Nairobi, Kenya | INC-3

13 – 19 November 2023

Packaging Reuse in the International Legally Binding Instrument Zero Draft

RECOMMENDATIONS BY PR3, THE GLOBAL ALLIANCE TO ADVANCE REUSE:

1.    Include Standards for reuse to ensure environmental performance, accessibility, equity, and interoperability.

2.    Ensure that any Treaty finance mechanism adheres to the waste hierarchy and standardized reuse.

PR3, The Global Alliance to Advance Reuse, welcomes the recognition in the Zero Draft Text of reuse’s crucial role in achieving “the long-term elimination of plastic pollution.”  According to the Heinrich Boëll Foundation (2019)[1] about 1/3 of global plastic production is used for packaging and results in about 40% of global plastic waste.  Returnable packaging can eliminate more plastic waste than any other intervention, while also significantly reducing carbon emissions and system costs.  Among many reuse opportunities, returnable packaging should be the highest priority.

Reuse requires a system.  Scaling reuse in the industrialized world will require immense effort, shared infrastructure, and most importantly, standards.  A standardized system can improve efficiency, convenience, and affordability, and would work for most packaged goods and food and beverage-to-go. Standards make neighborhood systems compatible with their regions, their countries, and the global supply chains that we depend on. Standards can also ensure that environmental and social performance criteria are met.

PR3, The Global Alliance to Advance Reuse, has drafted reusable packaging system standards with input over five years from extraordinarily diverse stakeholders and with the full integration of accessibility, equity and environmental performance. These are the only reuse system standards being developed in the world and follow all the essential requirements of the International Organization for Standardization (ISO).

PR3’s has a diverse and balanced panel of experts participating in the standards development, including organizations listed below.

Multinationals: Ahold Delhaize, American Beverage Association, Anchor Packaging, Closed Loop Partners (representing Starbucks, McDonald’s, The Coca-Cola Company), Mars, Nestle, Orora Packaging, Target, The Clorox Company, Tomra, Unilever, WSP

Small and medium sized businesses: Algramo, Arrrise, Bold Reuse, Cambium, Dispatch Goods, Echo Systems, Friendlier, Hello!Bulk Markets, Huskee, INDEED Innovation, LimeLoop, TerraCycle/Loop, Muuse, New European Reuse Association, Oregon Beverage Recycling Cooperative, Ozarka, Packt, r.World, Re:Dish, Reusables.com, Revino, Revolusation, Sharewares, Siklus

Environmental and social justice advocates: Break Free from Plastic, The Descendants Project, ECOS, Greenpeace, KIDV, Oceana, Ocean Plastic Leadership Network, Perpetual, Plastic Free Future, Story of Stuff, Surfrider Foundation, Upstream, Zero Waste Europe, Zero Waste Hawai’i Island, Zero Waste Malaysia

Environmental health experts: Center for Environmental Health, Consumer Reports, Eunomia, Food Packaging Forum, Safer States

Governments and institutions: Canadian Standards Association, City of San Francisco, City of Seattle, Netherlands Institute of Sustainable Packaging, United States Department of Agriculture,

Labor groups: Alliance of Mission Based Recyclers, For Love of Mother Earth, Orbit Reuse

BACKGROUND

Before plastic, reuse was the norm and remains so in many places. Returnable packaging systems already exist, while new systems are also emerging. In returnable packaging systems, durable cups, bottles, bowls, and other containers are returned to collection points after use and then transported for washing and redistribution to cafes/restaurants, consumer goods manufacturers, or retailers. This cycle is repeated dozens of times, moving the packaging through washing and logistics.

 

PR3 RECOMMENDATIONS

1.    Include standards for reuse to ensure environmental performance, accessibility, equity, and interoperability.

The Instrument must recognize the vital role of international standards in the implementation of reuse systems, most especially for industrialized and multinational products. Standards provide a common foundation for investment in new systems and infrastructure, as well as common accounting methodologies and assessment tools. Standards can easily be referenced in national legislation and often are. They are already widely used by both the private and public sectors.

We recommend reuse standards that provide the following essential elements:

-        Definitions for reusable, returnable packaging, and system components

-        Design criteria for returnable packaging systems to ensure new systems are built according to best practices for safety and environmental performance

-        Performance criteria, including minimum return rates, durability, and use-cycle requirements, to ensure environmental performance

-        Methodologies for calculating performance and impacts

-        Platform and timeline for revisions and updates

-        Foundation for conformity assessment bodies

Historically, standards processes have been dominated by industry stakeholders and criticized for not being inclusive or accessible to the range of stakeholders that are directly impacted by them. The Instrument must require that standards development and maintenance follow an equitable process that balances public and private participation.

Standards must be included in the Instrument as the foundation for new reuse systems in order to achieve maximum benefits for people, planet and prosperity.

 

2.    Ensure that any Treaty finance mechanism adheres to the waste hierarchy and standardized reuse.

In its introduction of Possible Core Obligation 7, the Secretariat noted:

“Reuse schemes…have the potential to decrease life cycle greenhouse gas emissions by 60 - 80% compared to emissions of single-use plastic products. It is also estimated that new reuse schemes and delivery models could create 1.4 million jobs globally by 2040.”[1]

The waste hierarchy is very clear.  Any funding resulting from the Instrument must prioritize the development of new reuse infrastructure over single-use waste recovery infrastructure. New reuse infrastructure should also accommodate end-of-life for single-use waste recovery such as recycling. These new systems must be developed with accessibility to economically and socially diverse communities. Standards that lead to interoperability and scalability should be required for all funded projects.

Economic development, capacity building, technology transfer, and standards implementation should be included in all funded projects as well, with particular focus on fenceline communities, SIDS and LDC.


CONTACT

Amy Larkin

PR3 Founder & Director

Email: alarkin@naturemeansbusiness.com

Phone: (+1) 646 522 0291

Claudette Juska

PR3 Co-Founder & Technical Director

Email: cjuska@resolv-advisor.org

Phone: (+1) 248 467 9532