Earlier this summer, Ocado Retail became the first major supermarket to pilot a new reusable packaging scheme designed specifically for online, in a bold new move to help cut single-use packaging from the weekly shop.
Making use of a reusable vessel developed to deliver ‘food cupboard staples’ such as rice and pasta as well as laundry products at scale, the trial promises to deliver a prefill and reuse solution for customers looking to reduce their plastic footprint.
Figures from this year’s Big Plastic Count – an annual survey founded by Greenpeace and Everyday Plastic to check in on the UK’s reliance on plastic packaging – estimates that up to 90 billion units of single-use plastics are sold by the UK grocery market each year. Further research suggests, however, that 1.4 billion items of single-use plastic packaging could be eliminated from this total by UK households opting to reuse just one item a week.
Last year, the government’s EFRA Committee report highlighted that “increasing the uptake of reusable packaging is essential for reducing the total amount of packaging consumed in the UK,” and as a founding member of The Refill Coalition, Ocado Retail’s aim is to lead on developing an industry standard for online, reusable packaging that can be used by any supplier or retailer.
And it couldn’t be timelier. Public demand for viable reuse solutions at retail – both in store and online – is strong. An independent study conducted by Ocado and Savanta has revealed that almost three quarters of consumers agree that more supermarkets should offer refillable solutions, especially across essential items like pasta, rice, liquid laundry detergent, and fabric conditioner.
Yet, the real picture is a little harder to distinguish. Numerous retailers have – in recent years – rolled out and quietly shut down reuse and refill pilot schemes in store. Both M&S and Asda were one-time partners of The Refill Coalition, yet having seen their own attempts at in-store refill fail to hit the mark, have stepped away in pursuit of different solutions. Recent weeks have seen Lidl become the latest to wind down its refill offering. On the other hand, recent success has spurred Aldi to start rolling its own refill solutions across its wider network of UK stores.
“Industry action on reuse is at an inflection point right now,” says Catherine Conway, director and reuse lead at GoUnpackaged, the refill specialists behind The Refill Coalition and team responsible for Ocado Retail’s refill logistics. “We’ve been through a phase of individual trials which have yielded a good amount of commercial, customer, and operational data about what works and what doesn’t.”
Notably, the solutions that are working are those based on standardised, scalable concepts that can be easily adopted across brands and retailers, engaging a specialist such as GoUnpackaged, for example, to handle washing and cleaning packaging and dispensers. Those that have, to date, failed have taken on those tasks for themselves adding cost and complexity that renders the solution “commercially unviable.”
But the take up of refills at somewhere like Aldi – where refill currently accounts for around 30% of sales per store for the six refill SKUs on offer – shows a latent demand for single-use packaging free products.
“Consumers are crying out for solutions but there simply aren’t enough refill and reuse options available for consumers to engage with so it’s not yet mainstream behaviour,” says Catherine. “So, what we’re actually seeing is a lack of availability, not a lack of demand. We need all retailers and brands to make reuse and refill available and consumers will take it up.”
An example of this in action is at football stadiums, where uptake of reuseable cups has been undeniably successful. At The Emirates, Arsenal FC has seen its reusable cup scheme double in just four years, averaging 40,000 cups now in reuse each match day. The project relies heavily on the collection of these cups after each game, with cup collection bins installed across the grounds.
“People don’t bat an eyelid now because it’s become normalised in these situations,” says Catherine. “But we need viable reuse and refill solutions across the many ways consumers shop these days. Given how many different categories, use cases, and consumer preferences there are, we shouldn’t look at this like there’s only one reuse solution, there will be multiple.”
The obvious sectors in which reuse can work best are those closed-loop environments such as offices, schools, hospitals, attractions, festivals, and events. But that doesn’t mean there isn’t opportunity outside these areas.
“One off purchases like toys and fashion are going to be more challenging, but there’s still the chance for companies to lead in the provision of reusable packaging solutions, as it’s what their customers want,” says Catherine. “We need brands and retailers in all sectors to work together in Coalitions to design standardised solutions that can scale.”
Ocado Retail’s trial this year is a significant step towards one such scalable solution and presents what Catherine and the GoUnpackaged team consider a “landmark opportunity to make a step change in the commercialisation of reusable packaging.”
In a press release issued this summer, Rob Spencer, director at GoUnpackaged, said: “We are proud to have convened the Refill Coalition to enable the necessary collaboration to bring these new solutions to market. An industry-wide approach will lead to a reuse system that works for everyone in the supply chain and make it easier for shoppers to engage with reuse via online shopping.”
