Approximately 70-80% of plastic waste is generated by businesses. In response to this significant challenge, the Province of South Holland, in collaboration with various organisations, sought to establish reusable packaging as the standard within different sectors. The province of South Holland aims to be fully circular by 2050, and one of the solutions is to significantly reduce plastic waste by shifting from single-use packaging to reusable solutions.
To achieve this, a comprehensive approach was taken to build a strong community that connects different product and sector chains both horizontally and vertically. The key steps included:
The project successfully created multiple sub-networks (with 50+ members), each focusing on different sectors, which enabled targeted efforts to make reusable packaging the standard. The overarching community was formed to bring the various sub-networks together, promoting collaboration, knowledge-sharing and alignment. Efforts are also underway to work towards standardisation within supply chains, further supporting the shift towards reusable packaging as the industry norm.