With covid, requests for takeaway food and drinks skyrocketed and, with them, the generation of single-use waste. In response to this problem, small returnable packaging initiatives began to emerge. Three and a half years after the outbreak of the pandemic, the takeaway bubble has already deflated, but returnable packaging initiatives persist in their efforts to end the single-use waste pandemic.
The associations Zero Waste Europe, Reloop and Tomra have just published a study in which they conclude that “in almost all types of packaging examined, it has been found that reusable packaging can significantly reduce greenhouse gas emissions compared to the respective single-use plastic or paper containers.” Of course, “only if the return and washing systems are properly implemented and optimized,” the authors warn.
Beyond greenhouse gas emissions, Marta Beltrán, project director of the Rezero entity, highlights “the absurdity of throwing away a container that we have used for five minutes, such as a takeaway coffee cup. , For example". “They are material resources that end up in landfills, incinerated or directly polluting the environment,” adds the expert, who adds that 40% of the plastic and 50% of the paper consumed in the European Union is destined for the manufacturing of packaging.
Countries like Germany, where takeaway establishments are required to offer returnable packaging, have already begun to put a stop to the 2,025 million takeaway food and drink containers, equivalent to 20,000 tonnes of waste, that end up being thrown away each year. in the European Union. In Spain these are still voluntary initiatives, such as the returnable Take away campaign promoted by Rezero in Barcelona.
Sofía Garín Martínez, from the consulting firm Inèdit Innova, presents the case of Bûmerang, a Barcelona startup that offers reusable containers for takeaway food. Another example highlighted by Garín is VasovenGo, a glass reuse system also born in Barcelona.
Takeaway food and drink containers are only part of the daily use containers that can be reused. “I buy Vichy water at my neighborhood store and they themselves come to my house to collect the bottles to reuse them,” explains Miquel Roset Sala, spokesperson for the Retorna association. Vichy is one of the veteran firms in the recovery of packaging sold to the final consumer, but it is not the only example. The Ametller Origen supermarket chain allows the return of Latvian milk containers in 15 of its stores, with a return rate of 46%. “The higher the price paid per container, the higher the return rates,” says the Inèdit Innova expert.
Outside the food sector, the trend is filling, mainly in cleaning or cosmetic products. One of the exceptions is the Catalan company RRR Biocosmetics, which does use returnable packaging for its gels, shampoos and body creams. Regarding the implementation of a system of deposit, return and return of containers in Spanish supermarkets, as already exists in other countries, Roset affirms that sooner or later it will end up being imposed "because it is the only way to prevent so much waste end up incinerated, in landfills or scattered throughout the natural environment.”
In case you were wondering, the “almost all” in the Zero Waste Europe, Reloop and Tomra study refers to pizza boxes, “which will likely require further design innovations to fully reap the benefits of reuse,” the researchers conclude. authors.
