Ambitions for a “zero waste” future are driving the development of new systems and solutions across the world, Andrea Lockerbie looks at some of the innovations that are showing a new way.
How can we generate less waste? How can we increase reuse? How can we do better by our planet?
The race is on to try to find solutions – and packaging is a prime area of focus. According to the UN Environment Programme, the packaging sector is the largest generator of single-use plastic waste in the world.
Around 36% of all plastics produced are used in packaging, including single-use plastic food and beverage containers, with 85% of this ending up in landfills or as mismanaged waste.
But innovations, like the ones below, are tackling these challenges head on. These examples show how materials are being reimagined and how technology can be used to help create new systems that connect the right partners, to help us waste less.
Initiatives like these give us a glimpse of what could be. Will they become more widespread in the future?
Seaweed rather than plastic-based packaging
Notpla – an abbreviation of “not plastic” – was officially founded by Pierre-Yves Paslier and Rodrigo Garcia Gonzalez in 2014. The pair met while studying for a masters in Innovation Design Engineering at London’s Imperial College and the Royal College of Art.
For a student project they challenged themselves to develop completely biodegradable packaging that could replace single-use plastics.
They were inspired by fruit peel – natural packaging that completely biodegrades after use but until then offers a natural container.
In an interview with the Royal College of Art, they explained: “We noticed that the material properties of seaweed allowed it to encapsulate its liquid contents in the ocean without the need for an artificial container.
“This inspired us to explore whether seaweed could be used to create packaging.”
Their exploration led to the development of a product called Ooho – an edible capsule made from seaweed that can contain water or different liquids.
These have been used in high-profile events such as the London Marathon to reduce single-use bottles and cups.
Ooho caught the attention of Just Eat Takeaway.com, who challenged Notpla to find a plastic-free solution to takeaway boxes.
This then the led to the creation of a coating for food containers made from seaweed rather than traditional plastic.
The seaweed coating is still grease and water resistant, but Notpla food containers can be recycled in standard paper streams or home-composted, offering a better solution than landfill or incineration.
Its collaboration with Just Eat Takeaway.com has facilitated distribution of its coated containers to nine European countries, while partnerships with the likes of Bidfood UK have helped get the packaging out to UK food businesses.
Notpla has also developed rigid cutlery, single dose pipette packets for oil, and paper made from a by-product of seaweed processing, while laundry sachets, bath oil sachets and dry food sachets are in the pipeline.
The business has won several awards including one of Prince William’s high-profile Earthshot prizes of £1 million at the end of 2022.
The following year, Notpla’s food packaging coating was recognised as being the only application on the market that met the Dutch government’s definition of plastic-free under EU Single Use Plastic Directive standards. This led to a partnership with Conpax to enter the Benelux region.
And in 2024, it received a further vote of confidence when it secured an additional £20 million of investment – more than double its initial target. This will be used to scale up manufacturing, broaden the product range, and establish new markets such as North America.
Notpla says the funding will help it achieve its ambition to replace over 100 million single-use plastics per year within the next two years.
Prince William is a supporter. He says: “Notpla presents a wonderful vision of what scaling really looks like, and that gives us all hope, inspiration and optimism.”
Designing out multi-materials in drinks cartons
Around 250 billion beverage cartons are used each year, worldwide. But they are made using layers of different material – paperboard, polymers, and sometimes aluminium.
This lamination keeps the liquids inside fresh but makes the cartons difficult to recycle, with only a limited number of facilities that can separate the materials, which are then typically downcycled.
To address this problem, Zotefoams has developed an innovative packaging material for drinks cartons called ReZorce. This is made from a single material – a foamed HDPE – enabling it to be easily recycled in existing systems.
It incorporates recycled content, and it offers the same practical and protective properties as standard cartons.
Biffa has been collaborating with Zotefoams by advising on the design for optimised recyclability and circularity as well as providing the recycled HDPE content required to manufacture this packaging.
Amy Hooper, Biffa innovation manager, tells Circular: “ReZorce offers a wonderful opportunity to overcome traditionally hard to recycle, multi-layered packaging materials which are often used for products such as alternative milk.
“In contrast, HDPE is a material that is currently used in a closed loop system for many dairy milk products, and we are continuing to collaborate with Zotefoams on the great potential to move ReZorce into the same circular system.”
An independent life-cycle analysis has indicated that ReZorce cartons use 53% less energy and 51% less water to produce, fill, and transport, compared to commonly used cartons.
They also have 55% lower global warming potential if recycled. The ReZorce team has also partnered with R-Cycle on product passports to enable the cartons to be identified as HDPE.
ReZorce’s commercial launch took place in Amsterdam in May, and it is working with drinks producer Refresco to trial the new cartons with a major European retailer.
It has already won awards including the 2024 Reuters Sustainability Awards, 2024 German Packaging Prize and 2023 Plastic Industry Awards.
Digital system for reusable takeaway containers
Vytal, founded in Germany in 2019, is a digital open system of reusable packaging for takeout and delivery food – aimed at reducing single-use packaging waste.
