Refillable Beauty 2023 - part 4 - Regulations

European definition - regulations

Please note that in the following content, we are taking information from the European Union and France as reference points or as guidance and do not have a definite legal requirement for your market.

France is the most advanced country in terms of legislation with regard to refillable beauty - for now -  it gives us a glimpse into the future of regulation or helps us where the regulations might head towards.

It’s important to note that the legislator needs to give a clear definition of what constitutes a refillable product, and what are the rules to market refillable products (should the parent/host packaging be fully recyclable or is there room for non-recyclability since the parent/host packaging shall “technically” never be recycled), what technicality or other aspect must it offer. 

European Definitions

Annexe VI - PPWR  (Packaging and Packaging Waste Regulation)

‘closed loop system’ shall mean a system for re-use in which reusable packaging is circulated by a system operator or a cooperating group of system participants without the change of the ownership of packaging;

‘open loop system’ shall mean a system for re-use in which reusable packaging circulates amongst an unspecified number of system participants and the ownership of the packaging changes at one or more points in the re-use process;

Focus on France - definition and implementation of refillable solutions
What defines a refillable product? 

The French regulation - AGEC Law (Anti Waste & Circular Economy) from 2020 +  Climate & Resilience Law from 2021

(from Article 2 of Decree no. 2022-507 of 8 April 2022 on the minimum proportion of reused packaging to be placed on the market annually)

“ Packaging that is used at least once for the same purpose for which it was designed, and whose reuse is organised by or on behalf of the producer.

Packaging is deemed to be reused if it is refilled at least once more:

• at the point of sale in the case of bulk sales,
• or at home in the case of a refill system organised by the producer.

Any reusable packaging used must be recyclable. “ explained Stéphanie Lumbers

Sustainable Development Director at Fébéa in France.

The ADEME, which is “The French Agency for Ecological Transition” , has released a report in June 2023 which gives clear definitions of refillable products and helps us understand what constitutes a “ properly ” refillable product. With the recent backlash on fake refills, the agency gives us guidance on how to design products to be truly refillable so they can be accounted for as a “refill” in your company reporting.

ADEME has defined a general method for the accounting of refillable products, since by 2023, by law companies with a turnover of over 50 Million €uros (see next chapter), have to produce an account for refillable products. The method covers:

• Packaged goods
• Refill in-store
• Refills
• + industrial and commercial packaging as well as the packaging from the restaurants industry (which we will not cover here, since it’s outside of our scope)
  

Single Use Versus ReUsable 

When can packaging that is not fully reused be counted as reused (host packaging versus refill cartridge)

Packaging is considered to be re-used if :

• The total weight of the single-use packaging components is less than 20% of the total weight of the packaging in question (reused packaging component + single-use component(s))

The ADEME explains clearly that refill must have a specific purpose of refill and be entirely designed for that purpose with a parent and an intermediate packaging and that both should function together and that both should be recyclable.

The ADEME defines a refillable packaging as follows:

“ The refill system contributes to the objectives of reuse insofar as refills enable the refilling of a parent packaging by the consumer at home, previously offered by the producer.

A parent packaging is a packaging combined with an intermediate packaging (refill) that enables it to be refilled.

A Host/Parent packaging can be counted as reused when it is refilled if it meets the following 3 criteria:

Criterion 1: Existence of a "parent packaging and intermediate packaging" pair:

• A reusable parent packaging, designed by the producer to be refilled and reused (a container offered for sale with no product inside or not intended to be refilled at the point of sale is not considered to be packaging) ;
• A single-use intermediate pack (refill), designed specifically by the producer to refill the parent pack at home.

Intermediate and parent packaging combined in this way are offered for sale at the same point of sale.

Criterion 2: The intermediate packaging does not perform the same functions as the associated parent packaging and cannot be used without it. and cannot be used without it.

At least one of the following conditions must be met for this criterion to be validated:

• The intermediate packaging cannot be resealed, which means that once opened, the product is no longer protected.
• The intermediate packaging is resealable, but allows multiple refilling of the parent packaging.

An additional element on the parent pack is required to be able to use the refill.

Criterion 3: The parent packaging is recyclable*.

