Key lessons from a global conversation on reuse and deposit return systems
On the 3rd of December, the Global DRS Platform hosted a webinar on reuse and returnable packaging, bringing together voices from different countries and sectors. We heard from practitioners working on refill systems and product innovation, policy and advocacy experts, community led initiatives in rural and tourism contexts, and system level thinkers focused on scaling reuse in major cities.
What made the conversation especially valuable was not the diversity of examples alone, but the convergence around shared insights. Despite very different contexts, the same challenges kept resurfacing. Reuse is no longer an abstract ambition, but a practical necessity if we want to reduce packaging waste, keep materials in circulation, and prevent leakage into nature. Across regions and experiences, remarkably similar questions emerged around design, incentives, infrastructure and scale.
Key design principles for reuse
Rather than a collection of isolated projects, the discussion consistently pointed toward a small set of structural principles that determine whether reuse systems succeed or fail.
User experience is foundational. Reuse succeeds or collapses at the moment a person is asked to refill or return something. If that experience feels confusing, inconvenient or unreliable, participation fades quickly. Reuse cannot rely on goodwill. It must be intuitive, fast and trustworthy in daily life.
Deposits keep systems alive. Packaging only stays in the loop when it clearly carries value. Deposits transform that value into a visible and practical incentive, stabilising return rates and making reverse logistics viable over time. Without them, even well designed reuse systems struggle to hold together.
Convenience outweighs intention. Reuse is tested not in attitudes but in routines. Systems succeed when they fit how people already live, shop and move. Simplicity, proximity and low tech solutions often matter more than sophisticated infrastructure.
Systems matter more than products. What consumers see is only the front end. Reuse depends on the invisible back end of logistics, washing, coordination and shared infrastructure. Without that backbone, reuse remains fragile and difficult to scale.
Avoid false solutions. Replacing one disposable material with another creates the appearance of progress without changing the underlying system. Reuse requires structural change, not cosmetic substitution.
Context cannot be copied. Reuse principles can travel. Systems cannot. Policies and models that ignore local conditions, costs and social realities almost always fail. Ambition must be matched with contextual design.
Personal reflection and conclusion
What stayed with me after the webinar is both the scale of the opportunity and the clarity of what is required to move forward. There is already extensive global knowledge about returnable systems, deposits and reuse. We do not need to reinvent the wheel. What we do need is to listen carefully, understand what has worked, and adapt those lessons to local social, economic and logistical realities.
At the same time, the discussion made it clear that reuse cannot be framed only as an environmental solution. For reuse systems to be viable and fair, they must also work socially and economically. They need to make sense for households, for small and medium sized businesses, for operators and investors, but also for the people who are already part of today’s waste and resource systems.
Several speakers highlighted the importance of inclusion and co-design. This opens an essential conversation that deserves far more attention going forward: how reuse and deposit systems interact with existing informal and formal waste workers, including waste pickers. How new systems can create opportunity rather than displacement. How value, work and responsibility are redistributed when materials no longer become waste, but assets that circulate.
These questions are not secondary. They sit at the heart of whether reuse systems will be accepted, scaled and sustained. If we want to truly close the loop, reuse must be designed as a system people can live with, businesses can invest in, communities can shape, and workers can be part of. The knowledge is already there. The task now is to keep connecting it and turning it into action.