Closing the Loop: Why the 'New' Circular Economy is a Return to Smarter Systems for Drinks
Over the past month, we've focused heavily on the implications of the DMCC Act and the critical need for transparent, substantiated environmental claims. Getting communication right is vital, but it must be underpinned by genuine action and sustainable operational models. This leads us naturally to our next topic, a theme I believe is fundamental to the future resilience and responsibility of the drinks sector: The Circular Economy.
We often talk about the circular economy as a 'new' model, a necessary shift away from the dominant linear system of take resources, make products, use them, and the lose the resources. This 'take-make-use-lose' approach, born largely from post-industrial revolution abundance and the rise of consumer convenience culture, is inherently wasteful and unsustainable. The drinks industry, reliant on agriculture, water, energy, and significant packaging volumes, is deeply embedded within it.
But calling the circular economy 'new' overlooks a crucial historical truth and ignores successful systems operating right now.
Back to the Future & Present: Circularity Isn't New, Linearity Is
For most of human history, and indeed well into the 20th century, circular principles were simply common sense, driven by necessity and resource constraints.
Resource Scarcity Drove Reuse: Before mass production made packaging incredibly cheap, materials like glass were valuable. Bottles were expensive to produce, so naturally, they were returned, washed, and refilled countless times. Think of alcohol commonly distributed from barrels directly into customers' own reusable bottles or jugs – a perfectly circular system born from pragmatism.
Widespread Systems We Forgot (and Some We Didn't): Many remember the doorstep delivery of milk in reusable glass bottles or the successful Deposit Return Schemes (DRS) for drinks containers the UK operated from the 1950s to the 1980s. These aren't just historical anecdotes; they were effective circular systems at scale. Furthermore, look at the on-trade today: the humble beer keg used by breweries worldwide is a long-standing, highly efficient closed-loop reuse system. Kegs are designed for durability, returned, cleaned, and refilled hundreds, if not thousands, of times, drastically reducing single-use packaging waste for draught beer.
Modern Innovation in Reuse: Building on this principle, we now see innovative technologies designed specifically for circularity in other categories. Take ecoSPIRITS, for example – a pioneering low-carbon, low-waste technology for the premium spirits industry. By utilising a closed-loop system based around their reusable 4.5L ecoTOTE™ containers, they dramatically reduce packaging waste and the carbon footprint associated with the production and transport of traditional single-use glass spirit bottles and secondary packaging.
These examples – historical and contemporary – clearly demonstrate that it's the linear 'throwaway' culture that is the relatively recent experiment. We know how to operate circular systems because we have done it, and are doing it successfully. The challenge now is to scale, re-implement, and modernise these concepts with renewed ambition across more of the industry.
Understanding Modern Circular Economy Principles
While drawing on historical wisdom and current examples, the modern concept of the circular economy provides a refined framework. It's a systemic shift aiming to design out waste and pollution, keep products and materials in use at their highest value for as long as possible, and regenerate natural systems. Key principles include:
Eliminate Waste and Pollution: Designing products and processes to avoid waste generation from the outset.
Circulate Products and Materials: Prioritising reuse, repair, refurbishment, and remanufacturing to keep resources flowing, with high-quality recycling for materials that can no longer circulate in inner loops.
Regenerate Nature: Actively improving ecosystems, for example, through agricultural practices that enhance soil health and biodiversity.
It’s Much More Than Just Recycling
Remembering our past, and looking at systems like kegs and ecoSPIRITS, reinforces that circularity goes far beyond today's often-exclusive focus on recycling. While important, recycling is energy-intensive and often the least preferred circular option after:
Reuse: As demonstrated by historical systems and modern examples like beer kegs and reusable spirit containers.
Repair: Extending product life.
Refurbishment/Remanufacturing: Bringing items back to high-value use.
The primary goal is preventing waste generation in the first place.
Circularity in Drinks: Why Now? Why Us?
Re-adopting and scaling circular thinking is becoming an imperative for the drinks industry, driven by:
Resource Intensity & Cost: Efficiency reduces exposure to volatile resource prices.
Packaging Predicament: Intense public and regulatory focus on packaging waste.
Regulatory Drivers: Policies mandating change are here. The impending reintroduction of Deposit Return Schemes (DRS) across the UK, designed to capture containers for reuse or high-quality recycling, directly echoes successful past systems. Similarly, the EU's Packaging and Packaging Waste Regulation (PPWR) with its targets for reuse, recycled content, and waste reduction, pushes firmly towards circular models, demanding we rebuild and innovate upon systems we already know can work.
Carbon Footprint: Circularity reduces reliance on energy-intensive virgin material production.
Consumer Demand: Growing desire for sustainable options and less wasteful systems.
Innovation: Circular constraints are driving exciting innovations, as seen with systems like ecoSPIRITS.
Setting the Scene for 'Closing the Loop'
So, how do we re-embrace and modernise circularity in the drinks industry today? Over the next few weeks, we will dive deeper into specific applications. We'll start by focusing on packaging, examining modern reuse and refill models (building on the examples mentioned), and then looking at designing for optimal recyclability and material innovation within the context of regulations like DRS and PPWR. Following that, we'll explore circularity beyond packaging, looking at waste stream valorisation and water management in production.
The Takeaway
The linear 'take-make-use-lose' model is a historical blip, not the endpoint. The drinks industry has a rich history and a vibrant present of operating within circular principles. The challenge – and opportunity – now is to blend past wisdom with modern technology like ecoSPIRITS and renewed ambition to build systems that are resilient, responsible, and ready for the future. We know how to do it; let's get on with it.
