In order to develop pooling of reusable containers, in 2022, the City of Paris subsidised bulk procurement of reusable food containers. It worked with the local restaurants in order to help develop a returnable packaging system by offering several tools: A help guide designed to facilitate the switch to reusable system ; Free 3 months trial for the restaurants of reuse system ; Subsidies to help acquire the necessary equipment for the reuse system (containers, washing machine, storage material etc.). In 2023, the City of Paris is developing full scale projects in different neighbourhoods in order to test different organisational, logistical and business models of return systems. It organized a call for projects in order to incentivise the events sector towards the use of reusable food and drinks packaging. It also plans to launch a project on several Parisian food markets to test reusable packaging for different groceries (meat, fish, delis, precooked dishes, etc.).

Goals and Impact:

By pursuing an ambitious reusable food packaging development policy, the City of Paris aims to build a more resilient circular economy. The development of a large-scale returnable food packaging system will not only reduce waste production and minimize the resource extraction but create new economic activities and local jobs, and educate the consumers.