Beverage packaging

You are designing packaging for an everyday soft drink for a regional producer. Single-use packaging is light and cheap; refillable packaging is heavier and more expensive, but it is used many times. Decide what the packaging is made of, where it is transported from, how it is returned and what happens to it after drinking.

• Students explain that reuse pays off only from a certain number of refills.
• Students understand the effect of packaging weight and transport distance on the overall impact.
• Students distinguish deposit systems, separate collection and reuse.
• Students can argue when refillable packaging is better than single-use and when it is not.

1. 1

   Packaging materialDecision

   What will the packaging be made of?

2. 2

   Design for recyclingDecision

   How will the packaging be designed?

3. 3

   Filling and transportDecision

   Where is the drink filled and where is it distributed from?

4. 4

   How many times is it worth returning?Riddle and experiment

   A refillable bottle is stronger, but heavier and more expensive to produce. It pays off only if it is used long enough. First guess, then check it yourself.

5. 5

   Return systemDecision

   How will the packaging be returned after drinking?

6. 6

   ReuseDecision

   How many times will the packaging be used before it is recycled?

7. 7

   End of the packagingDecision

   What happens to packaging that can no longer be used?

Deposit system

The customer pays a deposit at purchase and gets it back when returning the packaging.

Reuse

The packaging is washed and refilled without being destroyed as it would be in recycling.

Bottle-to-bottle recycling

Used packaging becomes the same type of new packaging, not a lower-value product.

Break-even point

The number of uses from which refillable packaging is better than single-use.

Single-material packaging

Packaging made from one material, which is easy to sort and recycle.

• impact per use = production ÷ number of uses + washing + transportThe model relation used in the experiment. The numbers are relative units, not data from a life-cycle assessment.
• transport ~ weight × distanceThe heavier the packaging and the longer the journey, the more energy transport uses.

1. 5 min

   Introduction

   How often do you return a bottle to the shop? What happens to a bottle you throw away?

2. 20 min

   Work in the app

   Pairs go through seven steps including the riddle and the break-even experiment.

3. 10 min

   Discussion

   Compare results and use the discussion questions from the results screen.

Total 35 minutes. See the teacher guide for shorter and longer variants.

• Reuse pays off only above a break-even number of refills, and only if the journey is short enough – weight × distance matters.
• A deposit system raises the return rate and delivers clean, sorted material, which is what makes bottle-to-bottle recycling possible.
• Reusing packaging (washing and refilling) and recycling it are different routes: recycling destroys the package, reuse does not.

• “Reusable packaging is always better.”

  In reality: Only above the break-even number of refills and within a limited distance; beyond that a single-use bottle can win in the model.

• “Recycling and reuse are the same thing.”

  In reality: Recycling breaks the packaging down into material; reuse washes and refills the same package.

• “Glass is automatically greener than plastic.”

  In reality: Glass is heavier, so transport uses more energy. It works best on short routes and with many refills.

1. 1.Why does a refillable bottle not pay off over long distances?
2. 2.Which system – deposit, separate collection, reuse – changes people's behaviour the most?
3. 3.When would an aluminium can be better than a refillable glass bottle?

• Homework: find out whether your country or region has a deposit scheme and what return rate it reaches.
• Change the transport assumptions in the experiment (distance) and note how the break-even point moves.
• Compare an aluminium can with a refillable glass bottle for a local and for a distant filling plant.