The Paris Olympics Prove Reusable Packaging Is Possible On a Massive Scale

It seems the whole world is talking about the Paris 2024 Olympic and Paralympic Games, from athletes performing superhuman feats to Snoop Dogg's wealth of comic relief on the sidelines. More than 15 million people flocked to France's capital to feel part of the action, with over 3 million holding tickets for the games. Many of those spectators noticed something new when they stopped by a snack stand for their favorite beverage, as the Paris Olympics are the first to serve drinks in reusable packaging, in partnership with the France-based company Re-uz. 

The Paris Olympics are the largest sports event ever to replace single-use beverage cups with refillable alternatives, and advocates hope it will send a clear message to event organizers and beverage brands that reuse is possible on a large scale. 

"The objective of doing the Olympics was to show the world and to show everyone that it's doable — if there is a will, if you plan and if it's organized," said Octave Pirmez, sales director for Re-uz, which provides reuse and refill services across six European countries and parts of Canada. 

That's good news for the planet, considering the equivalent of more than 280 billion beverage bottles are washed into the world's oceans every year. If nothing changes, the production of plastic — much of it single-use — will account for an estimated 20 percent of the world's oil consumption and up to 15 percent of the global carbon emissions that drive climate change by 2050. The dangers climate change pose to our way of life — and the sports we love — were on full display in Paris as temperatures soared above 95 degrees Fahrenheit in a national weather emergency that scientists say would have been “virtually impossible” if not for rising emissions. 

Reuse at the Paris Olympics raises awareness of the possibilities beyond disposable

Founded in 2006, Re-uz powers reuse setups at major events like the Wimbledon tennis championships and music festivals across Europe, along with a Starbucks reusable cup pilot in France and the Billie Cup returnable cup program at more than 200 eateries across Belgium, among other efforts. 

The company's system is fairly simple: It offers a selection of reusable cups and food-ware to customers, and it provides services to pick up, wash and return the packaging for reuse. All of the company’s reusable packaging is designed to maximize recyclability at end of life and is made in France to reduce environmental impact, according to Re-uz. A network of washing centers across Europe minimizes excessive shipping, with Re-uz teams operating at more than 32 sites within France alone for distribution, logistics, washing and delivery of reusable packaging. 

Re-uz will utilize this existing infrastructure to support reuse at the Olympics. Cups from the Paris games will be sent to the company's Paris washing center staffed entirely by people with disabilities, while empties from football and sailing events in southern France will head to another washing center in Marseille, Pirmez said. 

Even before partnering with the Paris Olympics, the company washed more than 80 million cups over the past five years, helping to avoid an estimated 129 tons of single-use plastic, according to its parent company Impact Group.

With millions of drinks set to be poured at the Paris Olympics, the potential for avoiding waste — and raising awareness among spectators — is huge. "Most people, especially at the Olympics, have never experienced reusables, so it's a first time for them," Pirmez said. 

Re-uz has already received inquiries from global attendees looking to set up similar wash and refill systems at events and venues in their home countries. "We had a lot of requests from South America, and we had some requests from the Middle East," Pirmez said. "Definitely it helps to sensitize people to reuse and that there is another solution — there is an alternative to single-use." 

Still, the first reuse system at the Olympics didn't always meet gold-medal standards, with advocates including the ocean conservation nonprofit Oceana calling out examples like vendors pouring beverages from single-use plastic bottles into reusable cups. But Re-uz and other reuse advocates hope the effort will send ripple effects that go far beyond Paris, particularly when it comes to convincing major event organizers and beverage companies that reuse is viable at scale. 

"Obviously it's not perfect, but it's also to show Coke and all the big beverage companies that it can be done — and that's a major positive step for reusables," Pirmez said.

Athletes and advocates push beverage giants to go further

The Olympic Games count some of the world's largest companies as longstanding partners, including the beverage giants Coca-Cola and PepsiCo. Though the beverage majors sell some drinks in refillable packaging, primarily in Europe and Latin America, reusables still make up less than 15 percent of their global drink sales. 

Athletes and advocates are looking to speed the transition further. In an open letter penned last month, more than 100 sports organizations and athletes — including Olympians competing in Paris — called on Coca-Cola, PepsiCo and bottler Coca-Cola Europacific Partners to make reusable an option for all of their customers globally by 2030. 

"In July, Oceana supported the action of over 100 sports organizations and elite athletes who sent a letter to leading event sponsors Coca-Cola and Pepsi, calling on them to make future sporting events run on reuse rather than single-use — they didn’t ask for both," Dana Miller, Oceana’s director of strategic initiatives, told TriplePundit in an email. "We want to see more reusable packaging at events in the future, and we want to see it done right.”

The athletes who signed say the move toward reuse is imperative to preserve the sports they love and ensure a cleaner environment for future generations. “I’ve competed in events around the world — and everywhere I sail, I find single-use plastics polluting our waters and shorelines,” Lara Dallman-Weiss, an Olympic sailor for Team USA and a signatory to the open letter, said in a statement. “One thing is clear, more needs to be done to stop the plastics crisis.”

Re-uz has already inked an contract with Coca-Cola to deploy reusables at more of their events in Europe, and it aims to leverage its presence at the Olympics to bring reusables to more major venues worldwide, Pirmez said.

"Our objective is to keep pushing for event organizers to switch from disposable to reusable, and I think the Olympics will show everyone that it's doable because if we did it with the Olympics, we can do it for smaller events," he said. "There are still a lot of possibilities, basically everywhere where there is a disposable, and when it makes sense, the objective for us is to keep pushing to convince them to switch."

Homepage image: nicolas michaud/Flickr