This overview lists some of the reuse and refill business models that can be found all around Europe.

• Thousands of cafés offer and accept reusable coffee cups for on the go consumption in e.g. Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Germany, Ireland, Lithuania and Switzerland.
• Reusable cups are used at several festivals in e.g. Belgium, Lithuania and The Netherlands.
• Reusable meal container solutions for food delivery services and take-away food, often with a deposit return scheme (DRS), are present in Austria, Denmark, France, Germany, The Netherlands and Switzerland. 
• Reusable cup, plate and bowl rental, with deposit, at events in Estonia.
• Over 30,000 refill points for water bottles in the UK.
• Over 4,000 public points of quality drinking water, through kiosks equipped with filtration and supply systems in Italy, replacing the sale of bottled water.
• Over 1,000 drinking fountains and 55 monumental fountains are managed by the City of Vienna in Austria. Drinking fountains are located, for example, in parks, at playgrounds and at markets.
• “Product as a service” for rented cloth nappies in Belgium and Italy with centralised washing service for daycare and households. In Italy, the scheme is monitored by health authorities.
• “Nappy Library” in Ireland where parents can rent and try reusable nappies before investing in them.  Once finished with their trial, users return the nappies for others to try.
• Reuse systems for facemasks, with deposit and washing service, in Finland and Slovenia.
• There are over 50 zero waste and low waste shops in Belgium.
• In Portugal, more than 200 stores sell in bulk and provide the opportunity for a zero waste lifestyle.
• 107 Slovenian shops sell part of their products in bulk, and there are three zero waste shops.
• One retail chain in Lithuania offers refills of body care and home wash products directly into the consumer's own container. They also have a Zero Waste section for products without packaging and zero waste products like menstrual cups and toothpaste in glass jars. 
• Hundreds of automated liquid-refill stations for dispensing ecological cleaning products can be found all across the UK and Ireland, and also emerging in Belgium, Slovenia and The Netherlands.
• A large number of milk machines in Slovenia offer local milk in bulk. One Slovenian farmer offers dairy products delivery in reusable containers. 
• Two renowned professional organisations promote reuse in France: 1) Réseau Vrac, promoting and supporting bulk sale, working with over 1,700 businesses in France and around the world; and 2) Réseau Consigne, supporting over 200 businesses with DRS and reuse systems for all kinds of packaging.
• B2B reusable and RFID trackable fishing crates with boxpool collection points in 7 countries in Europe and a centralized washing facility in Denmark. Operates approximately 260.000 crates.

This list states a series of measures that local decision makers (e.g. municipalities, districts, provinces) can take to help reuse and refill businesses to thrive. 

Note that resources, in terms of money and staff, differ greatly between larger and smaller municipalities. Some of these demands might therefore not (yet) be achievable by all. We challenge local decision makers to be ambitious and do whatever is in their ability to aid the increase of reuse and refill business in their territory. 

Local authorities should adopt ambitious policies and legislation, such as local ordinances, that:

• Showcase leadership by adopting public procurement policies that prioritise reuse services and products within publicly-run and sponsored events and facilities. 
• Ban single-use packaging (incl. cups, tableware and bags) for certain sectors and/or during all public and closed-loop events. 
• Where full bans are not possible, decision makers should introduce economic incentives for citizens and businesses that help make reusable and refillable options the norm and remove the preference for single-use products and materials as much as possible.
• Implement circular, waste prevention strategies that are within the jurisdiction of local decision makers.
• When applicable, impose a local tax on single-use items (as they do for food and drinks and single-use cutlery in Tübbingen, to compensate for the absence of a national tax in Germany).
• Provide greater access to free tap water within public spaces, to prevent single-use plastic bottles being used.

