Towards closing the implementation gap: an analysis of decision making in reusable packaging systems

Packaging plays a vital role in containing and safely distributing goods globally. However, the predominance of single-use packaging in the current ‘take-make-dispose’ economic paradigm has led to significant<br/>environmental challenges, including waste generation, pollution, and unsustainable resource extraction.<br/>Reusable packaging is proposed as a solution that can potentially enhance material circularity while offering positive economic performance. However, it requires transitioning to collaborative Circular Business<br/>Models (CBMs), along with restructuring supply chains. This systemic change involves a trade-off between<br/>required adjustments, environmental benefits, and costs, making industry and business hesitant due to<br/>unclear benefits and high initial expenses. Also, these transformations are unique to each business model<br/>or configuration of reusable packaging systems (RPS), as are their economic and environmental performances. Consequently, the Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) and CBM literature on reuse has called for holistic<br/>approaches to this complex socio-technical system that can effectively support decision-making toward<br/>more feasible and sustainable pathways.<br/>Although literature exists on influential factors to reuse CBMs, there is still a need of seeing how these can<br/>play a role in practice. This study adopts a system perspective to analyse the real-world involvement and<br/>influence of factors within value chain actors’ decision-making processes, aiming to identify pathways for<br/>achieving life cycle environmental and economic success in reuse. A mixed methods approach is used, involving semi-structured interviews with stakeholders, followed by a focus group with industry experts. Hence, by means of a co-creation process, the data is analysed based on real-world applications of RPS, undercovering optimal decision-making configurations Furthermore, stakeholders’ influence and involvement<br/>across the reusable packaging life cycle are traced. As a result, this exploration ; aims to set the foundation<br/>for developing an LCA-based decision-support tool, so practitioners (e.g., researchers and consultants) can<br/>constructively help industry stakeholders closing the implementation gap of reusable.