Circolution

Stainless steel reusable packaging on shelf / Source: Circolution

AluminiumEuropeFood & BeveragePackagingSteel

6 MINUTE READ

Nate Tyler

WHAT WE SAY:

While we drastically need to swap plastic for an alternative material, we should pay equal attention to the way we consume. Single-use packaging is still single-use, whether it's made from plastic or not. Shifting to reusable models is key to this new era of consumption, and while some critics express concerns about sacrificing convenience in a reuse system, brands like Circolution showcase the scope of what can be done without leaving our comfort zone.

Headquartered in Frankfurt and founded in 2019, Circolution offers packaging-as-a-service, providing stainless steel reusable packs to large-scale grocery brands looking to do better - not just look better. The company also takes charge of the entire returns system, from collecting deposited packs to cleaning and transportation, making both the brand and consumer experience as effortless as possible.

KEY FACTS:

Germany-based Circolution provides a full service, white label packaging reuse system for food and beverage brands and retailers.
Tapping into the country's existing deposit return scheme infrastructure, the company provides reusable, universal stainless Steel packs - currently designed to store and transport dried and refrigerated goods - as well as the collection, cleaning, and transportation of said packs, all for a set fee.
The packaging in question is affectionately called Anita, named after the four women who helped the founders turn Circolution into a reality. The pack is cylindrical in shape and comes paired with a plastic, resealable lid and a disposable aluminium seal to ensure freshness and prevent tampering. The plastic cover is inspected and reused after each use, as is the vessel.
Brands who partner with Circolution are able to differentiate the pack with diverse labelling options to retain brand awareness and loyalty. The company also plans to expand its packaging options with modular shapes, sizes, and materials to offer more variation.
The service harnesses existing packaging deposit locations around the country, currently used in the beverage market. Customers buy a product in a Circolution container from their supermarket shelf as normal, paying a EUR 2.50 (USD 2.67) returnable sum to 'rent' the pack. After the item has been used, customers take the container and lid back to the store and place it into a reverse vending machine to receive the rental fee back.
The deposit for the stainless steel pack is higher than those charged for beverage containers, which range from EUR 0.08 (USD 0.085) to EUR 0.25 (USD 0.27).
Once the packaging has been returned, Circolution automates the inspection, cleaning, filling, and re-sealing of the containers, delivering good-as-new packs to brands to redistribute. With smart tracking technology, Circolution traces the entire life cycle of the packs, keeping tabs on available stock, streamlining the system, and reporting on environmental impact.
At present, the company is running two pilot schemes, one with Nesquik - a cocoa brand from Nestlé - and another with Frankfurt-based coffee roaster Hoppenworth & Ploch. More products are set to launch in Autumn 2023.
In February 2023, Circolution received a USD 250,000 investment from Amcor, who invested in hopes of bringing the company closer to its goal of making all its products reusable, recyclable, or compostable by 2025. Amcor's AmFoil AluFix peelable lid is used by Circolution across its range, while the packaging service was also one of three winners of Amcor's Lift-Off Initiative in 2022.
Circolution was founded in 2019 by Max Bannasch, Kirils Jegorovs, and Alessandro Marchiaro.

Stainless steel reusable packs can be deposited in store / Source: Circolution

The Anita / Source: Circolution

DIVE DEEPER:

The need for reusable packaging is getting more pressing by the day. Almost everything purchased in a supermarket today comes packaged in a valuable material that's used by the consumer for mere minutes in some circumstances, and no more than a few months in others. According to Greenpeace's 2022 The Big Plastic Count, one UK household throws away 3,432 pieces of plastic packaging a year, equating to 66 pieces a week.
The reusable packaging market, on the other hand, offers a way to keep these packaging materials in use for longer. It benefits not only the planet but the bottom line, allowing brands to invest in packaging less frequently and extract more value from it in the long term. According to Smithers, the refillable and reusable packaging market will experience a CAGR of 5% year-on-year, reaching a value of USD 3.5 billion by 2027.
Circolution is tapping into this emerging market, making the solution as simple as possible for both brands and consumers by incorporating Germany's established bottle return scheme, in operation since 2002. Called pfand, the system has been adopted across the region, with almost every grocery store offering a reverse vending machine for consumers to easily drop their empties in. After 20 years, the system works well, with return rates above 98%. By utilising and designing for this existing system, Circolution is working within familiar consumer territory to ensure high adoption rates.
Launching with a focus on dried and refrigerated goods, the company is looking to replace products usually packaged in glass, paper, and plastic with its durable steel containers. While LCAs don't alway paint the full picture, Circolution's soon-to-be independently verified LCA states that if one Anita cup is washed, filled, and sold five times, it would equal "the ecological impact" of using a disposable glass jar just once. The Anita can be washed and reused up to 80 times, however, equating to a saving of 36 kilograms of glass or 5 kilograms of plastic in its lifetime.
Anita was developed in collaboration with Nestlé, allowing Circolution to learn from one of the world's largest FMCG brands, incorporating on-the-ground knowledge and realtime feedback into the design to ensure it's usable at scale today.
Other Circolution partners include Optima and Avery Dennison.

No company can build a reusable system alone. Our customers and partner companies ensure that processes in filling, logistics, and return as well as cleaning and inspection are safe and automated.

Circolution

Key Design Considerations:

Working with existing infrastructure

Germany already has a national deposit return system in place, one used by the majority of consumers on a daily basis. By harnessing this existing habit, Circolution has been able to quickly implement and hopefully scale its solution with limited resistance. While work is needed to establish these systems in regions yet to change the status quo, brands should take note of this approach when trialling new ideas. Look for the consumers and the countries already convinced of its need, and the rest will follow suit.

Consider consumer price limits

The deposit for Circolution packaging is higher than bottles in the region, simply because steel is currently more expensive to produce. While there will always be consumers looking to spend less, the price point of reusable packaging is a short-term outlay for long-term gain. Clearly communicate this to the consumer, as well as the fact that prices will decrease in time when adoption reaches its peak.

Design out plastic

While Circolution's reusable pack greatly reduces plastic use and waste, its plastic lid is at odds with the company's overarching mission. Although reusable, the snap-on and pry-off lid still carries with it all the damaging effects of plastic production and use, from fossil fuel extraction and its impact on our health (especially when in close contact with food), to its never ending end-of-life. Could a screw-on, steel-based lid work instead?