Set up a fully circular packaging system
Do you run multiple events, service multiple events, or oversee a campus or significant catering operation? Is your brand looking for ways to reduce packaging waste for your retail product?
If so, waste minimisation is a key and increasingly important issue that a reusable packaging system will most comprehensively resolve.
The same components will be required, in line with Again Again’s events system.
An asset pool of containers suitable to your use case
A system to manage on-site distribution and recollection of containers
Infrastructure to sanitise and reprocess the containers, ready for their next use
A high return rate that will evidence better environmental outcomes and robust return on investment
Investment into all components of the system is a capital-heavy project, but over time the business plan will stack up and break even with the operational costs of single-use packaging at about 2.5-3 years. Compared on an ongoing basis, reusable packaging will be cost-comparable or more economical than continuing to use single-use packaging.
Again Again can support your journey to design and implement an appropriate and successful reusable packaging system.
Asset pool
Choose appropriate containers that are fit for purpose and specific to your use case. Consider;
Material: plastic vs steel vs aluminium
End of life options
Size of the ‘fleet’, or asset pool
Suitability for sanitisation phase
Brand decisions - optimised for marketing, and for driving returns
Sanitisation
Build the business case to support investment
Install appropriate wash/dry systems
Create and implement suitable processes for the operation use of the system
Economics
When compared to single-use packaging (SUP), the cost of reusable packaging (RUP) is currently dependent on two key variables:
Whether, and how, the consumer is charged to borrow the cup or container.
Whether the end-of-life costs of SUP are considered. As these are currently socialised, it is easy to overlook them.
Factoring in neither of the above, RUP is currently more costly than SUP in Aotearoa.
However, in a well-designed system that charges the consumer appropriately can become a revenue stream. In this case, and even factoring in the amortised cost of the capital investment into the asset pool and infrastructure, RUP will be at least cost-comparable and likely even more economical thank SUP.
Forecast increases in SUP that will come with extended producer responsibility schemes, proposed plastic taxes and eventually bans, validate early investment into this change.
You will also want to design a method of connecting the consumer to the container. This keeps the consumer accountable, drives returns, and de-risks the asset owner from system failure. However, consumers are not accustomed to paying for, or returning, packaging - so a refund or reward system that gives something to gain from returning is advised.
The two key methods of achieving this fall to cash or tech. Both have pros and cons. In the absence of either, a trust-based system also has pros and cons and should not be discounted entirely.
| Pros | Cons | Best for | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cash based Deposit/refund |
Easy access - low barrier to borrowing.
The deposit will cover the material value of the cup/container. |
Queues/frustration to receive refunds.
High operational costs for resourcing the refunds. This results in lower return rates >> worse environmental outcomes. |
Open systems. Slower moving environments (not events!) |
| App based | Consistantly high return rate (>95% globally) | Massive impairment to borrowing.
Downloading an app to borrow is too hard for most. |
Younger, tech-savvy crowd. Campuses, where common communication channels can be utilised. |
| Trust based | 100% accessable | Consumers have no responsibility
This lowers the return rates. |
Closed loop environments with little opportunity for cups to leave commercial buildings |
| Again Again Cash/rewards incentivisation | Easy access (per cash).
Gamifying rewards goes some way to justify the deposit charged. Rewards have been shown to increase return rates by about 10%. Lower loss rate improves end-of-life impact. |
While it is a light-weight tech journey, it is still tech and may exclude people who are not at all tech savvy. | Events, campuses,
Scaled environments where investments must be de-risked |
Need help?
Our team are happy to support strategy, design and operations.