Repurpose Global Launches 1st-of-Its-Kind Fund to Advance Reuse Movement

The $1M Reuse Outcomes Fund to combat plastic pollution in grocery

2/13/2024

The Reuse Outcomes Fund will help grocers replace single-use products with refillable options.

Repurpose Global, a sustainability action platform, has launched its pioneering initiative, the Reuse Outcomes Fund. The $1 million fund is designed to catalyze equitable access to reuse and refill solutions, leveraging outcomes-based financing to address the global plastic pollution crisis.

According to a recent UN report, "Turning off the Tap," transitioning to a truly circular economy represents the most effective approach to combating plastic pollution, with approximately 70% of plastic reduction achievable through reuse, refill and new delivery models. However, the reuse movement encounters several complex barriers, including inadequate infrastructure, high cost of adoption, and a lack of access to flexible financing for early-stage innovators, which have hindered its growth and widespread adoption.

The Reuse Outcomes Fund aims to finance the deployment of critically lacking reuse and refill infrastructure, especially focusing on consumer goods sectors with high single-use plastic intensity, including FMCG, foodservice and delivery, grocery, e-commerce, and retail. Within these sectors, the new fund by Repurpose Global will target three promising solutions: infrastructure for refilling water and other beverages, reuse and reverse logistics models for food and grocery delivery, and returnable packaging in e-commerce and physical retail.

The Reuse Outcomes Fund is dedicated to creating a circular economy accessible to all, with a particular focus on solution models that serve low- and middle-income communities in the United States, Canada and India. The new fund will also operate based on a theory of change revolving around outcomes-based financing (OBF), where unlike traditional philanthropy or profit-oriented investments, Repurpose Global will fund the implementation of reuse solutions with the sole objective of achieving measurable, additional and verifiable environmental outcomes (e.g., tonnage of plastic waste avoided), prioritizing impact return over financial return. According to Repurpose Global, this approach helps ensure that the most effective and impactful solutions receive the support they need.

In addition to scaling solutions directly, the Reuse Outcomes Fund will also tackle systemic challenges associated with increasing penetration of reuse and refill. As part of the Fund, Repurpose Global will help develop high-integrity frameworks and implementation standards, aimed at guiding the scale-up of waste reduction models worldwide. The organization will also build knowledge repositories that document project implementation best practices, making them transferable and replicable.

“At Repurpose Global, bringing people together to create systems change against the most pressing social and environmental issues facing our world has been our mission from day one, and this new commitment to advancing the reuse movement is a timely and critical extension of that mission,” said Svanika Balasubramanian, CEO and co-founder of New York-based Repurpose Global.

“Imagine a world where everything we use can be given another life. Where fridges stocked with single-use products are replaced with refill stations in every convenience store you walk into, and where the ‘milkman’ model of delivering essential goods is the norm as opposed to the exception,” noted Peter Wang Hjemdahl, chief innovation officer and co-founder of Repurpose Global. “This vision, where reuse beats single-use and is accessible not only globally, but for all strata of society, is the guiding philosophy that underpins our new Reuse Outcomes Fund.”

Repurpose Global's mission is to bring together brands, consumers, innovators and policymakers to collectively combat the plastic waste crisis. Through its pioneering solutions across the circular economy value chain, the organization has helped more than 300 companies measure, reduce and take action on their plastic footprints, while driving systems change on a global scale. According to the organization, Repurpose Impact Projects have recovered more than 23 million kilograms of plastic waste from the environment to date. Founded in 2016, Repurpose Global now employs 70-plus full-time team members across offices worldwide.