Local authorities should encourage and support local reuse business models, for example by: 

• Increasing the availability and accessibility of funding for reuse and refill pilots and start-up initiatives.
• Ensuring businesses have access to required knowledge and information to integrate reusable options within their existing business as much as possible. Ultimately, this should be complemented by the support from trained municipality officials acting as reuse contact points.
• Delivering clear and locally-tailored communications to citizens and businesses, explaining not only how, but also why, such measures are important and beneficial to the protection of the natural environment and the creation of local jobs.
• Support a wide range of local stakeholders to run awareness-raising campaigns, embedding a reuse mindset within our communities.
• Support the establishment of innovative reuse and DRS projects with local businesses, to increase job creation and reduce waste at the same time.
• Establish structural partnerships between public and private stakeholders (reuse businesses, communities, consumers organisations, HORECA, retail, e-commerce, research and innovation startups - management, reuse solutions, etc. ), to jointly develop and implement reuse and refill initiatives.
• Provide economic incentives for citizens to use reuse and refill business models, such as discounts and rebates at those businesses, helping to not only raise awareness on reuse but also to increase the volume of customers using reuse and refill businesses and services.
• Supporting and enabling local reuse centres that act as a hub for reuse, repair and upcycling activities, where zero waste businesses can showcase and sell their products/services and which is also a marketplace for raw materials.
• Monitor and analyse the remaining residual waste, to identify products and materials that need to be redesigned for reuse. 

Both national governments and the EU have the power to encourage change, notably by creating the market conditions that will drive the supply and demand for reuse services and goods. Also, in order to achieve the reduction of single-use plastics consumption, in line with the EU’s Single Use Plastics Directive and the Circular Economy Action Plan, reuse is inevitable.

These public authorities should lead the way in mandating the use of reusables over single-use options in the following ways:

• Adopt targeted bans on single-use products beyond those already mandated by the Single Use Plastics Directive, preferably at EU level.
• Set ambitious reuse targets, preferably at EU level, for key sectors and products, including - but not limited to - beverage containers and cups for beverages, food containers, household products, e-commerce packaging, transport and menstrual products and nappies.
• Speed up the transition to reuse in the HORECA sector, e.g. by setting an obligation to use reusable tableware for on-site consumption and ban monodose products (milk, sugar, condiments, etc) for on-site consumption, and an obligation to provide alternative option to monodose for take away.
• Ensure an appropriate level of economic incentives to support innovative reuse pilots and start-ups, and let these investments be guided by ambitious targets.
• Establish differentiated EPR (Extended Producer Responsibility) fees or reduced VAT on reusable products, with higher taxes on single-use products (especially made from virgin plastic). In this way, producers of products and packaging are held responsible for the whole life-cycle management of their products, including littering and toxicity related issues. 
• Increase the demand for reusable products by adopting minimum mandatory green public procurement (GPP) policies that prioritise reuse services and products, for publicly-run and sponsored events and facilities.
• Promote and provide guidance on setting up Deposit Return Schemes (DRS) and expand this system to apply to many types of reusable items (bottles, containers, cutlery) so that these systems also support reuse and not only recycling. In order to help DRS systems to thrive and scale-up in Europe, national regulations should also be harmonised, not least when it comes to the VAT rate applied to deposits as well as to how these deposits are to be handled.
• Support reuse start-ups, zero waste retailers and projects with knowledge and tools by:
• Providing guidance on logistics for collection, cleaning and delivery of reusables.
• Facilitating effective ownership models and business development.
• Promoting dissemination of best practises and knowledge exchange.
• Set EU-wide harmonised formats/design and systems for certain packaging types (e.g. cups, bottles and containers) to enable the scale-up of reuse and refill across the single-market.
• At EU level, give sufficient legal security and liability relief/indemnity to reuse, refill and bulk selling and make clear which rules apply, e.g. by creating official definitions.
• Prevent unverifiable claims of reusability and labelling as reusable in the absence of dedicated infrastructure, and address consumer confusion through explicit explanation on how and by whom the item is intended to be reused. Collaborate with National Food Safety Authorities to develop guidelines on reusable systems. 
• Monitor and analyse, through robust data collection, the remaining residual waste and litter, to identify products, materials and systems that need to be redesigned for reuse.
• Revise regulations so that reusables, at end of life stage, can be fully and safely recycled into new, safe reusable.
• Strengthen the enforcement of rules on non-compliant products entering the single market, including via Online Market Places (OMPs) and from non-EU countries.