Reuse: Not Just a Smart Decision, A Smart System
How the digital intelligence driving reuse systems is propelling a scaled reuse economy
Part II in our series on reuse technology
It’s undeniable that reuse is the smart way to go. Reuse systems suppress material extraction, keep resources circulating locally, slow global climate change, create jobs and increase community wealth — and so much more.
One major element of the reuse system underpins just what makes it a smart decision: smart packaging.
Smart packaging is what ensures the circularity that defines a reuse system. A digital throughline runs between the packaging and every step of its journey from point of sale, to consumer, to return depot, to wash hub, and back again — allowing for efficiency and ever more potential for scale.
While an overarching digital infrastructure allows operators to track reusable packaging throughout the system, each stop in the journey provides an opportunity for another layer of intelligence that keeps the circle tight and flowing smoothly. This second installment of a two part series examining the role of technology in reuse systems takes a closer look at each of these opportunities.
“Your assets are begging to tell you a story, but are you actually listening to it?”
POS Integration
When it comes to encouraging consumers to embrace reuse, the mantra is, “make it easy, make it convenient.” Much of the technology being integrated into reuse systems right now is expressly intended to create a frictionless experience for customers and operators alike. Of course, the two key points of contact for a consumer are when they purchase their food and/or beverage, and when they finish it and need to get rid of the packaging.
Enter the POS, or point-of-sale — in old-fashioned terms, the cash register. Given that these days, the cash register is almost always a computer or iPad, it’s the prime place to initiate a digital connection between the consumer and their packaging that will ensure an easy check-out and high return rate.
Many reuse companies identified early on that the POS posed a potential bump in the road — and therefore, an opportunity for technological improvement — in a reusable container’s circular journey. Savvy solutions, therefore, abound.
Check-out 101
The basic options for checking out a reusable container include a “sign up to reuse” system or a “seamless checkout / tap to reuse” system.
In a sign-up system, customers sign up for the reuse system via an app — either web-based or downloadable — at checkout. Most “sign up to reuse“ options require scanning the container’s QR code or RFID chip to check it out. “Seamless checkout” can be integrated with payment processing platforms (like Stripe) and allows customers to check out a container when they use their credit card to pay, either as part of the same ‘tap‘ or with an additional tap. Global reuse provider Vytal offers a classic example.
Both methods have their pros and cons. The sign-up system slows down the checkout process and relies on a solid internet connection and phone-savvy customers. That said, checking out connects customers to an app, which then serves as an ongoing point of engagement — like serving up reminders to return containers.
The “seamless checkout” system is, well, more seamless. It also relies on customers paying by credit card, and the process can be so seamless that customers may not realize what they are signing up for (e.g., that a deposit is being held on their card or that they may be charged for not returning a container).
Checkout and Return in the Wild
For large venues with high volumes of customers, seamless checkout just makes sense. And because we’re talking scale, Mastercard, Toast, Ubereats, and other large companies are getting involved in integration for ease of checkout and return.
In Europe, where regulation is accelerating reuse systems, Mastercard has launched partnerships with reuse service providers to allow for large-volume, frictionless checkout and returns. Blenheim Palace, a UNESCO World Heritage site in Oxfordshire, England, plus the Danish cities of Copenhagen and Frederiksberg all integrated “Mastercard Move” into their reuse systems, which are based on a deposit-return model.
Mastercard Move is an integrated digital infrastructure that enables cardholders to almost instantly get their deposit back via card or mobile wallet. Containers are returned to smart reverse-vending machines placed in convenient locations, which sense and read the RFID codes embedded in the containers. Reuse service providers re-universe in England and New Loop in Denmark forged the Mastercard partnership to help their systems scale.
Another citywide pilot program, Borrow Cup in Glasgow, Scotland, worked to bridge the gap between the potential clunky sign-up system and the advanced technology implemented at Blenheim Palace and in Denmark. Consumers scanned a QR code on the reusable cups to bring up a web-based program which did not require a sign-up or app download. The program secured a deposit up front and facilitated cup return on the back end — providing an e-voucher to participating cafes after a successful cup return. “It’s crucial we consider other ways to make reuse more accessible,” Gavin Ellis, co-founder of Hubbub, one of the organizations behind Borrow Cup, emphasized. “This pioneering shared system makes it really simple for people to choose a reusable cup at point of sale."
Reuse Service Providers Raising the Bar
While partnerships and collaborations are part of the secret sauce of scaling reuse, reuse service providers owning proprietary technology that allows them to offer turn-key solutions gives them a competitive edge and can shorten the runway to implementation.
