Report Digs Into Benefits, Barriers, and Latest Trends Around Reuse and Refillable Models

Manufacturers crank out 460M tons of plastic globally every year, a figure that will triple by 2060 should this rate continue, according to The United Nations Environment Program (UNEP) — and a good share of that plastic is single-use takeout food and drink packaging, accounting for nearly half of plastic in the ocean and more that’s burned or buried in landfills.

Nonprofit U.S. PIRG Education released a report with co-authors highlighting innovative concepts to address the problem—reuse and refillable models for food service and retail industries, as well as an emerging concept to do away with packaging altogether. The report names some of the companies behind these models. And Celeste Meiffren-Swango, co-author and Beyond Plastic campaigns director with Environment America Research & Policy Center, expounds beyond the findings on transpirations in this space, including what future markets will likely look like.

There are two model types most people have heard of: refillable stores, aka refilleries, where customers bring their own containers, fill them, and pay by weight for goods and returnable packaging sent back to retailers and manufacturers to be cleaned and used again. Maybe less known is a slowly growing trend among some consumer packaged goods companies and others who have figured out how to reformulate the products themselves in order to deep six the plastic packaging.

The idea of returnables is nothing new; bars adopted it decades ago for beer kegs as did retailers for business-to-business transport (pallets, crates), among sectors.

Now some restaurants and takeout businesses are turning to this model to replace single-use containers. A few of many examples include DeliverZero, which supplies restaurants throughout New York City and the “OZZI” machines, which dispense returnable food containers and are catching on at college and university cafeterias and other dining service areas. Customers pay a small one-time fee for an “O2GO” container, fill it, and return it at a kiosk at any participating location in exchange for a token used to get a clean container. The company, GreenOzzi, says it prevented waste from about 35 million plastic containers in 10 years.

Some businesses leverage sophisticated technologies to incentivize customers to return packaging once they are done with it. Australian company TURN Systems offers consumers an opportunity to buy a drink in a “smart cup” and access rewards on an app. They return empty cups to a “smart collection bin,” scan it, and get points for discounts and prizes.

Refill models are catching on. The study authors identified over 600 of them in 47 U.S. states mainly for foods, household, and personal care products. The report calls out California, in particular, where a good many refilleries have popped up. A few are BYO Long Beach who sells cleaning products, personal care products, teas, herbs, spices, and other household goods and Sustain L.A. who, like other nearby shops, sells refill goods like soaps, shampoos, conditioners, and other self-care products, even toothpaste. Major brand Colgate also sells toothpaste in the form of dry tablets that turn into a paste when chewed.

Refilleries have gone mobile too— businesses that deliver to customers’ homes. Others set up “pop-up” shops at local markets and other places.

Now for an especially innovative idea: rethinking the product itself so it can be sold with no packaging. Though they are not mainstream, there are solid versions of traditionally liquid products, mainly cosmetics and toiletries such as shampoo bars. They are sold online through venues like Etsy, by brick-and-mortar startups, and a very few major brands like Lush Cosmetics, which has launched almost a thousand stores worldwide. German company Everdrop sells dissolvable cleaning tablets, mixed with water in reusable bottles at home. The company sold over a million tablets within the first few months.

“Innovative entrepreneurs are showing us that a future without single-use plastic packaging is possible, but oftentimes these businesses are facing obstacles that can make it hard to compete,” Meiffren-Swango says.

They may have to invest in systems to track inventory of returnables, clean, and restock them. And small shops have a hard time keeping pricing in line with that of traditional products sold in chains.

Some businesses hesitate to transition due to health and sanitation concerns. In many states, the health code includes what Meiffren-Swango calls unnecessary barriers that can make it hard for a business to provide reusable or refillable containers.

She names ways that policymakers can help support these businesses, from disincentivizing the use of plastic packaging to rewarding and supporting more sustainable practices.

“This can help level the playing field and enable innovative plastic-free retail to thrive,” she says.

“Specifically, policymakers can enact bans on wasteful single-use plastics; pass producer responsibility laws for packaging; provide grants, rebates, and tax incentives to develop low- and zero-waste forms of retail and food service; and develop clear, comprehensible health regulations to allow businesses to provide reusable or returnable containers.”

Shifting away from a throwaway consumer culture to one that values sustainability over convenience will not happen overnight.

But more policies are evolving to move the U.S. toward that transition. One in three Americans now lives in a state that has banned at least one type of single-use plastic. Five states have passed laws around producer responsibility for packaging, which includes incentivizing reuse. And a few states recently updated their health codes to better enable reuse in restaurants and retail. 

 “As we learn more about the negative environmental and public health impacts of single-use plastics, we've seen growing support from the public for finding ways to reduce plastic in our daily lives,” Meiffren-Swango says.

“As demand grows for less plastic, we expect that more and more states will take action to eliminate wasteful plastics and adopt policies to better support companies that want to shift away from single-use to reusable and refillable systems.”