UK supermarkets showcase commercially viable refill stations

The Refill Coalition has released results from its trial of reusable packaging systems, demonstrating high consumer adoption rates and environmental benefits across both in-store and online retail formats.

The group, comprising Aldi UK, Ocado Retail Ltd, supply chain solutions company CHEP, and GoUnpackaged, conducted the 16-month trial with funding from Innovate UK’s Smart Sustainable Plastic Packaging Challenge to test refillable and reusable packaging for groceries.

The findings show that both in-store refill stations and online returnable containers can be commercially viable and environmentally beneficial when deployed at scale, while meeting consumer expectations for convenience and hygiene.

The in-store solution, tested at Aldi stores in Solihull and Leamington Spa, used modular refill ‘vessels’ filled at source and transported through existing supply chains. Each reusable vessel replaces around 24 single-use packages.

Ocado’s online ‘consumer returnable’ model delivered pre-filled reusable containers that customers returned to delivery drivers, with each container replacing up to five single-use packages.

“We are extremely proud of our collective work to design and launch these new reuse and refill systems,” said Catherine Conway, founder of GoUnpackaged. “They offer a clear path toward tackling the single-use plastics crisis, delivering tangible benefits across environmental, operational, and consumer metrics.”

Refill stations capture one third of product category sales

According to the Refill Coalition, refill stations achieved significant market share against single-use alternatives. In Aldi stores, refill products regularly reached 30 per cent sales share compared to packaged versions, with peaks of 56 per cent in some weeks.

This outperformed previous refill installations, which typically achieved eight to ten per cent.

For Ocado’s online trial, reuse products reached 43 per cent sales share, averaging at 16 per cent for dry goods and 19 per cent for liquids across the trial period. The company suggested that limited product choice, national availability constraints and customer reliance on “favourites” were factors limiting further growth.

An independent Life Cycle Assessment (LCA), conducted by Eunomia Research and Consulting, was conducted for the trial, finding that both reusable systems outperformed single-use alternatives across most environmental impact categories when used at scale.

How reusable systems fit into existing retail operations

Staff feedback from Aldi stores was positive, with staff finding restocking refill stations ‘quick’ and ‘simple’.

Ocado’s online system also demonstrated success with return rates reaching 86 per cent without use incentives like deposits. The system was also reported to integrate smoothly into existing logistics operations and didn’t add significant time to delivery processes.

The trial also established that reusable packaging can be safely washed to retailers’ food safety standards. The Coalition worked with their compliance teams to define and implement testing protocols, allowing the production wash process to remove allergens, microorganisms and odours at the required levels.

According to the customers, 97 per cent of Aldi shoppers found the refill process hygienic, and 100 per cent of Ocado shoppers rated the packaging as clean.

The Coalition has identified several factors to support wider adoption of reuse systems, including filling automation to reduce costs, improved item-level tracking technology, and reuse-focused legislation.

However, it maintains that retailers can successfully implement reuse systems, and that they can be operationally functional, commercially viable, and environmentally beneficial, as UK supermarkets placing over 90 billion single-use packaging items on the market each year.