Bout’ à Bout’ contacts DW Reusables for the relaunch of reusable beverage crates in France
By DW Reusables
GeneralReusable beverage packaging existed in France in the old days, but disappeared with the entrance of one-way packaging options. French associations among which Bout’ à Bout’ are driving the entrance of reusable systems and contacted DW Reusables for different types of reusable crates.
Deposit return systems are already operating in more than 40 regions worldwide with great results. Decades ago, these return systems for bottles existed in France as well, but as a result of the entrance of one-way packaging in the eighties these systems disappeared.
The association Bout’ à Bout’ was born with the purpose to reduce the environmental impact of glass bottles in France. They aim to develop regional re-use systems of glass bottles as an alternative to recycling one-way glass bottles, which remains energy-intensive.
Bout’ à bout’ relaunched this reuse system in France, and is heading towards 5 million collected bottles by 2025 and 15 million by 2029, but the main challenge is to first make the industry more reliable before changing supply chains.
An important element was defining a few standard sizes of reusables bottles for beer, juice, cider and whine. They considered all the elements to put into place such as washing lines and labels that can be washed off and replaced by new ones. Bout’ à Bout’ contacted DW Reusables for standard crates for 33cl, 50cl and 1Liter bottles. With this standardisation, Bout’ à bout’ is able to offer producers a ‘ready to use’ solution.
This well-thought out solution is growing rapidly because in 2019 France officially launched the Deposit Return Schemes system to boost collection rates and reach the 90% rate in 2029 set by the new European packaging on the circular economy. Meanwhile several organisations in France such as Rebooteille and Locaverre are driving the same green agenda.
Rudi Raskin, Vice President Sales of DW Reusables stated: “We have been delivering reusable crates worldwide for more than fifty years with proven benefits for DRS (deposit return schemes). The return system is the most effective and sustainable way to move towards a Circular Zero Waste Economy that retains value by reusing materials over and over. Our reusable beverage crates last for decades and can be recycled over and over again after their long lives. We are delighted with this project in France as it is a big step towards a clean environment for generations to come.”
ABOUT BOUT’ à BOUT’
In addition to its ecological values, Bout’ à Bout’ promotes a model of relocated economy, meaning producers in the same territory, local employment and local cooperation between stakeholders.
ABOUT DW REUSABLES
DW Reusables is a leading provider of injection moulded returnable packaging. With four manufacturing sites strategically located in Belgium, Poland, Spain and Croatia, they are worldwide leader in the field of returnable packaging such as beverage crates, pallets, trays and totes. As a specialist in closed loop systems, DW Reusables helps customers around the world to improve their sustainability performance by replacing one-way packaging by durable and fully recyclable packaging options. They offer a wide variety of standard products for the beverage industry and are specialised in bespoke solutions that require the development of a mould.
Advertisement
