First large-scale reusable plastic tray for fresh fruit and vegetables launched in Belgium

For the first time in our country, a plastic packaging for fruit and vegetables is being reused in a large-scale pilot project. In the first phase of the project – launching today – consumers can return the plastic trays in which mushrooms are packaged to any participating store and receive a 30-cent deposit back. "This is an important step in favour of reusable packaging in Belgium," says Valerie Bruyninckx, spokesperson for Fost Plus. "Europe wants to significantly restrict single-use packaging for fruit and vegetables by 2030. Reuse is therefore more important than ever – and our country wants to play a pioneering role." The project is led by the REPASYS consortium, which includes Fost Plus, Flanders' FOOD and Pack4Food among its members. Six major retailers – Albert Heijn, Aldi, Carrefour, Colruyt, Delhaize and Lidl – are participating in the pilot in Mechelen.

Anyone who purchases one or more trays of mushrooms at a participating retail chain in Mechelen over the next six months can return the tray after use to any of these stores. The trays are then industrially cleaned and put back into circulation. This is the first initiative in our country in which a plastic packaging for fresh food is reused at scale.

"We are enormously proud to be part of this project, as it is a true milestone for reusable packaging in Belgium. It has the potential to save a great deal of waste in our country. And this for a fresh food product, which makes it all the more challenging to meet all the standards in terms of food safety.”
​Valerie Bruyninckx, spokesperson for Fost Plus

For Fost Plus, the system must above all be as simple as possible. The success of reuse packaging chains stands or falls with ease of use for the consumer.

"The consumer is at the heart of the system: it has been kept deliberately simple. We opted for just two tray formats, a fixed deposit of 30 cents and the possibility of returning trays to any participating store. This keeps barriers as low as possible and makes reuse accessible to everyone. Individual traceability via the QR code on the trays also makes it possible to objectively monitor return rates and the efficiency of the chain.”
​Valerie Bruyninckx, spokesperson for Fost Plus

Europe bans single-use plastic packaging for fruit and vegetables

From 1 January 2030, fruit and vegetables may no longer be placed on the market in single-use plastic packaging – that is what the European Packaging and Packaging Waste Regulation (PPWR) concretely requires. The ban applies to unprocessed fresh fruit and vegetables and to pre-packed products under 1.5 kg. Reusable packaging is therefore not an end in itself, but the logical response to this ban. REPASYS is already testing whether such a system works in practice – and what conditions are needed to scale it up.

"Belgium wants to play a pioneering role in this. For Fost Plus, it is very close to the core of our mission: to continue developing the circular economy for household packaging in our country. And pilot projects like this one are indispensable for understanding what does and does not work in practice.”
​Valerie Bruyninckx, spokesperson for Fost Plus

What makes the project even more remarkable is the collaboration between six competing supermarket chains — Colruyt, Delhaize, Lidl, Albert Heijn, Aldi and Carrefour — all rallying behind the initiative. For the first time, they are all using the same type of packaging for a fresh product. The REPASYS consortium brings together a broad collaboration of producers, logistics, research and retail: Fost Plus, Flanders' FOOD, Pack4Food, VIL and the University of Antwerp are steering the project.

^{About Fost Plus}

^{Since 1994, Fost Plus has been accelerating the transition to sustainable packaging management. Citizens are at the heart of an approach designed to prevent raw materials from ending up as waste. For instance, Fost Plus is setting up efficient structures to sort correctly any time, anywhere, improving packaging design with around 5,000 members with a view to better recycling, and rethinking the way we all handle packaging and other materials.}

^{Fost Plus works closely with citizens, businesses, governments and experts to collect and recycle the household packaging put on the market by its members. In this way, the organisation fulfils its members’ Extended Producer Responsibility. Sixty dedicated colleagues are committed to influencing behaviour so as to minimise the environmental impact of our ways of producing and consuming. By building sustainable material chains, Fost Plus contributes to a better society and a cleaner environment for all.}