Vancouver-based service provider Reusables created a patented system that represents the first technology to integrate reusable container tracking with existing point-of-sale and payment processing systems — without requiring deposits or storing payment information. Instead of charging consumers upfront, or saving sensitive card data separately, the system only applies a refundable charge if items aren't returned within a certain timeframe. Being “POS agnostic” eliminates a barrier for operators.
Indeed, deposit-free tracking seems to be the trend among North American reuse service providers. It makes for less consumer hesitancy up-front, and as long as some form of tracking is initiated at point-of-sale, other return incentives can still be implemented.
The Canadian open-city systems run by Muuse and Arrrise in Banff and Toronto run off such a model. “It’s similar to a library model,” project manager Kaeleigh Doherty says of the Banff Borrows program. “You can borrow a cup for free and get a coffee or get your drink and then return it at any of the participating cafes.” If you’re late returning the cup, you get charged for it.
In both cities, consumers scan a QR code to access a sign-up system and borrow a cup for up to 30 days and then return it to a participating location for washing and recirculation. While credit card info is collected up front, there’s no charge unless the container is not returned.
Reuse on Campus
Reuse is on the rise on college and university campuses, and with good reason. Not only are students and staff often concerned about sustainability, campuses are semi closed-loop systems with a high volume of diners — prime conditions for successful reuse.
The same kind of checkout and return technology can translate to campus life — but instead of a credit card, containers can be checked out and tracked with campus dining or meal debit cards. Service provider Reuzzi, for example, focuses almost exclusively on campus dining. They are “container agnostic,” applying QR code and RFID tracking, plus POS integration, to containers of the university's choosing.
Service provider USEFULL also focuses primarily on college campuses, partnering with Illumia, a card payment system for campus dining, to create a system customized for students. USEFULL’s system is designed to integrate with retail foodservice through mobile ordering, order kiosks, and POS integration.
Data Tracking and Gamification
Okay, the consumer has seamlessly checked out their reusable container — and that container is digitally connected to that consumer, whether through an app, a phone number, a credit card number, or a combination. So, now what?
“Foodware is no longer just an inert item to be used for moments and then tossed — it is a portal to connect to a community and a broader ecosystem of mutual benefit and consumer empowerment. ”
While digital tracking is feeding all sorts of useful information back to operators and stakeholders behind the scenes, the consumer-facing interface serves at least one essential function: encouraging returns. Depending on the system, consumers will receive text messages, emails, or app-based pop-ups reminding them to return their container (or risk a penalty, be it losing their deposit or paying a fee).
The opportunity beyond this essential function is boundless, however. Reuse technology companies leverage it in various ways to help make the reuse experience more fun, engaging, and educational for the user. Like many of the app-based systems, Reuzzi provides a consumer-facing metrics dashboard so that participants can see the impact they are having and feel like part of the solution. They also gamify their system, offering points, “Climate Champ” badges, and rewards to encourage participation and ongoing engagement. Without explicitly prompting returns, this gamification makes the user feel like part of a larger system that encourages their full participation by returning their container.
At a stage in the reuse movement when many are identifying consumer behavior and education as a barrier to scale, this digital connection between consumer and container offers a massive opportunity for engagement. Foodware is no longer just an inert item to be used for moments and then tossed — it is a portal to connect to a community and a broader ecosystem of mutual benefit and consumer empowerment.
Charting the Impact of Reuse Systems
The fact that digital technology allows reuse systems to measure their impact in real time is invaluable for stakeholders and operators who need to optimize their systems and ensure ROI. And the more data we amass, the more accurately we can project future impacts for new projects. This is where Chart-Reuse® comes in.
Municipalities, reuse service providers, institutions, and operators can use the platform to calculate impact projections from evidence-based data models, and track and report on real-world performance of active reuse programs — generating invaluable insights for funders, partners, leadership teams, and policymakers.
Dishwashing and Sanitization
If checkout, tracking, and gamification technology do their jobs, a reusable container will continue its recirculation journey with a customer effortlessly checking it into a return station. From there, it will be collected and transported back to a washing and sanitizing facility. And though dishwashing is as old as dishes, the treatment for today’s reusables looks nothing like ye olde dish bin and sponge.
A reuse system banks on efficiency. And that requires a seamless and highly consistent washing and sanitization stage. If reusables are left out of circulation, those are expensive assets that aren’t getting used. And on the flip side, if not enough cups are ready and waiting for fans during back-to-back games or concerts, that’s a problem, too. Not to mention ensuring containers are properly separated and sorted in the dishwasher to balance maximizing space and exposing surface area for sanitization. Enter robotics and patented sorting and stacking technology.
