Businesses could save millions of pounds in extended producer responsibility (pEPR) fees by adopting reusable packaging at scale, according to new modelling.
Analysis by reuse consultancy GoUnpackaged found that moving to 30% reuse penetration could deliver savings of £136m a year in pEPR costs at an average of 94% per item.
Total end-to-end savings would be between £314m-£577m, while 30% reuse could also deliver a 95% reduction in both CO2 emissions, and packaging materials and waste.
Achieving 30% penetration would require a £149m per-year investment for 10 years to drive reuse (£1.5bn total), representing 9.3% of the annual projected pEPR bill, according to the modelling.
Last week, the UK government published the final set of base fees that will be charged per tonne for different packaging materials in the first year of the pEPR scheme. Nearly all fees have reduced compared with the illustrative base fees published in December, however industry groups continue to complain about the cost burden of the scheme.
GoUnpackaged’s research aimed to create a data-driven view of how to achieve a 30% reuse target for the UK grocery retail sector, across a range of product categories. It compared three different packaging systems: single-use, reusables (or ‘pre-fill’) and refill in-store. The research was overseen by an expert group of advisers including representatives from Tesco, Wrap, WWF and Defra.
The study concluded that only a circular economy for packaging that prioritises reuse, where it makes environmental and economic sense to do so, will reduce reliance on virgin resources, drive lower emissions and waste, and improve materials security for the UK.
Modelling showed 30% reuse could be achieved by converting just 18 priority categories using 30 standardised packaging types. Product categories with the highest cost saving potential are bath and shower products; beers, wines and spirits; biscuits and sweet snacks; cereals and breakfast foods; and coffee (beans and ground).
To achieve the 30% ambition, GoUnpackaged said the UK needs to develop transportation logistics and sortation, washing and filling infrastructure – with commercially-driven owners across the whole value chain – none of which currently exists at the necessary scale. Reuse systems must also run as close to cost parity as possible to single-use systems to avoid increasing the cost burden on citizens.
Despite numerous trials within the retail and out of home sectors, reusable systems have struggled to gain significant market penetration leading to calls for greater investment and a more supportive policy environment.
