THE REFILL COALITION
GoUnpackaged convened a coalition of leading UK companies to develop scalable, standardised refill and reuse solutions for in-store and online. The two proven solutions developed with Aldi and Ocado are now available for other retailers and brands to use.
Download the trial report and access our learnings
Download the full independent Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) report
The UK Refill Coalition
GoUnpackaged convened the Refill Coalition, a groundbreaking cross-sector collaboration project designed to include both an in-store and online refill offering.
At the heart of the Refill Coalition’s solution is a standardised bulk reusable “vessel” optimised in its design for the supply chain. The ecosystem in which the vessel operates is based on open source principles to allow fast and scaled adoption by industry.
The reusable vessel can be used for both dry goods and liquids, by any supplier, and marks the first step in developing a worldwide standard across the supply chain for refills.
Working in partnership with major UK supermarkets Aldi, Ocado and logistics experts CHEP and funded by Innovate UK, this project launched as a real world trial in October 2023.
Learn more about our refill solutions
In-Store
“ALDI UK is proud to have partnered with GoUnpackaged through the Refill Coalition, culminating in a valuable journey of exploring refill solutions and making significant strides toward a scalable refill system.”
– Luke Emery, ALDI UK
The in-store vessel replaces current bulk dispensers with reusable vessels located at a refill station filled and shipped with the product by suppliers direct to store. Customers bring their own packaging to refill at the station. Each reusable vessel replaces 24 single-use plastic packs*
Online
“Leveraging GoUnpackaged’s vast expertise and by working together, we are delighted to have developed reusable packaging solutions intended to become industry standard, accessible to any supplier or retailer.”
– Ocado Retail
The online consumer sized vessel is pre-filled with product by the supplier and shipped to customers alongside the rest of their Ocado order, then returned to the Ocado driver when empty. Each consumer sized vessel replaces 5 single-use plastic packs*
*Based on a 500g rice pack
Refill Coalition Partners
With thanks also to the following retailers for their support in the early development of this project:
Refill Coalition Equipment Partners:
“We are extremely proud of our collective work to design and launch these new refill & reuse systems, which form a key part of the solution to tackling the single-use plastics crisis. The trial demonstrates the solutions’ operational efficiency, clear environmental benefit and scalability which are critical steps towards industry transformation. Additionally, the sales share and in-depth research provide evidence of the significant consumer appetite for refill & reuse as part of their regular shop. We look forward to seeing other retailers and brands taking up these proven solutions, enabling an acceleration towards a reuse future.”
A statement from the Refill Coalition