Re:Dish is one reuse service provider that’s poured a lot of their focus into the central role that this behind-the-scenes sorting/washing/sanitizing/drying process plays in a successful reuse system. They deploy industrial dishwashing technology involving a mix of customized machinery, patent-pending hardware, and purpose-built software that enables washing 75,000 reusable items daily on each operational line. High efficiency flight machines (e.g., conveyer-belt powered washing machines) and custom engineered semi-automated loading and unloading processes help them to process this high volume.
Designing dishwashing systems that most efficiently process reusable containers is one thing; the other way to go about it is to design containers that flow smoothly through pre-existing washing systems. CLUBZERØ developed 12 standardized food and beverage packaging types that are optimized for high-velocity washing and logistics. They are engineered for universal compatibility across washing facilities, so that as reuse systems grow and expand, these durable containers can continue to circulate.
PR3 Technology Standards
Speaking of standardization, if we are to achieve reuse at scale, interoperable reuse systems are key. And therefore, the various components of digital infrastructure undergirding these systems need to be compatible.
PR3’s Reusable Packaging System Design Standards are a suite of six standards that enable interoperability and conformance across the reusable packaging supply chain. From washing to container design, labeling, and more, they create a unified framework for reusable packaging stakeholders — including manufacturers, retailers, logistics providers and data sharing platform providers.
The Digital Standard, currently under development, addresses a significant challenge: the availability of shared data between manufacturers, retailers, reuse processors, and logistics providers. It establishes the requirements for globally unique and unambiguous identification of reusable packaging assets in use, as well as minimum requirements of product data for each asset.
The need is real. For example, as the Reuse Ottawa program works to become a permanent part of Ottawa’s infrastructure, coordinator Shannon Lavalley notes that the tech must be standardized so they can flex with a changing and growing system:
One of the other things that we've learned as systems operators is that we need technology that's really scalable and interoperable — so that we can bring in a new sanitizer or a new logistics provider, and they can access a system that allows them to feed into the container tracking… How can we make it so that we can have a variety of reuse service providers who can access the system? And can we have interoperable — I'll call them, “non-competitive” — parts of the system?
A digital standard will go a long way in allowing for this kind of open access across a system, which ultimately can lead to regional or even national interoperability.
Start Smart: Start With Tech
The reusable packaging return systems market is projected to reach a value of $209.8 billion by 2036 — driven in large part by digital logistics technologies that are allowing these systems to scale.
Scale they must. Packaging reduction laws, public concern over plastic pollution, a proliferation of successful pilots and compelling studies, a burgeoning reuse service provider industry — among other factors — are making a reuse economy ever more inevitable. And, as much as a reuse economy runs on ware-washing and container returns, at its core — it runs on technology.
Davide Mazzanti, a reuse tech entrepreneur helping European businesses and municipalities meet EU Packaging and Packaging Waste Regulation (PPWR) targets, illustrates the stakes:
“Many of the reusable systems being designed and invested in today may not achieve the scale required to meet PPWR targets if they are not built with data at their core from the start. A reusable system without digital infrastructure is not a scalable system. It is a pilot that will struggle to grow beyond its initial footprint, no matter how well-designed the containers are or how dense the return network is.”
Given how reuse service providers are proving they can keep pace with, and even lead, in the startup innovation space — plus how many real world examples of scaled reuse running on sophisticated technology already exist — the future looks bright for a reuse economy.
The Interplay of Humans and Technology in Reuse Systems
No matter how high-tech your system, and how many pop-ups and text messages you integrate to remind customers to return their containers — in the end, customers are humans and the success of the system is contingent on their human behavior.
That’s why closed-loop systems like sports and entertainment venues are great on-ramps for scaled reuse. It’s much easier to gather containers for return when there are set exit points and when a return station can be co-located next to every trash or recycling bin. Even then, back-of-house humans are an important part of the system to ensure sorting happens properly.
Once people are used to this return behavior and reuse is more normalized, it will be easier for it to exist out in the wild. Technology plays an important role in ushering reusable packaging along its circular path, but it is most successful if it operates in sync with human behavior.
Consider that consumers tossing their disposable packaging is the traditional behavior. It’s inherently a waste-centric orientation. This behavior is dictated by the pervasive existing infrastructure of two industries – trash and recycling.
This is a design issue. To shift to a reuse economy, we must redesign for the convenience of reuse – not only by establishing deposit-return and asset-tracking technology – but also by meeting the current behavior standard.
As consumers, we are used to seeing garbage cans and curbside trash collection across our cities. Co-locating return bins alongside trash allows return of reusable assets to become the norm and an everyday consumer behavior. We’re starting to see this model with companies like Cyclei — and Upstream is actively advocating for more in EPR program plans.
