The hospitality industry has long faced the challenge of packaging waste, with glass bottles representing a significant proportion of the sector’s environmental footprint.
While recycling across the industry has become standard practice, true circularity – where packaging is reused multiple times before recycling – remains rare. Less than 2% of packaging in the UK is currently reusable, largely due to a lack of infrastructure and the complexity of creating a scalable, closed-loop system.
As one of the UK’s largest pub operators and a local pub company with national reach, Marston’s PLC has made sustainability a core part of its business strategy. Encapsulated within its Planet Promise, this commitment drives the company to operate more efficiently, reduce emissions, and minimise waste across its estate and supply chain. In 2024, Marston’s set out to challenge the status quo by pioneering a scalable glass bottle reuse solution in partnership with Reconomy Connect and Again.
Objectives
The ‘Making Reuse Simple’ initiative was launched with several clear objectives:
- To create a practical, scalable system for collecting, cleaning, and returning glass bottles for reuse, rather than recycling.
- To ensure the process was as simple as possible for pub teams, requiring no extra time or effort compared to traditional glass recycling.
- To deliver the project at close to cost-neutral, or better, versus existing glass recycling costs.
- To generate robust data on reuse and recycling rates, supporting future decision-making and transparency.
- To deliver a measurable reduction in Marston’s carbon footprint and overall waste, supporting the company’s 2040 Net Zero target and broader sustainability goals.
The Initiative
The pilot launched in late 2024 across 10 of Marston’s managed and franchise pubs near Again’s CleanCell facility in Runcorn. It was important that, from the offset, the process was seamless for pub teams: bottles were collected in robust, reusable totes that fit behind the bar, eliminating the need for heavy lifting or noisy decanting into wheelie bins. Staff simply filled the totes as they would have traditionally with glass bins, with the added benefit that the totes protected bottles from breakage, maximising the number suitable for reuse.
Once collected, bottles were transported to Again’s SortCell facility, where they were automatically sorted. Reusable bottles were sent to the CleanCell line for de-labelling, washing, drying, and robotic inspection, ensuring only bottles fit for reuse were returned to drinks manufacturers. Bottles not suitable for reuse were responsibly recycled.
The logistics were designed so that no additional journeys were added compared to recycling, minimising additional emissions and costs where possible. The system’s design also meant that pub teams did not need to sort bottles by brand or type – every bottle was accepted, and the sorting was handled centrally. This simplicity was crucial for staff engagement and operational success.
Results and Impact
Results to-date have been transformative:
- In the first 12 months, over 90,000 bottles were collected and processed across the pilot pubs.
- Nearly 20,000 bottles were accepted by drinks manufacturers for reuse during this period, with the remainder recycled responsibly.
- Glass collection costs were cut by 43%, delivering significant savings for participating pubs.
- The process required no additional time from pub teams, and feedback from managers was unanimously positive.
- Data captured from the scheme has provided valuable insights into bottle flows, reuse rates, and carbon savings.
Analysis by Again suggests that a fully reusable supply chain can deliver a 60% lower carbon output than recycling. As the scheme scales up, Marston’s expects to reduce its carbon footprint by over 100 tonnes of CO2 per year.
Scalability and Future Plans
Buoyed by the success of the pilot, Marston’s now has its eyes on expanding the initiative, having already expanded to 150 pubs, with another phase of 150 now in the pipeline. Based on current glass consumption, this will enable the recovery of more than 10 million bottles annually, with up to 5.3 million bottles expected to be reused by drinks manufacturers. The infrastructure and data generated by the project are also enabling other hospitality businesses to join the scheme, accelerating the shift towards a truly circular economy for glass packaging.
Conclusion
‘Making Reuse Simple’ demonstrates that with the right partnerships and a focus on operational simplicity, glass reuse at scale is not only possible but practical and commercially viable. By reversing the traditional one-way supply chain and keeping bottles in circulation for longer, Marston’s is delivering genuine environmental and financial benefits, while setting a new standard for sustainable packaging for the UK hospitality sector.
Alex Rollinson, Energy & Waste Co-ordinator at Marston’s, said:
“Receiving Footprint’s Innovations in Packaging Award for our ‘Making Reuse Simple’ initiative has been fantastic recognition of the dedication and collaboration between Marston’s teams and our partners working on this game-changing project. We’re committed to leading the way in sustainable innovation and are proud to be making a real difference for our communities and the environment.”
