(239g) Many Happy Returns - Making Plastic Reuse Mainstream

Plastics are essential to our everyday lives, but their waste, particularly when in an unmanaged waste system, causes great environmental issues. The waste hierarchy is very clear that first we should reduce, then reuse, then recycle. Here we focus on reuse - when, where and how do reusable plastics systems make sense? The Many Happy Returns project has focussed on reuse of food packaging. Environmental and behavioural science along with linguistics are considered to understand how to make reuse mainstream. Life Cycle Assessment shows the importance of container weight, energy source for washing, water use in washing and any transport involved in reverse logistics. Break even points for a selection of environmental impacts, including global warming potential are calculated, showing the number of times a container must be used for it to make environmental sense. Containers are also subjected to an intense wear process, then discoloured and scratched containers shown to consumers using a behavioural psychology methodology to assess if people would be prepared to use them. The overlap of these two methodologies demonstrates if people are prepared to use the containers the required number of times. Linguistics highlights the importance of words to ensure engagement with a system, and how to increase uptake.