Circular Business Models – Refill and Reuse

Problem statement:

Diageo are proud to have a 250-year-old heritage across several of our brands. However, we understand that the perpetuity of our business is dependent upon the health of the environment around us. This is reflected within our Grain to Glass Sustainability Targets for 2030 which compel us to 1. Become sustainable by design, 2. Preserve water for life, and 3. Accelerate to a low carbon world. In practice, this will require partnership across the value chain to change the way in which we design, package, and sell our brands with a key focus on transitioning to reusable and refillable business models. In parallel, product authentication, consumer safety and responsible consumption are of paramount importance.

Challenge:

Our aim is to make circular business models a reality across our brand portfolio. Our challenge, therefore, is to leverage solutions across several reuse and refill archetypes (see examples below) with an emphasis on consumer-focussed sales. In pursuit of this, we are looking to create models which combine well-designed products and effective circular services for a range of consumer purchase and consumption occasions – with the intent of piloting and scaling within Diageo.

Potential solutions could include but are not limited to:
 
 

• Containers designed to achieve a minimum no. of reuse/refill cycles.
• Technologies to extend the functional use, strength, and aesthetics of reuse/refill containers.
• Technologies to help with the application of LOT codes etc. (which are more suitable for reusable containers as alternatives to laser coding).
• Production technologies to enable efficient reuse/refill (at Diageo production or a decentralised production site).
• Smart/connected technology to identify and track reuse/refill containers for on trade and off-trade applications.
• Services to maintain and clean containers against predefined standards.
• Services to enable efficient inbound and outbound logistics of containers.
• Innovative technologies which engage consumers across several reuse & refill archetypes:
  • Return from home (e.g., via. Deposit Return Schemes, collection/pick-up).
  • Return on the go (e.g., via. Deposit Return Schemes, supermarket/retailer, central collection point).
  • Refill at home (e.g., via. e-commerce subscription, refill packs & bespoke decanters).
  • Refill on the go (e.g., via. supermarket/retailer).