Reduce often is misunderstood as making a pack as light and thin as possible. This is only of advantage in a linear economy, if the pack will end up as waste. Reducing the pack weight usually creates a “use-and-throw” type of pack. The pack is much harder to be reused – we all know that from a thin plastic bag, which might be lighter and cheaper for the supermarket, yet it leads to the consumer throwing it away after single-use, as it breaks easy.
The same with a one-way coffee cup: Depending on how rigid it is, it can be reused once or if it is made of solid material, it can be re-used multiple times. And with each re-use the end-to-end Carbon footprint and the amount of waste generated drops. So – if we intent to re-use a pack, the initial pack must be solid and rigid to maintain its properties through multiple cycles of re-usage. Once these cycles lead to a deterioration below a certain level, it is time to recycle. Circularity is a key principle of nature. Ashes to ashes – dust to dust – everything returns to where it came from…
Article by Henning Weigand
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