In this context, it is the parent packaging that is reused and the intermediate packaging (refills) is counted as single-use packaging. counted as single-use packaging.

The term "refill" is used in the rest of this sheet to refer to the intermediate packaging in the refill system.”

* - Article L541-1 of the French Environment Code: "Reused packaging must be recyclable".

Please note that these criteria are for compliance with the French regulations. If you are selling a shower gel in a full bottle, and only selling the pump once instead of reselling at each use, it’s still better than doing nothing.

Please also note that flexible pouches don’t currently hold a high recycling rate because they are complex to reintegrate into the material recovery journey. For this reason, L’Occitane is currently considering moving away from pouches in favour of simple recycled PET bottles.

However, these give us an indication of how the regulator might enforce regulations on refill.

Please also note that these criteria might change after the publication of the PPWR - Directive on Packaging and Packaging Waste expected in early 2024.

What percentage of products released annually should be refillable?

In France, the AGEC law goes into further consideration regarding the implementation of refillable solutions in the overall market.

In France, under the AGEC law refill is defined as “ sale to the consumer of products without packaging, in quantities chosen by the consumer, in re-usable or reusable containers.... All everyday consumer products may be sold in bulk, except where duly justified on public health grounds.” AGEC law in France.

The regulation also implements a quota for the implementation of refill systems in stores. By January 2030, all supermarkets with a size of more than 400 sqm will need to implement refill station in at least 20% of the sales area (Article 23 in AGEC Law). 

This is regarding the overall sales of all products. As of today, there is no specific details per category (Food, Health & Beauty, etc.)

An application Decree defines the requirement for refills in France.

“ Decree no. 2022-507 of 8 April 2022 on the minimum proportion of reused packaging to be placed on the market annually states:

"Art. R. 541-351. The obligations relating to the placing on the market of reused packaging are imposed on any producer responsible for placing at least ten thousand units of packaged products on the market and to any approved eco-organisation for packaging.

A threshold of 10,000 units of packaged products per year has been set, and there are no exemptions outside this threshold. (even in cases where the rate of reuse is significantly exceeded).

The decree concerns all producers who package their products or have them packaged with a view to placing them on the market, any importer whose products are marketed in packaging or, if the producer or importer cannot be identified, the person responsible for first placing these products on the market.

Producer " refers to companies that place products on the market in packaging or "use" packaging. "secondary or tertiary packaging (which implies a repackaging operation).

As a reminder, reuse targets are set according to producers' sales figures. The trajectory is presented in the table below. Overall, by 2027, all producers will have to achieve 10% reuse of their packaging. “

Explained ADEME in France.

As seen in introduction, France has also defined objective and a roadmap to implement a deposit scheme solution for beverages with glass containers for food and drinks in an attempt to improve its current low recycling rate of plastic containers of only 23%.

What are the requirements in Europe?

At a European level the new Directive on Packaging and Packaging Waste, also known as the PPWR indicates that “ The Commission proposes strong measures to address reuse in teh European Union:

• Mandatory, EU-wide targets for companies to ensure that parts of their products are provided in reusable or refillable packaging. This is proposed for sectors where this makes most sense.

By 2030, 20% and by 2040 80% of cold and hot beverages will have to be filled to a container that is part of a reuse system, or enable consumers come with their own container for refill. 

Retailers of beer, for instance, would have to sell 10% of their goods in refillable containers by 2030 and 25% by 2040.

For take-away prepared meals from restaurants, the targets would be 10% in 2030 and 40% in 2040. 

10% of e-commerce packaging for transport will have to be reusable by 2030 and 50% of it by 2040.

• Some standardisation of reusable packaging formats, for instance beverage bottles, and clarifications about the design of reuse and refill systems based on best practices.
• Labelling of reusable packaging (i.e. pictograms to indicate reuse option) helping consumers make informed choices.

The commission goes on to explain that “member States will have to take measures to encourage setting up reuse and refill systems and take additional measures, such as deposit and return schemes for reusable packaging, economic incentives, obligations on companies to make certain additional products available through reuse or refill systems, e.g. detergents or other products, on which the proposal does not propose mandatory targets.”