Reuse Rising: Going Back to the Roots of a Circular Future
By GlobalDRSPlatform
Across the world, reuse systems are gaining momentum. From refillable bottles to city-wide reusable cup schemes, communities, businesses, and policymakers are rediscovering the power of returning to what was once second nature: using things more than once.
Why Reuse Matters Today
The climate crisis, resource scarcity, and plastic pollution demand urgent solutions. Recycling alone cannot solve the problem — in fact, the best way to reduce waste is to never create it in the first place. That’s where reuse comes in. By keeping products in circulation longer, we cut emissions, save resources, and create new opportunities for innovation and inclusion.
“While reuse can take many forms — from repairing electronics to sharing tools — one of the most impactful areas today is packaging. Food and beverage containers make up a large share of single-use waste, but they are also some of the easiest products to design for return, washing, and reuse. Around the world, innovators are reimagining packaging systems to bring reuse back into everyday life.”
Back to the Roots
Reuse is not new. For decades, glass bottles were washed, refilled, and returned as part of daily life. Somewhere along the way, convenience and single-use packaging took over. Now, with growing awareness and supportive policies, societies are looking back at these roots — and forward to modern, scalable reuse systems.
Inspiring Reuse Projects Around the World
Argentina – La Quémisterie
La Quémisterie focuses on refilling household and hygiene products. It offers consumers a simple way to reduce packaging while keeping high-quality, locally made goods accessible.
Argentina, Chile, Uruguay & Bolivia – Qero Ecovasos
Qero Ecovasos provides a full reuse system for festivals and events. They supply reusable cups, manage deposits or guarantees, organize collection points, and run washing and redistribution logistics. At large festivals like Cosquín Rock, tens of thousands of reusable cups have replaced disposables. Their model has already expanded across four countries, showing how entrepreneurial initiatives can scale beyond national borders.
Argentina, Uruguay & Paraguay – Agua Local
Agua Local provides restaurants, hotels, and offices with water purifying and gasifying machines, eliminating the need for bottled water. By addressing issues with public water (such as chlorine taste or poor drinkability), it enables businesses to serve safe, high-quality water in reusable glass bottles.
Chile – Algramo
Algramo uses smart vending machines and RFID-enabled containers for staples like rice, oil, and detergents. Since 2020, it has enabled the reuse of over 900,000 packages, saving thousands of kilos of plastic waste.
Colombia – Bavaria’s Returnable Bottles
In Colombia, Bavaria (AB InBev) is expanding returnable bottles for beer and water, proving that reuse can work at scale in mainstream consumer markets.
Denmark – Reuseable.dk
Reuseable.dk provides practical solutions for foodservice businesses, offering reusable packaging that customers can return at participating points. It shows how local ecosystems can work together to replace single-use.
Germany – Einfach Mehrweg
Einfach Mehrweg drives the adoption of reusable takeaway packaging, showing how national initiatives can build consumer confidence and retail participation.
Germany – Mehrweg Verband
Mehrweg Verband supports the expansion of refillable packaging across Germany, from beverage bottles to food containers, building on the country’s long tradition of reuse.
Indonesia – Allas
Through Enviu’s Zero Waste Living Lab, Allas provides a returnable packaging service for food delivery. After use, the durable containers are collected, washed, and recirculated among restaurants — embedding reuse directly into urban food delivery culture.
Philippines – Kuha sa Tingi
In San Juan City, the Kuha sa Tingi program sets up refill stations in neighborhood sari-sari stores. Customers bring their own containers to refill everyday products at lower cost than disposable-packaged alternatives. The model has expanded across Metro Manila with support from groups such as Greenpeace Philippines.
Portugal – Lisbon’s City-Wide Cup System
In 2025, Lisbon became the first European capital with a city-wide reusable cup scheme, covering festivals, cafés, and public events. A milestone for urban reuse, and a model for other cities worldwide.
What We Can Learn
These initiatives show that reuse is:
- Systemic – success depends on coordinated infrastructure (collection, washing, redistribution), incentives (deposits, cash-backs, or lower refill prices), behavior change, and policy support.
- Scalable – from neighborhood refill shops to entire cities.
- Inclusive – engaging businesses, consumers, and sometimes informal workers.
- Innovative – combining traditional practices with modern logistics, apps, and digital tracking.
- Economically beneficial – reuse can allow producers to stabilize supply chains, reduce long-term packaging costs, and avoid dependence on volatile international markets. It also strengthens brand reputation and builds customer loyalty.
Above all, they remind us that reuse is not just about containers — it’s about redesigning entire systems to make circular consumption the easiest and most affordable option.
Reuse and Deposit Return Systems: A Necessary Link
Deposit Return Systems (DRS) have proven to be one of the most effective tools for collecting high-quality materials and ensuring they return into the loop. But their potential goes beyond recycling. When combined with reuse models, DRS can:
- Incentivize consumers to return reusable packaging.
- Provide the logistics backbone for washing, refilling, and redistribution.
- Drive cultural change by normalizing return-and-reuse behavior.
At the Global DRS Platform we believe Deposit Return Systems (DRS) can provide the backbone for scaling reuse — making return-and-reuse the norm, not the exception. Recycling gives resources another chance, but reuse allows them to live many lives. Combined under the same system, they turn the idea of a circular economy into reality.