Welcome to the Solutions Database,
a guide to technologies, strategies, and best practices for reducing plastic waste

Consumers refill a reusable container at home with refills that are either delivered to the door (e.g., through a subscription service) or bought in a shop. Consumers retain ownership of the main packaging and are responsible for cleaning it. Refill at home can work in both traditional and online retail (3).

Key benefits:

• Individual user needs can be accommodated with refill systems that allow them to mix flavors, add a desired fragrance, personalize the main packaging, and automate deliveries or reordering (2).
• Economic incentives and brand loyalty: can be created by offering progressive discounts or rewards systems for customers (4).
• Infrastructure and machinery demand are smaller for refill at home models compared to other reuse models since containers are owned and cleaned by the consumer

Key watch-outs:

• Consumer adoption is key since refill packs are often smaller and less eye-catching than full-sized products. The bene-fits of buying refill packs, especially when in a concentrated form that will last longer de-spite being a smaller package, need to be clearly communicated through e-commerce or on-shelf messaging to attract customers and keep them engaged (1,2).

• Prioritize products that have high-water content, such as beverages and home care, beauty and personal care products. These are good candidates for refill at home models as water can often be removed to produce a solid or more concentrated refill capsule that uses less packaging. The customer then dilutes at home using a reusable bottle or dispenser, like Pepsico’s SodaStream (3, 2). Concentrated drinks refills and dispensers are already in operation at-scale.
• Use e-commerce channels, which customers are increasingly accessing, to offer new user benefits and product lines, such as subscription services or compact refills that easily fit through letterboxes (3). E-commerce allows reusable products to stand out and can ease customer education and en-gagement with new concepts (4).

Initial guidance on applicability of this solution per plastic type: