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First National Packaging Reuse Association
Switzerland is one of the highest waste-producing countries in the world. Despite its reputation for efficient recycling, the country’s consumption of packaged products continues to increase — generating massive resource pressure, waste volumes, and emissions. Recycling, while important, can no longer address the root cause of the problem: the linear “take–make–dispose” model of packaging.
The recent closure of Switzerland’s last glass recycling plant revealed just how fragile the system has become — overly dependent on imported infrastructure and global supply chains. Reuse offers a powerful alternative. By reducing waste at the source, reuse extends the life of materials, strengthens local resilience, and lowers the environmental footprint of consumption.
Yet scaling reuse requires systemic coordination across industries, regions, and regulations. While numerous Swiss initiatives have emerged, they remain fragmented — each limited to specific brands, materials, or cantons. Without a unifying structure, their collective impact cannot reach national scale or economic viability.
Organisation engaged across industries
Swiss REuse was created to respond to this gap — as Switzerland’s first national association dedicated to packaging reuse. It acts as a collective platform bringing together the many actors of the packaging value chain: producers, retailers, logistics providers, municipalities, and innovators. By aligning these stakeholders under a shared vision, the association provides the coordination, advocacy, and technical backbone needed to make reuse viable at scale.
Swiss REuse serves simultaneously as a convener, a knowledge hub, and a political voice. It connects pioneers who are already implementing reuse models, enables them to exchange expertise, and helps translate local experience into national standards. It also centralizes data, training, and best practices through a bilingual online platform, allowing companies and institutions to learn, replicate, and collaborate. Beyond coordination, Swiss REuse works to ensure that reuse is recognized in national sustainability strategies, advocating for a legal and financial framework that supports circular solutions.
The association is guided by a representative committee that includes leading organizations such as Réseau Consignes, Vetrum, Docteur Gab’s, Kegsman, reCircle, and Vetropack. Its operational secretariat is hosted by Durabilitas, a neutral Swiss think-and-do tank specializing in circular economy strategies. Together, they bring technical rigor, neutrality, and long-term vision to an initiative designed to strengthen both the ecological and economic fabric of the country.
“Recycling is not enough. Reuse must once again become the norm in Switzerland.”
The establishment of Swiss REuse marks a turning point in Switzerland’s transition toward a circular economy. For the first time, the country has a unified structure capable of coordinating the fragmented reuse landscape and representing its interests at a national level. By connecting industries, policymakers, and consumers within a coherent framework, the association transforms reuse from an isolated ideal into a practical, collaborative reality.
Through its work, Swiss REuse will help make reusable packaging systems interoperable, visible, and economically sound. The initiative also demonstrates how environmental action can generate local employment, innovation, and resilience. Supporting this launch phase means catalyzing a structural shift — one that redefines packaging as a renewable asset rather than disposable waste and positions Switzerland as a European leader in circular design and policy.
