How a Poll on Reusable Packaging Exposed the ‘Shock of Daily Life’

A survey commissioned by a major French packaging federation and carried out by IFOP finds that, while 92% of respondents say they are ready to use reusable packaging, that enthusiasm crumbles when it comes down to real money. Almost three-quarters (74%) believe the cost of reuse will ultimately be passed on to consumers, and 85% refuse to advance more than €5 in cumulative deposits during a single shopping trip—nearly half of those surveyed draw the line at €2.

The study, released as the government prepares to extend reuse obligations, highlights what the federation calls the "shock of daily life": a gap between abstract ecological willingness and the concrete constraints households actually face. Pollster Jérôme Fourquet notes that even a modest deposit—which would be too small to change behaviour—is acceptable, while an amount high enough to drive returns is precisely the sum the public rejects. Early experiments confirm the mismatch, with fewer than one in four reusable containers actually being brought back.

Beyond the survey numbers, the industry is using the moment to sound a broader alarm about how environmental legislation is crafted. The federation, which represents a sector employing nearly 15,000 people across more than 80 sites, says recent overhauls of extended producer responsibility for household and professional packaging were rushed through without genuine dialogue. Ongoing working groups, it complains, are even redefining the term "producer" without inviting the manufacturers concerned.

Behind the Green Veneer: Money, Trust and Policy Reality

The Consumer Cost Barrier

The poll’s central finding is not that consumers oppose reuse—they do not—but that their support is conditional on it not hurting their purchasing power. The 85% of people who refuse to tie up more than €5 in deposits are not being difficult; they are managing a tight household budget. If legislation sets deposit levels too high, return rates may actually fall, creating a system that is expensive to run and fails to deliver the promised environmental benefit. This mirrors experiences in other countries where reuse schemes collapsed because they asked too much of consumers in cash-flow terms.

Where Policy Meets Reality

The federation’s critique extends further than a single deposit system. It argues that Paris-based lawmakers repeatedly design circular-economy rules that ignore the logistics of daily life in towns like Blois or Béziers. The result, it warns, is not just ineffectiveness—it is a slow-burn erosion of public trust in the green transition as a whole. Every preventable flop, like the paltry return rates seen in pilot projects, chips away at the consent of French citizens, making it harder to pass and implement future environmental measures.

An Industry Left Outside the Room

The op-ed describes a pattern in recent packaging policy: the refonte of the REP for household packaging was conducted on a calendar that precluded any real consultation, the professional packaging reform followed the same route, and new summer working groups are debating the very definition of “producer” without the industrial players that would be bound by it. The federation insists that companies—especially industrial ones—are not suspects to be kept at arm’s length but the “beating heart” of France’s economy. Their exclusion from decision-making, it contends, condemns the state to legislate in the abstract, with rules that inevitably collide with operational reality.

Three Demands the Packaging Industry Is Placing on French Lawmakers

The packaging industry puts forward three specific, concrete demands that it says are the minimum for workable public policy:

  • Mandatory impact assessments: Systematic studies measuring economic, social and environmental consequences before any new legislation is voted, so that lawmakers have hard numbers on what a reform will cost households and businesses.
  • Genuine early-stage consultation: Move from last-minute information sessions to sincere concertation with the companies and sectors that will have to apply the rules, ensuring their on-the-ground knowledge shapes the design from the start.
  • Scientific rigour as the baseline: Anchor every environmental decision on life-cycle analyses that are robust, verifiable and legally binding, rather than on untested assumptions about which option—reuse, recycling or another approach—actually delivers the best overall outcome.

The federation says the packaging sector is ready to engage. For policymakers, the message is unmistakable: listening to daily realities is not a retreat from ecological ambition, but the only way to make it stick.

Risk & Opportunity Assessment

Commercial RiskMediumNew reuse rules, if designed without industry input, risk imposing costly logistics and tracking requirements on packaging companies, potentially squeezing margins in a sector that already operates on thin volumes.
Competitive RiskLowThe op-ed does not point to immediate competitive displacement; however, ill-calibrated regulation could favour simpler, less durable packaging solutions that undercut higher-quality reusable models.
Regulatory RiskHighThe article details how recent reforms were passed without dialogue and how ongoing working groups are redefining the term ‘producer’ without industry representation, creating legal uncertainty and the possibility of retroactive or poorly targeted obligations.
Reputation RiskLowThe packaging industry’s reputation is not directly threatened, though the piece warns that repeated policy failures could dent public confidence in the whole sector’s green credentials.
Technology DisruptionLowNo disruptive technology is flagged; the tension is between reuse and existing recycling systems, both of which the industry can handle if given sensible rules.
Commercial OpportunityMediumIf the industry is brought into the policy design process, it stands to shape a reuse framework that leverages its existing logistics and high recycling rates (94%), potentially creating new revenue streams from reusable packaging services.