How does it work? Food outlets are provided with reusable food packaging that is individually traceable with a QR code and/or an RFID tag. The containers are durable, microwaveable, dishwasher safe and leak-proof.
Consumers download the Vytal app and register, including payment details for security. There’s no charge for the consumer to borrow the containers, unless they are not returned within the free 14-day period. They also have the option to extend their borrowing period for a small fee.
The food outlets pay a fee per container used, which is around the same price as the disposable equivalent.
When a container goes out, the outlet scans its QR code, as well as the user’s QR code from their app. When the consumer is ready to return the container, they can find out where their nearest outlet is via the app.
Most users return their containers with five days, when they are scanned back into the system. The containers go through a professional wash, usually by the food outlets, before they are reused.
After just 10 uses the environmental footprint of the containers is lower than disposable packaging but they can be used up to 200 times.
Made of polypropylene, they are also recyclable when they reach end of life. The app keeps a count for customers of how many items of packaging have been reused.
According to Vytal, it achieves a return rate of over 99%. It has over 700,000 app users and works with over 7,000 partners in 17 countries around the world, including Norway and Mexico. A container could be borrowed in one country and returned in another.
Last summer, Vytal managed to secure a further €6.2 million investment to help it expand into new markets, such as the event and entertainment industry, and to further develop its software and data-driven offerings.
On securing the investment, Dr. Josephine Kreische, Managing Director of Vytal Global said: “Unmanned checkout and return handling as well as transparent data collection and automated processes along the circular value chain are key to completely eliminating single-use packaging from the life of our B2B customers and end consumers.
“We foresee a future in which reuse is the default food and drink packaging on campuses, inside the Quick Service Restaurant industry, and across the event and entertainment industry.”
On-street return machines for reusable food and drink containers
After discovering that almost half its waste was takeaway packaging, the municipality of Aarhus in Denmark started looking for a solution.
In January 2024, it launched a new trial, in partnership with Tomra, believed to be a world first.
The new Rotake reusable packaging system allows customers to buy a takeaway drink from any number of outlets in the city and pay a DKK 5 deposit for each reusable cup.
When they have finished with their cup, they can return it to one of the city’s return machines 24/7 by simply tapping their debit/credit card, Apple/Google watch or phone to receive the deposit back.
If consumers can’t find a machine nearby, they can scan the QR code on the cup, to find a map with the machine locations.
The trial cups are serialised so that each cup can be tracked. Cups can be reused hundreds of times but become more environmentally friendly than a disposable cup after six uses.
Tomra manages everything concerning the operation of the system. Cups are collected from the machines using an electric vehicle, then taken to a “sanitisation hub” where they are professionally washed and inspected, before being delivered back to the food and drink outlets, who simply re-order stock online.
Feedback on the trial is positive from both the food and drink outlets and consumers, who describe it as easy and convenient.
In an interview with the Norwegian Retailers’ Environment Fund, which partly funded the project, Simon Rossau, project manager for Circular Packaging Systems in Aarhus Municipality said: “On an international scale this pilot has huge potential.
“We [are talking] with cities such as New York, Los Angeles and Tokyo. Just take into consideration that Tokyo has 40,000 coffee shops while in Aarhus we have around 100.
“So, there is so much potential in doing this both in Denmark, Scandinavia and Europe but also globally.”
Rossau told Circular Online that as of the end of October, 625,000 cups had been returned as part of the trial.
The return rate is rising steadily and is now at 88%. So far, the “best” cup has been reused 32 times. Since starting the trial, plastic packaging sent to incineration by the city has fallen by 10 tonnes.
From next year, the intention is to also integrate food-packaging containers into the system. This is certainly a trial to keep an eye on.
Reusable packaging solution for in-store and online supermarkets
The Refill Coalition in the UK is testing a standardised solution to deliver refills at scale for both in-store and online.
Its in-store refill stations, on trial with Aldi in Solihull and Leamington Spa, are stocked using pre-filled reusable vessels that are both the primary and secondary packaging – they form part of the equipment to dispense the products in-store.
Each HDPE vessel replaces 24 single-use packs. They are designed for a minimum of 60-80 cycles and to be easy to wash and fill, with flat bases and wide apertures, as well as optimised for use with roll cages and pallets. Store refills are reaching around 30% sales share of packaged equivalents.
For online deliveries, reusable vessels are being trialled with Ocado for basmati rice, penne pasta, laundry detergent and fabric conditioner.
Products in the reusable containers are delivered with the shopping order and customers return the empty container, which is RFID-tagged, to their next delivery driver.
Each HDPE refill container replaces up to five single-use plastic items and is designed to be used over 60 times. Returned containers are hygienically washed, refilled, and then used again.
Ocado has received strong online customer ratings and reviews for the rice and pasta refills which were launched first.
Figures are similar to in-store, with the reuse products reaching nearly 30% sales share of equivalent single-use products.
