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Back in 2016 Ellen MacArthur Foundation and World Economic Forum worked to develop the New Plastic Economy^[1] as a framework to reduce plastic use. In 2018, and to great fanfare, Ellen MacArthur Foundation promoted the New Plastic Economy, with WRAP promoting its Plastic Pacts ‘enabled by the New Plastics Economy’^[2], and companies signed on.

Countries and companies that together represent over 20% of global plastic use committed to plastic use abatement measures with a 2025 deadline.

Signatories agreed to a range of targets:

Signatory companies have been working to meet these targets and each year publish performance data.

But instead of falling, plastic use is rising, so what’s gone wrong?

In our view, this outcome was inevitable because the framework is flawed.

The key issue is that the global commitments have no reductions or even limits on overall plastic use. The only commitment that could feasibly reduce plastic usage is the goal that by 2025 ‘100% of plastic packaging is reusable, recyclable, or compostable’. (Making packaging recyclable or compostable wouldn’t reduce plastic use but making it reusable would.)

By including these three strategies as options, Ellen MacArthur Foundation/WRAP let signatories choose the easiest, regardless of which best lowers plastic use. And you guessed it, the easy one, making plastic ‘recyclable’, doesn’t lower plastic use at all!

Excellent!

Selecting ‘recyclability’ as a key metric has distracted and delayed efforts to address plastic waste from packaging.

This should not be a surprise. We predicted a poor outcome in a 2019 article on LinkedIn, in 2020 published analysis showing how plastic use wasn’t falling and in a separate 2020 report predicted companies wouldn’t meet their targets.

It’s been clear for a while now that signatory companies wouldn’t reduce plastic use, or even meet the global commitments. Ellen MacArthur Foundation now agrees that plastic use continues to rise and that ‘most signatories will almost certainly miss the 2025 target of 100% reusable, recyclable, or compostable plastic packaging’.

[1] https://www3.weforum.org/docs/WEF_The_New_Plastics_Economy.pdf

[2] https://wrap.org.uk/taking-action/plastic-packaging/initiatives/the-uk-plastics-pact

These last few weeks we’ve finally launched our refill-reuse pilot at select kirana stores in and around Aurangabad.

We faced numerous uncertainties – would stores cooperate? Would women even want to try an unknown shampoo brand? If they tried, would they come back for refills, and do so reliably?

The only way to find out was to launch and see what happens

That's just what we've done, launching first at one kirana store, then another and rolling forwards until we also launched to serve an entire village

Data is still coming in and we’ll add later posts about this and other findings, but the long and short of it is that it works!

Women quickly get the concept of refill and reuse. They think it's a good idea and are proud to use their bottles. Kirana stores, while sometimes hesitant, get on board and are prepared to put in the effort to make it work. Women are starting to show some loyalty, and some have refilled a handful of times already. A promising start

We’ll add more details in the New Year, but for now, here’s a selection of photos from recent launches…

Plastic waste is a problem here in the UK but it's a far bigger problem in many Asian countries where product is often sold in small plastic sachets that can't be recycled. Instead, these sachets commonly get washed away and escape to waterways and are a primary contributor to ocean microplastic. And along the way they clog drains and cause flooding, creating unsanitary conditions.

For about a year we've been working with a NGO and partner in India on a refill-reuse idea for low-income consumers. Much of the work requires developing a system to enable a reuse system, but a large component centres on consumer outreach and education.

10% of every penny you spend on this site goes to support this project and we thank you for your help!

Read more about this project at our sister site called Beat The Sachet.

In case you've ever wondered, clearing up old plastic waste from a riverbed is a really shit job.

Not that it isn't important. It's necessary, and about the only way to get heavily polluted rivers back to health. Never fully remediated and pristine, because this stuff endures decades and centuries, but functional and healthier.

But actually doing the work is no picnic. It’s slow, continually bending over or crouching down to pull plastic from the soil to put the waste into a large (plastic) sack. And it can smell really bad too.

Our local partner in Aurangabad, EcoSattva, organises clean-ups as part of its wider environmental work. We were lucky enough to join one cleaning up the Kham River. We joined a range of volunteers early on a Sunday morning. EcoSattva does a great job of making it fun with a local band playing afterwards with food and refreshments too.

Here are some images…

Riyō is a range of sophisticated natural and organic beauty products.

Hand wash, hand moisturiser and body lotion come in beautiful amber glass bottles; shower products (body wash, shampoo and conditioner) in matte black stainless steel, all with elegant matte black stainless steel push pumps.

Specially developed here in the UK with botanically driven formulations, Riyō uses only the finest natural and organic ingredients, all without animal testing.

By selecting quality natural ingredients, botanical extracts and essential oil blends, Riyō products avoid the synthetic and cheaper ingredients common to most personal care and beauty products

Riyō is named after the Japanese for reuse, Sai Riyō (再利用), and like all products sold on RefillwithLESS, we provide a bulk container from which you can do your own refills to save money and prevent plastic waste.

Read more about Riyō products as well as see the full range.

Colours and look & feel are critical for a brand, and we wanted to test ideas with our target market.

We prepared various options to convey different ideas and put them out to test. Here's a sample…

No clear winner emerged, but findings did support earlier consumer research that found a strong image of a woman with long, healthy hair is a major positive. We learned too that using Marathi with some supporting English would be a good combination – Marathi would set us apart and play well with the consumers while the English would provide a hint of sophistication.

More controversial was the colour. We had our logo, but how should we represent it? We settled on three options…

For a long while red was the front runner and seen as a positive option by some because it would be a distinctive colour for shampoo. But it reminded me too much of RID and other anti-lice treatments, so I was relieved when green drew level and we caste a deciding vote

After days of silence and no tracking updates, I suddenly got a call saying our parcel was out for delivery and about to arrive in 10 minutes. A customs fee was due, but at least it was here.

It looked tattered and battered, but everything inside was fine.

Hallelujah!

Our refill solution relies on equipment we purchased (or had donated) in the UK. Nothing especially high tech, but essential all the same. Since it was too much to take on the plane, I sent it by Parcelforce. It was the first international package I had sent to India, and I was a little uncertain I got the customs declarations right. But it seemed to go off OK and, fingers crossed, it would arrive 4-7 days later in Aurangabad.

BUT… it seems to have got stuck. It left the UK on schedule, but so far as we can tell it’s now stuck somewhere in Mumbai airport where it has spent the last 5 days with no updates since it landed. Mmmm.

Votes are in and our first product will be called माझा शॅम्पू (My Shampoo). If only I could say it! I really need to brush up on my Marathi to get the pronunciation right…

Next we need a logo. We want something that conveys quality, assurance and trust. And we want the logo to be something the consumers will be proud to have permanently in their bathrooms.

We had three options, all very different…

We liaised with brand consultants and identity designers in the UK and America that we have worked with previously. For the most part, their preference was strongly for option two or three. They felt these were more modern and vibrant but also carried the required sense of quality and assurance we wanted. We agreed.

But it was not their choice. And neither did we think it was ours. When we showed the options to the women who might be buying this product, they didn’t agree.

We sampled women at various locations and here is a record from a waste recycling facility in Aurangabad where some of the women work …

The hands down winner, with well over 50% of votes was option one, so that's what we're running with…