Convened in 2020 by GoUnpackaged, The Refill Coalition brought together Aldi, Ocado Retail and CHEP to trial two innovative reusable packaging solutions in order to reduce the 90 billion units of single-use plastics sold annually by UK grocers.
The Refill Coalition’s award winning solutions are viewed by many UK retailers and brands as the next generation models for reuse and refill and now the Coalition is sharing its extensive learnings with industry through an Industry Webinar and accompanying White Paper and independent Life Cycle Assessment (LCA).
The Refill Coalition project successfully demonstrated that these circular concepts can excite and engage shoppers - demonstrated with maximum sales shares on a given week of 57% for in-store and 43% for online - while meaningfully reducing packaging waste and carbon footprint, without disrupting operations. The trials proved out a range of commercial, operational, customer and environmental KPIs which the Coalition is excited to share with industry to move the reuse sector forwards.
For an exclusive early view of the trial results, LCA and key learnings, join the industry webinar on Wednesday 30th April at 12pm (GMT). There are limited places for attendees, to register please click here.
There will be a panel discussion with the Refill Coalition partners: Ocado Retail, Aldi, CHEP and GoUnpackaged, and also joining the panel will be independent specialists Eunomia Research and Consulting who conducted the independent LCA.
Webinar attendees will get early access to the White Paper and full LCA report which will be published following the webinar.
GoUnpackaged released this joint statement “We are delighted to share the detailed results of our trial with key industry stakeholders, both in the UK and abroad, through this webinar, White Paper & LCA. We firmly believe that all reuse trials should be open and honest about successes and challenges so that the whole sector can move forwards.”
Simon Hann, Eunomia’s LCA lead said “Having conducted and reviewed numerous reuse Life Cycle Assessments (LCAs) over the years, we recognise the complexities of capturing their uncertainties within LCA frameworks. It has been a privilege to support the Refill Coalition in advancing knowledge in this space and to provide independent validation for a highly promising reuse and refill system. The decision to publish this study in its entirety should be applauded for its transparency, fostering trust and knowledge sharing to support others in developing and refining sustainable packaging solutions.”