quoted in this blog post, “reusing packaging in business-to-business (B2B) can result in significant long-term cost savings” and “for this reason, there is already a wide use of reusable packaging systems in the B2B market”.

The Important Role Of Legislation For Reusing

It is noted in the journal article that “in the past decades, we have observed a trend away from reusable packaging towards single-use in all countries without strict legislation on reuse, simplifying logistics for key product distributors and retailers”.

This shows that legislation using policy instruments such as bans of single-use packaging, taxing of single-use packaging systems, or compulsory deposit systems has an important role to play in increasing reuse and this legislation was being put in place before the COVID-19 crisis.

In addition, according to the journal article, “studies suggest that awareness, motive, and social behaviour can greatly influence consumers choice for reusables”, thus legislation can be used to make single-use socially unacceptable.

Examples provided in the journal article mentioned above are the European Parliament’s call for an increase in the share of reuse to 10% by 2030, the European Union’s enactment of a single-use plastics directive to limit the single-use of plastics including packaging, and various countries’ implementation of covenants or extended producer responsibility (EPR) schemes that include the reduction of single-use packaging. 

But with the spread of coronavirus, the plastics industry is now trying to get this legislation overturned, citing hygiene as a reason and arguing disposable plastics are the safest option. This is especially the case in America where the industry was already getting ahead of bans, enacting legislation that makes it illegal to ban plastic in seventeen states, according to this National Geographic article.

According to Fortune, “governors in Massachusetts and Illinois have banned or strongly discouraged the use of reusable grocery bags, Oregon suspended its brand-new ban on plastic bags this week, and cities from Bellingham, Washington, to Albuquerque, New Mexico, have announced a hiatus on plastic bag bans”. In addition, reusable cups and straws have been banned by many coffee shops.

The Plastisphere podcast mentions that PLASTICS US, a trade association, seems to be using promoted ads on social media featuring single-use medical waste to reframe and reposition single-use plastics as essential. Is the association hoping that the public won’t distinguish between essential medical waste and non-essential single use plastic like plastic bags and water bottles?

The podcast also shares: “In March, the PLASTICS association had sent a letter to the US Department of Health and Human Services. Their president asked them to, I quote “make a public statement on the health and safety benefits seen in single-use plastics” and to speak out against bans on single-use plastics as a public safety risk.”

The Turkish government made new regulations after the Covid-19 outbreak, Sedat Gündoğdu, marine biologist and plastic pollution researcher, shares in the Plastisphere podcast. These regulations state that “fresh vegetables and fruits sold unpackaged in marketplaces must be packaged by the sellers, avoiding customer contact with the items”. Gündoğdu adds that “not only fruits and vegetables, but also bread must be sold in plastic bags. … even big plastic water gallons are now sold in plastic bags”.

In addition, a ban on plastic straws, stirrers and cotton buds in England has been delayed by six months as a result of the coronavirus pandemic. So far, the European Commission is holding firm on the prohibition of single-use plastic, dismissing a letter from the European Plastic Converters that argued that single-use plastics are more hygienic.

Right now, it’s still unknown to what extend people really get infected by touching surfaces. Anja Krieger, host of the Plastisphere Podcast, looked into the safety of packing everything into more plastic and she says “it looks like plastic as a material does not have an advantage” and Sydney Harris notes that “we have not seen strong scientific evidence that would support this”.

Krieger points to a recent study published in the New England Journal of Medicine in which scientists evaluated the stability of the virus. The study found that it can remain viable on plastic and stainless steel for two to three days, but it is less stable on cardboard, lasting around about 24 hours.

Takeaway Throwaways states that “the research and studies the industry has drawn on to back-up their claims about the health and safety benefits of single-use plastics are funded by the petrochemical and plastics industries and do not stand up to scientific evidence-based scrutiny” and comments that “the times we live in may well be unprecedented, but the importance of looking to reliable, credible and unbiased sources of information remains”.

While Brooke Bauman, environmental science student and host of the Guilty Plastics podcast, shares in Plastisphere’s podcast that she understands that we may need to use plastic more than we usually do - “that makes sense because we are prioritising the safety of our families and of our communities” - she doesn’t “think we should backtrack that much and use this as an opportunity to repeal plastic bans”.

According to the journal article on the sustainability of reusable packaging, “policy plays a key role in the development of reusable packaging systems in B2C markets” and “in a few countries policy changes played a direct role in the success or demise of reusable packaging systems”.

Takeaway Throwaways believes that “to really get to scale, government involvement is needed to bring the whole hospitality industry on board, standardise the reusables used, and oversee the design process to ensure all stakeholders are involved (including communities with access needs)” and that “a national approach will reduce complexity and inconsistency, while delivering reuse systems that are easier and cheaper for consumers and businesses, and inclusive and accessible for all”.

So, What Can We Do To Support Reuse Not Single-Use?

Takeaway Throwaways summed up the need to bring back reuse and to make reuse systems more resilient the best, saying “for the health of both people and planet, our collective future lies in reuse, not single-use”.

To secure the future of reusables and foster a culture of reusing and the implementation of reuse systems and reuse infrastructure, each of us can do our bit by:

  1. Using, supporting, and promoting current reuse systems

  2. Calling for and supporting calls for single-use plastic bans, tax, and compulsory deposit systems

  3. Asking your local if they would consider implementing a reuse system and give examples of current ones they could implement

  4. Continuing to use our personal reusables if/when able to do so while adhering to the latest advice of our government, local agencies, and the World Health Organisation on social distancing and hygiene practices

  5. Being strict when it comes to our personal reusables’ cleanliness, cleaning them after each use to ensure they are clean when used next

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