PAOLO MAZZA, CEO OF MERCADO CIRCULAR.
A recent study by the Ellen MacArthur Foundation suggests that returnable packaging can offer significant environmental benefits and, once scaled up with the right approach, can compete with single-use packaging economically.
The data provided by the study on the increased opportunities to reduce plastic pollution by implementing refill systems in reusable containers is shocking, especially in the case you consider that switching to reusable packaging instead of single-use packaging could reduce the total amount of plastic dumped into the ocean annually by 20% by 2040.
However, the reuse revolution proposed by this study has already been taking place for at least six years in Chile. Specifically, it is the model of Mercado Circular, a Chilean company that develops technology to eliminate single-use plastic packaging and containers from the entire chain, through sustainable refill machines.
Along these lines, the benefits of a circular model are not only environmental. One of its greatest impacts is economic, as the adoption of reusable packaging can generate savings of up to 50% in the value of the products in relation to the market and, to a lesser degree, in the value chain, since the products leave the plant in a container, which is the one that finally deposits them in the machines at the refill points.
And so the list of opportunities and advantages that a circular model opens up for us adds and continues. The important thing is not only that companies can incorporate these models in a collaborative work with the developers of this type of technology. It is also essential that we can have professionals prepared for the transition to the long-awaited circular economy and that consumers adopt these new habits that involve recharging and reusing.
Source: País Circular