REUSABLE PACKAGING IN THE COVID AGE
Are concerns about the transmission of Covid via reusable packaging justified – or have the risks been overstated? Fin Slater spoke with John Hocevar, Oceans Campaign Director at Greenpeace USA, about why his organization and many others believe the latter is closer to the truth.
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it has with countless other aspects of modern society, the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic seemed to put the brakes on the rise of one of the industry’s most promising emerging channels: reusable packaging models. At the start of the pandemic, amidst a flurry of panic-driven and difficultto-verify stories, news items began to emerge about the potential of the virus to be transmitted via surfaces – raising obvious questions about the safety of reuse models. Since then, public health bodies such as the FDA and WHO have determined that the chances of transmission via surfaces are low – especially considering the rigorous sterilization processes that reuse systems undergo. In light of this, Greenpeace, along with over 125 health experts from 19 countries, signed a statement assuring retailers and consumers that reusa| 16 | Packaging Europe
bles are safe during Covid-19, pushing back on claims made by some parts of the plastics industry. Here’s what John Hocevar had to tell Fin Slater about this statement and its arguments on the effects that the virus has (or hasn’t) had on reuse:
FS: To give us some context, could you talk a bit about the state of the reuse market pre-Covid?
JH: Before Covid, we were seeing corporations form partnerships with reuse experts, and introduce pilots to start gauging customer interest. There was a proliferation of entrepreneurial start-ups, employing a range of approaches to meet most needs. Demand for reuse was growing, particularly among young people.
