Could reuse, rather than recycling alone, provide one of the most practical answers to the world's growing plastic waste problem?
UK-registered charity REUSE Foundation is hoping to make the organisations working on that solution much easier to discover with the launch of REUSE.IQ, a free, publicly searchable database covering more than 800 reuse and circular-economy businesses around the world.
The database brings together reuse operators, consumer goods innovators and businesses developing alternatives to the familiar "use it once and throw it away" model.
That includes refillable packaging, reusable containers, rental services and take-back schemes – all approaches designed to prevent plastic becoming waste in the first place.
The need for alternatives is clear. According to the OECD, only around 9% of plastic waste was ultimately recycled globally in 2019. With worldwide plastic production continuing to increase, recycling by itself is unlikely to provide the complete answer.
REUSE Foundation argues that greater emphasis needs to be placed on reuse and the circular economy.
REUSE.IQ has therefore been developed to provide researchers, businesses, policymakers, funders and consumers with a clearer picture of what is already happening.
Each database entry includes information such as an organisation's location, business model, main category, year founded and ownership status. Information is drawn from public sources and cross-checked by the Foundation's research team.
Users can search and filter the information, switch between card and table views and explore a map showing where reuse initiatives are operating around the world.
Greg Hewitt, Chair of Action on Plastic UK, believes the database could become particularly useful as Deposit Return Schemes (DRS) and Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) develop.
He said it could help businesses find solutions that allow them to reduce their dependence on single-use plastic and embrace circular-economy principles.
Importantly, REUSE.IQ isn't being presented as a finished project.
It has launched in public beta as a living, community-verified resource. Businesses and members of the public can suggest organisations that should be included, report errors or corrections and express an interest in contributing more detailed case studies.
Roger Sharp, Trustee of REUSE Foundation, told That's Green "until now anyone attempting to understand the global reuse movement has effectively had to piece it together from scratch".
By bringing hundreds of initiatives into one searchable resource, REUSE.IQ could help demonstrate just how much innovation is already taking place.
For those of us who want to see less single-use plastic, that's encouraging. Recycling remains important, but perhaps the greener question increasingly needs to be: why throw something away at all when it could be reused?
REUSE.IQ is free to search at the REUSE Foundation website.
