REUSE FOUNDATION

Rising summer temperatures brought an uptick in sales of drinks in single-use plastic bottles, so it’s timely that four of our stories this month relate to initiatives by Coca-Cola and PepsiCo to reduce their plastic waste problem.
 
These carry positives but a deeper closer look reveals slow progress. Coca-Cola is supporting a recycling programme in Bali, but only in twenty stores. It’s also increasing investment in refill systems in Europe, Latin America, Asia Pacific and South Africa but so far only 14% of Coca-Cola's global packaging is refillable – and volumes actually refilled are far lower. Recycled content in Pepsi's plastic packaging rose 3% to 18% in 2025, against its 2035 target of 40%.
 
Against these sustainability initiatives, large corporations and industry bodies are pushing back against additional packaging requirements. In Colorado, the National Association of Wholesaler-Distributors is challenging the Extended Producer Responsibility law following similar challenges in Oregon and California. And a recent judgment in Baltimore rejected the city's attempt to hold major beverage and plastic companies liable for plastic pollution found in Baltimore Harbor.
 
This comes with arrival of the first study to definitively demonstrate the impacts of plastic pollution at a population level in wild animals.The UK's Natural History Museum published a 15-year study linking plastic ingestion and premature death of sable shearwater chicks in the Tasman Sea.
 
The need to scale up reuse and refill solutions has never been greater, so we are delighted to share news that REUSE Foundation has secured funding from the National Lottery Community Fund to run a 12-month community hub refill pilot in Newham, East London. We aim to demonstrate the viability of refill at a community level and will keep you posted on progress.
 
And this month we launched REUSE.IQ the world’s first open dataset, tracking reuse operators, consumer goods innovators, and circular business models working to prevent plastic from ever becoming waste. We hope it’ll be a useful tool for organisations that want to know more about zero-waste business solutions. Have a look, add organisations we’ve missed and suggest corrections to improve the service.
 
See you next month![Image Credit: © maria mendiola]

A 15-year Natural History Museum study shows that plastic pollution affects wild animal survival. Tracking Lord Howe Island's sable shearwaters, researchers found consuming just 0.5g of plastic cuts juvenile “recruitment” by 12%; chicks ingesting more than 5g are likely to die at sea and never return. About one-fifth of chicks carried at least 1g of plastic. [Image Credit: © Nataliya Vaitkevich on Pexels.com]

Scientists from UC Santa Barbara, UC Berkeley and China's Tsinghua University put together a proposed reporting framework to close gaps in the draft UN Global Plastics Treaty. Current language avoids the need for countries to report production volumes, chemical additives or pollution data. This new framework would track production and trade by polymer type, additives and product lifespan, as well as waste outcomes including collection and recycling. Talks resume next March.[Image Credit: © Tom Fisk on Pexels.com]

Coca-Cola Europacific Partners Indonesia, Coca-Cola Indonesia and retailer PT Global Retailindo Pratama, which runs M Mart stores, launched a "Recycle Me" initiative, siting PET bottle drop boxes at 20 M Mart locations across Bali. Collected bottles are handled by Mahija Parahita Nusantara and processed at the Amandina Bumi Nusantara recycling facility for use in new packaging. Bali generates roughly 3,436 tons of waste daily, with plastic making up more than 17%.[Image Credit: © Mitra Coca-Cola Europacific/M Mart]

PepsiCo used 2 million metric tons of plastic in 2025, down slightly from 2024. Recycled content across plastic packaging rose to 18%, up three percentage points, and virgin plastic use fell 6%, following a 5% drop in 2024. Updated targets, revised in May 2025, call for a 2% annual cut in virgin plastic through 2030 and at least 40% recycled content by 2035. Recyclable, reusable or compostable packaging stood at 94% in 2025 versus its 97% goal for 2030. [Image Credit: © PepsiCo]

New European Union packaging rules took effect on August 12 under the Packaging and Packaging Waste Regulation, replacing national requirements with unified EU standards. One major element centers on food-contact packaging. Packaging containing per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, or PFAS, above set limits can no longer be sold in the EU. Further provisions phase in over time: a labeling system applies from 2028, and from 2030 rules limit empty packaging space and single-use plastic. [Image Credit: © Chamfjord. on Unsplash]

