Every year, thousands of tons of packaging end up in landfill, fueling a cycle of unsustainable waste. This challenge has pushed the European Union to intervene with a new regulation on packaging, aiming to drastically reduce waste production and promote a circular economy. The objective of the regulation is to mitigate the environmental impact deriving from packaging, promoting the adoption of more eco-sustainable practices and guaranteeing higher standards in waste management.
With this context behind it, the "REUSABLE PACKAGING REVOLUTION" project, presented by Mercato Circolare srl, the University of Turin and Aarhus University, and supported by the Municipality of Turin, attempts to radically transform the way we conceive and use food packaging, pushing consumers towards more sustainable and responsible solutions.
The project, created in collaboration between Around and Crai and financed by the EIT FOOD – POC (Proof of Concept) 2023-2025 call, aims to reduce the use of disposable plastic in packaging through initiatives involving large-scale retail trade (GDO) and different segments of the population, promoting a change in practices and behaviors towards a more sustainable and environmentally friendly style of selling, management and living.
There are already three Turin stores that have started testing (a trial that will continue until June) two strategies to reduce plastic packaging: the use of reusable Around containers and the use of containers brought from home by customers.
In the stores, customers can purchase fresh products from the delicatessen and butcher counters, asking to be served in Around's reusable containers.
But how does the Around reusable container system work?
Customers must first register for free on the Aroundrs app. Once this is done, they will be able to request at the point of sale that their purchases be packaged in Around containers, at no additional cost. After having consumed the meal, customers will have to return the containers within 7 days to the same point of sale. The containers, reusable up to 200 times, will finally be sanitized and made available again.
The main objective of this initiative, beyond the reduction of single-use plastic, is to encourage a change of mentality, both of traders and consumers, with the hope that practices of this kind will be adopted in more and more points of sale.
This project also involves careful monitoring through the use of a QR code and the Aroundrs app: every purchase made through reusable containers (Around or containers brought from home) will be tracked and recorded, allowing precise data collection. The data collected will then be analyzed by Mercato Circolare, the University of Turin and Around. These analyzes will allow a broader understanding of the impact that the initiative will have both in terms of numbers and consumer perception and behavior.
A collective and coordinated approach, involving both the public and private sectors, is vital to the success of a project of this magnitude.
Particularly relevant is the multifunctional role of the university, not limited to the provision of technical and scientific skills, but extended to the education of future generations of professionals in the field of sustainability, and the maximization of impacts through collaboration with external partners.
The project aims to promote recycling and recovery, introducing an innovative concept of sustainable consumption. This objective requires intervention on multiple fronts, involving, as underlined several times, consumers, private companies and public bodies.
For further information
Turin: experiments to reduce waste begin in 3 supermarkets (torinonews24.it)
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The new Packaging Regulation has been approved (beataladifferenziata.it)