Many Happy Returns: Combining insights from the environmental and behavioural sciences to understand what is required to make reusable packaging mainstream

Sarah C Greenwood,Harriet M Baird,Thomas L Webb,Stuart Walker,Seth Mehl,Rorie Parsons,Anthony J Ryan,Andrew T Slark,Rachael H Rothman

doi:10.1016/j.spc.2021.03.022

Abstract

Abstract The introduction of reusable packaging systems (both refill and return) has the potential to significantly reduce waste from single-use plastic packaging. However, for these schemes to be successful, both the environmental impact and the willingness of consumers to engage with such systems need to be carefully considered. This paper combines and discusses two complementary studies: (i) a life cycle assessment comparing the environmental impacts of single-use, refillable, and returnable containers for a takeaway meal, and (ii) a large online survey of UK adults exploring what types of product and packaging consumers are willing to reuse, how, and why. The findings of the life cycle assessment indicate that reusable containers outperform single-use plastic containers on most measures of environmental impact. The survey found that given the choice of disposal, reuse or recycling, that recycling is the preferred method of dealing with packaging once empty in the UK, and that people's decisions with regards to what types of packaging they are willing to reuse are largely driven by the aspects of the packaging itself (e.g., material and type) rather than the nature of the product inside of the packaging (e.g., state of matter of the contents). The survey also showed that people were more willing to engage in reuse systems with which they were already familiar. Additionally the language used to describe these schemes and the term ‘reuse’ needs to be considered. Combined, these factors can be used to determine the best packaging reuse system for a given product and situation.

Highlights

An estimated 1.53 million tonnes of primary packaging for consumer goods was placed on the UK market alone in 2017, with just 30% of this being recycled (Thomson et al, 2018)
People were willing to reuse the packaging of some products and the findings suggest that willingness is primarily driven by aspects of the packaging rather than aspects of the product inside
The research presented here shows that both refill and return systems that use plastic containers for take-away food in the scenario investigated have a lower global warming potential than single use plastic containers after just 2 to 4 uses

Summary

Introduction

An estimated 1.53 million tonnes of primary packaging for consumer goods was placed on the UK market alone in 2017, with just 30% of this being recycled (Thomson et al, 2018). 12 billion tonnes of plastic waste is likely to be in landfills or the natural environment by 2050 (Geyer et al., 2017). One potential way to achieve this is by the implementation of reusable packaging systems. It has been estimated that replacing 20 per cent by weight of single-use plastic packaging with returnable or refillable systems presents a business opportunity of $10bn globally (EMF, 2019). For reusable packaging systems to bring about such benefits, it is important to ensure that other, unintended, negative impacts do not result. It is vital that consumers are willing to engage with and use such reuse systems

Objectives

Methods

Results

Conclusion