Sufi Latam launched what it describes as Argentina's first refillable deodorant. A reusable applicator pairs with replaceable 50g refills. According to the company, the global beauty and personal care sector generates 120 billion discarded packages yearly, with more than 90% ending up in landfills or oceans. The company’s owner says local manufacturing constraints became an advantage, producing a design with "less material, lower cost, and less environmental impact".[Image Credit: © Sufi]

Packaging suppliers Cosmogen and Asquan teamed up with French biotech beauty brand Firn to develop a refillable sun protection product called Stick ReUse. The patented, watertight design, made from polypropylene with an aluminum finish, is compatible with solid skin care, hybrid formulas, color cosmetics and solid fragrance formats. Firn's SPF50+ Invisible Sun Stick will use the refill format. Cosmogen and Asquan say each refill cartridge eliminates 56% of plastic waste compared with conventional packaging.[Image Credit: © FIRN Company]

REUSE Foundation received National Lottery Community Fund support through the Awards For All program to run a 12-month community hub refill pilot in Newham, East London, including a two-month setup phase. Community hubs will host refill stations offering household and personal care essentials at near-cost prices while cutting single-use plastic use. Trustee Roger Sharp said the project is "about making refill part of everyday life, in the places people already trust."[Image Credit: © REUSE Foundation]

Household product maker Lam Soon partnered with startup Ecoworks to establish more than 100 refill stations for home and laundry cleaners across Singapore. Stations currently operate at two university campuses and a community center, offering Lam Soon's Bio-Home biodegradable cleaning products at a 30% discount on retail prices. Singapore's recycling rate has stalled at about 11%, well short of the government's 2030 target of 70%. Ecoworks says for reuse to scale, we need "convenient, standardized infrastructure in every neighborhood".[Image Credit: © ecoworks.sg]

Lush launched five shower gummies and four chromotherapy-inspired solid shower gels across the UK and Ireland, using patented foam technology that produces colored lather on contact with water. Package-free products made up 58% of individual items Lush sold globally in 2025 and the company claims its "naked" formats prevented over 15,000 metric tons of plastic waste since 2005. [Image Credit: © Lush Ltd]

Coca-Cola Europacific Partners Deutschland is engraving a Data Matrix code on each reusable glass bottle during production, working with bottle supplier Vetropack and software provider Myneral Labs. AI-powered cameras read the codes at every pass through the bottling line, building a digital history, recording fill frequency and removal dates for each bottle. Piloted at Bad Neuenahr and expanded to Luneburg, the system covers ViO and Apollinaris 0.75-liter bottles, replacing estimated inventory models with bottle-level tracking. [Image Credit: © Vetropack Holding Ltd]

British plastic waste shipped to Turkey is contaminating waterways, crops and air around Adana, the country's agricultural heartland, according to reports on conditions near local recycling facilities. Britain sent 139,000 tonnes of plastic waste to Turkey in 2025, its largest volume in eight years, with 52,000 tonnes in almost 550 shipments from 13 British firms to one zone between 2021 and 2024. Microplastic levels in canal water downstream were found to be up to 10 times those upstream. [Image Credit: © Finlan Aldan on Unsplash]

In dismissing Baltimore's lawsuit against major beverage and plastic companies, including Coca-Cola, Pepsi and Nestle, a judge rejected the city's attempt to hold manufacturers liable for plastic pollution found in Baltimore Harbor. The court found the argument flawed for holding companies responsible when consumers choose to discard the products. Baltimore is expected to appeal, but the ruling could discourage similar lawsuits.[Image Credit: © Styves Exantus on Pexels.com]

SC Johnson's latest Better World Accountability Report shows post-consumer recycled plastic makes up 25% of its packaging. It also showed a 33% cut in virgin plastic use versus a 2018 baseline. Total plastic packaging fell 15%, with flexible packaging down 69%. 64% of its packaging is reusable or recyclable. [Image Credit: © S.C. Johnson & Son, Inc.]