Aldi is ending its in-store refill pilot as funding comes to a close, with the Refill Coalition and UK Research & Innovation (UKRI) attributing its limited timespan to low retailer uptake and the cost-of-living crisis.
The Refill Coalition was first convened by GoUnpackaged in 2020. It sought to find an end-to-end, scalable alternative for single-use packaging via refillable packaging in food staple applications like pasta, grains, and household and personal care products.
Retailers Marks & Spencer, Morrisons, Ocado, and Waitrose & Partners, as well as supply chain solutions company CHEP, were among the earliest members of the project, signing on in March 2022 – yet few of them reached the in-store pilot phase.
Aldi joined the Coalition in May 2023, proceeding to pilot an in-store refill system for dry goods at its store in Solihull, then in Leamington Spa. Intended to reduce single-use plastic consumption – Aldi’s work was nominated for a Sustainability Award under the Commercialized Best Practice category in 2024 – the pilot incentivized consumer participation with a 5% discount on item refills compared to their pre-packaged equivalents.
Now funds from Innovate UK, which also funds the wider Refill Coalition, have come to an end; Aldi says this was a planned move, and that the pilot was only ever intended to run for a limited time.
This leaves Ocado with the only ongoing reusable packaging pilot under the Coalition. It is still trialling reusable packaging for various household basics, both in-store and online – first for penne pasta and basmati rice last August, then fabric conditioner and non-bio liquid detergent in October.
As reported by The Grocer, the Coalition underlines “excellent” customer engagement in both the Aldi and Ocado pilots, “evidenced with strong sales share versus the single-use packaged alternatives” – said to be anywhere between 30% and 50% from week to week.
It goes on to say that both trials were “able to prove feasibility across a range of commercial, operational, consumer and environmental metrics”, and that the beginnings of an independent life cycle analysis suggest that, “once scaled”, the solution could unlock “significant environmental benefits compared to single-use”.
However, while it considers such trials a testament to its refill system’s “operational efficiency, clear environmental benefit and scalability” – all “critical steps towards industry transformation” – it cites “a lack of wider retailer adoption” as the reason it cannot further scale the solution in-store.
Paul Davidson, challenge director for UKRI’s Smart Sustainable Plastic Packaging Challenge, describes the Refill Coalition as a “highly ambitious project” – but he lamented that “the timing was unfortunate, as the cost-of-living crisis meant retailers were understandably preoccupied.”
Nevertheless, he feels that the project “still managed to lay a strong foundation for continued development of reuse and refill, although more engagement with retailers and consumers would have certainly benefited”.
“As a result of the innovative approach and hard work of the Refill Coalition partners, we now have a blueprint for retailers looking to mainstream refill within their operations and take action on reducing single-use packaging,” he said.
While The Grocer notes that financial details have not yet been disclosed, the Coalition asserts that “Ocado’s learnings continue” and emphasizes that an “industry-focused white paper” will publicize “detailed trial data and results” in the near future.
This does not mark the end of refillable packaging trials, however. Unilever has worked with international organizations like Vega Innovations, Bopinc, and Alner, among others, to pilot refillable packaging solutions at local markets and across supermarket chains in Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, and Indonesia; these developments and intended for consumer convenience, retailer control over product quantity and price, and a reduction in flexible plastic sachets.
Meanwhile, Diageo is providing bars in Ireland with a reusable keg and integrated bottle dispensing system for Smirnoff vodka as part of a new trial. The move is expected to cut carbon emissions by over 50% per litre of alcohol.
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