An increasing number of companies are releasing re-use + refill packaging lines. Is this just for large companies like Proctor & Gamble and Unilever? Or is it time for small and mid-sized companies to take up the mantle, too? Momentum is growing, and maybe it’s time for small and mid-sized manufacturers to start looking seriously at where they can launch their own offerings. How many small and mid-sized brewers, indie cosmetics lines, and retail shops could realistically add simple, attainable reuse + refill solutions with a little creativity (and, perhaps, encouragement from their vendors)? 

Big Brands Leading the Way

Big brands are leading the way and inspiring the rest of us. Just this year, we’ve seen multiple large CPGs launch reuse + refill lines or announce their development. Here are just three examples:

Johnson & Johnson has committed to expanding its reuse models by 2022 and ensuring that its plastic packaging is 100% recyclable, reusable, or compostable by 2025. Already, some Johnson & Johnson Consumer Health brands, including Johnson’s Baby, Aveeno, OGX, and Le Petit Marseillais, have launched or are in the process of launching reuse-and-refill packaging.

Colgate-Palmolive and Walmart have teamed up to develop and sell Palmolive Shake & Clean dish soap, whose reusable packaging results in 75% less plastic waste versus a new 20-oz bottle of dish soap. The product’s starter kit includes one reusable PET bottle and one 5-oz. pouch of 4x concentrated dish soap gel.

Unilever has pledged to halve the use of virgin plastic in its packaging and remove more than 100,000 tons of plastic by 2025. It has appointed dedicated teams to accelerate its work on reusable, refillable formats, including Cif ultraconcentrated refills for its Power & Shine cleaning product, and is investing in pilot programs around the world to test their viability.

It is exciting to see this trend growing. It helps that organizations and aggregators are arising to pull companies together so they don’t have to reinvent the wheel. More than 500 organizations have joined the Ellen MacArthur Foundation’s New Plastics Economy Global Commitment, for example, whose mission is “to overcome challenges in the sustainable use of plastic packaging.” As reported by Sustainable Brands: “Companies representing 20% of all plastic packaging produced globally have committed to ambitious 2025 targets to help realize a common vision of a circular economy for plastics—and consumer demand has been a key factor in this shift.”

It’s not just cleaning products where this model is taking hold. ReUse + Refill is taking hold in beauty and cosmetics and many other industries, as well.

Multiple Models of Reuse + ReFill

There are multiple models of reuse + refill to be considered: refill on the consumer end (like the examples above) or refill on the manufacturer end (send the packaging back to be cleaned, refilled, and returned to the buyer). If the latter, this can be done either between the manufacturer and shopper directly or through an aggregating platform like Loop:

Loop, a U.S.-based online reusable packaging platform that delivers products to consumers and picks up the empty packaging to clean and refill it repeatedly. Loop delivers items from Procter & Gamble, Unilever, PepsiCo, Nestlé, Clorox, and Coca-Cola, among others, to consumer homes in innovative, reusable packaging. Within a year of starting operations, the company also announced partnerships with retailers Kroger and Walgreens to sell products in refillable packaging in those stores. (Source: Strategy+Business)

It’s not all roses, of course, There is no debating the challenges associated with developing reuse + refill product lines. Consumers are conditioned to the convenience of today’s resealable pouches and easy-open-on single-use (and nonrecylable) packaging. As busy people, we love the convenience of single use grab-and-go items. Refilling reusable containers is also often a multi-step process that consumers are “too busy” to bother with. But there are business benefits. As reported by Strategy+Business, concentrated refills and tablets, for example, are less expensive to transport and package than new bottles of household cleaners. Then there is the customer affinity benefit from aligning with sustainable values.

Reuse + Refill on a Smaller Scale

This isn’t just a big brands thing. We’re seeing reuse + refill on a smaller scale, as well, with small shops and indie lines embracing the concept. In industries where the products are naturally lightweight, such as beauty and cosmetics, the cost and weight of these products is significantly less, making this model more economically viable. Of course, it then becomes incumbent upon the consumer to keep more than one of the product on hand so one can be used while the other is being refilled. But if the make-up user doesn’t keep up with the routine and runs out, there is a wait time. And, as Inigo Montoya famously said, “I hate waiting.”

There is no easy solution, but we’re on a path to real change, even if it’s slow. Innovators and ground-breaking companies like those mentioned here, reuse aggregators like Loop, and organizations like The Sustainable Packaging Coalition are making strides. While most PSPs’ clients aren’t in a position to design new production lines around reuse + refill, there may be clients like local specialty shops and small independent brands for which this model can be implemented with something as simple as a refillable bottle, can, or bag (along the lines of Starbucks refillable coffee cups).

With roughly half of the world’s plastic production being used for single-use products every year, this is everybody’s problem. The question is how much of the solution will come from innovation in and encouragement from our industry?

Where do you see this packaging model making sense in your market?