A CleanTech firm looking to make reusable packaging as simple to adopt as single-use has secured funding and launched a pilot with Premier League club Arsenal’s Emirates Stadium.
Again secured £2.55 million and has also begun a trial in London with Budweiser Brewing Group (Camden Town Brewery), Diageo (Johnnie Walker Black and Smirnoff), Biffa and Greene King.
It will see Again and its partners collect, clean and reuse tens of thousands of bottles consumed across London’s biggest pubs, clubs and sport stadiums.
The investment, led by Eka Ventures and backed by Maersk Growth, will be used to launch more sites across the UK and develop its CleanCell system, which cleans packaging for refill and reuse.
Again says it is creating the supply chain infrastructure for reusable packaging using the latest automation, robotics and software technologies. Its compact, shipping container-sized CleanCell uses 76% less water and 90% less energy than traditional recycling methods and can efficiently process and clean thousands of packaging units each month, ready to be refilled and reused.
“It is really encouraging to see businesses working together on this exciting new pilot to make reuse more affordable and I look forward to hearing the results,” said Resources & Waste Minister Jo Churchill.
“Through our new Environment Act we will tackle the nation’s ‘throwaway culture’ – incentivising manufacturers to produce more recyclable packaging, and putting in place consistent recycling collections for households and businesses.”
Matt Kennedy, founder and CEO of Again, said: “Reusable packaging is the future but today it’s prohibitively expensive for brands. We’re in the early stages of building a circular economy and we see our role being the infrastructure that underpins the packaging aspect of this on a mass scale.
“This can only be done with buy-in from across the value chain and we’re excited to be working in partnership with renowned brands, like Budweiser Brewing Group and Diageo, alongside waste management companies, like Biffa and SWRnewstar, to deliver a reusable packaging solution that can enable the shift of billions of units of packaging to reuse in an economically viable way.”