The average person in the EU generated 188.7kg of packaging waste in 2021, fueling the climate, biodiversity, and pollution crisis. Embracing reuse packaging systems offers a crucial pathway to mitigate these crises and promote a more sustainable future.
The revision of the EU's Packaging and Packaging Waste Regulation (PPWR) has been at the core of the #WeChooseReuse campaign, with more than 100,000 signatories and supporters calling for strong and ambitious legislation that will prevent the use and sale of unnecessary single-use packaging and support and uplift reusable and refill packaging systems.
Cities currently burdened with the extensive management and disposal of single-use plastics and disproportionate costs for packaging materials flooding the market benefit significantly from promoting reuse within their municipalities.
Businesses can drive environmental sustainability by adopting well-designed reuse systems. This shift presents opportunities for companies to explore new value streams, including sanitation services, material production innovations, and enhanced branding strategies, thereby aligning profitability with environmental responsibility.
Reuse systems are already in place, and members, organisations, networks, SMEs, and local governments are already implementing successful initiatives across Europe.
Reuse systems must be accessible to ensure participation from all social and economic backgrounds. The design and implementation of reuse systems must involve local communities as well as a diversity of groups that will potentially be affected by their implementation.
The food delivery sector is growing, and with it, so is single-use packaging, leading to more plastic waste and pollution.
To protect human and environmental health and achieve climate targets, we need a delivery sector that uses toxic-free reusable packaging while ensuring fair conditions for workers.
This report covers case studies from Sweden, Finland, Portugal, Chile and Indonesia which unveil the environmental and human cost of switching to paper-based packaging. You can read them here.
The pitfalls of direct material substitution in the packaging sector
Certification for zero waste shops. On the website there is a map of zero waste shops in Catalonia and Balearic Islands where consumers can buy without packaging, and there is a page for shops where they can find resource and...
