1-  Could you tell us about your position and your missions/activities at Ademe?

As a packaging reuse engineer within the EPR Sector Supervision Department, and more specifically within the Reuse and Reuse Observatory, I’m in charge of monitoring studies on the reuse of household and professional packaging, and liaising with eco-organisms and other players in the reuse value chain on this topic.

2-  Ademe has set up the Observatoire du réemploi, in which the CNE took part as a member of COSUI: can you remind us of the regulatory issues involved in reuse and how, based on data from marketers, we manage to obtain a reuse rate for packaging in France?

Targets have been set through the legislative framework, by the “Anti-Waste for a Circular Economy” law, then completed by decree no. 2022-507 of April 8, 2022 relating to the minimum proportion of reused packaging to be placed on the market annually, which sets targets: 5% of reused packaging by 2023 and 10% of reused packaging by 2027 placed on the market expressed in sales units or sales unit equivalents.

The Observatoire du réemploi et de la réutilisation carried out a study, published in February 2023, specifying the accounting methods that enable producers to track their packaging data and calculate their annual proportion of reused packaging placed on the market. Eco-organizations, collective structures and the Observatoire du réemploi collect data declared by marketers (quantities of reused packaging, new reusable packaging and single-use packaging), which must be tracked and declared annually by producers.

These data will then be aggregated by the Observatoire du réemploi et de la réutilisation (Reuse and Reuse Observatory) to calculate the national packaging reuse rate in France in 2023. (Please note: as producer declarations are made at N+1, the 2023 reuse rate can only be calculated and made available in 2024).

Link to study (in French): https://librairie.ademe.fr/dechets-economie-circulaire/6120-comptabilisation-du-reemploi-des-emballages-en-france.html

3-  Packaging reuse is one way of reducing the environmental impact of packaging. Do the life cycle analysis studies carried out in recent years provide any highlights on this subject?

The Observatoire du réemploi et de la réutilisation has carried out a study on the environmental assessment of the deposit system for glass packaging reuse in France, covering a number of schemes up to 2025. The analysis covers the entire packaging life cycle and several categories of environmental impact, with scenarios that cover a wide range of real-life cases and are defined to correspond to several product sectors and logistical realities. In this way, various players can relate to them as part of their decision-making process.

Key finding of the study: for five of the impact categories studied in depth (Climate change, Particle emissions, Photochemical ozone formation, Acidification, Fossil fuel depletion), there is a systematic advantage from the fourth use of returnable glass packaging over single-use glass packaging. And this is true whatever the average transport distance modeled (covering most of the distances observed in France) and for a wide variety of products marketed.

An additional component is currently being developed to provide further insights by comparing returnable glass packaging for reuse with packaging made from other materials.

Link to study (in French): https://librairie.ademe.fr/dechets-economie-circulaire/6359-evaluation-environnementale-de-la-consigne-pour-le-reemploi-des-emballages-en-verre-en-france.html