Empack 2024 live: Planet Reuse expert highlights rise in European refillable packaging

10 Apr 2024 --- Reusable packaging is gaining momentum across the EU, according to Marcel Keuenhof, sustainable packaging expert at Planet Reuse. At Empack 2024 in Gorinchem, the Netherlands, April 9–11, Planet Reuse is presenting its European non-profit platform, aiming to bring the reuse industry together. 

Planet Reuse focuses on knowledge exchange, showcasing reuse solutions and presenting a platform where solutions providers and those interested in reuse solutions can interact. 

“The aim is to organize ourselves on a European level and speed up the transition from single-use to reuse packaging,” Keuenhof tells Packaging Insights on the show floor. 

PPWR: A reuse success?
Keuenhof says that the first draft of the Packaging and Packaging Waste Regulation (PPWR) looked “very hopeful.” 

Keuenhof highlights increasing innovation for reusable wine and beer bottles.He stresses that the original draft was ambitious for reuse. “Several sectors had ambitious and high targets for reuse up to a front that I as a packaging expert was not even sure would be feasible in such a short term.”

“But I’d rather have ambitious goals that tend to find a compromise in between — and that is what has happened. We’ve seen some sectors taken out, perhaps the ambition is a bit more realistic,” says Keuenhof.

“Myself and Planet Reuse are happy that reuse really is high on the agenda. We have certain ambitious goals for reusable packaging. And this is just a starting point. Once we start moving there, we will only gain momentum.”

Gaining European visibility 
Last year when we first spoke to Keuenhof, the Planet Reuse platform had been up and running for approximately six months. “We had a couple of hundred members, which was nice. Half of those members were reuse enthusiasts, solution providers and start-ups, and the other half were those interested in solutions, including NGOs and academics. Now we’ve seen quite a growth.”

Keuenhof says that the platform has gained in visibility. “We’re close to 2000 members now. And the topic [reuse] really has gained traction. I would say on the European level, different countries throughout Europe started putting legislation in place that always helps in making companies focus and look at reusable packaging,” he says.Marcel Keuenhof, sustainable packaging expert at Planet Reuse, tells us about how cooperation is fostering European packaging reuse.

“What we’ve seen happening, also on the European level, and partially through Planet Reuse, is the interest of companies — small and large — in reuse as a solution and in different countries throughout Europe where, in the past, reuse seemed to be an interest or a green movement in a number of countries in more Northwestern Europe.”

Cooperation for unification 
Planet Reuse sees renewed interest throughout other parts of Europe. “We’ve been trying to push this interest through a program that we’ve launched, called ‘Reuse Goes Further,’ which aims particularly at Central and Eastern Europe. And we’ve been setting up hubs to foster reuse communities. And that’s really taking a flight,” says Keuenhof.

He stresses that the New European Reuse Alliance filled the gap that Planet Reuse could not fill at first.

“When we kick-started Planet Reuse we saw a lack of initiative on the European level. There was no unified voice for reuse, besides perhaps, on the business to business front. So what we’ve seen happening is that Planet Reuse is the knowledge side of this movement.”

The New European Reuse Alliance aims to raise awareness on the benefits of well-run reuse systems, influencing EU and national policy cycles to shape the legal incentives, infrastructure and financing models that will accelerate the transition from single use to reuse.

“The New European Reuse Alliance is representing businesses. We’re closely collaborating with partners on this front and we really fill each other up, I would say in terms of capacities and capabilities. So that works very well,” says Keuenhof.

By Natalie Schwertheim reporting live from Empack 2024 in Gorinchem