In November 2025, the French Agency for Ecological Transition (ADEME) published the second part of their environmental assessment of reusing glass packaging in France.
The first part (Part A) was published on June 29, 2023, and focused on comparing reusable glass versus single-use glass packaging. The new second part (Part B) compares reusable glass packaging to single-use articles made from other materials. These studies have been carried out in the context of France’s goal to reach 10% reusable packaging by 2027 (FPF reported).
Part A highlighted that reusable glass packaging consistently has a lower environmental impact than single-use glass packaging (FPF reported and here). The authors found that for single-use glass bottles and jars, switching to reusable glass achieves its breakeven point after just four uses, regardless of transport distance (FPF reported).
The comparison carried out in part B between reusable glass and other reusable materials considered different packaging types, weights, and transport distances.
In the case of single-use aluminum cans, reusable glass bottles performed better after at least nine uses. Similarly, reusable glass jars were found to be preferable over single-use steel cans after at least five uses for larger cans and 12 uses for smaller cans. Glass also outperformed single-use plastic trays and pots after at least eight and five uses, respectively. However, for lightweight single-use PET bottles the outcome remains unclear, the authors say.
A limitation of the study is the number of relevant impact areas considered. The authors acknowledge that their life cycle assessment (LCA) methodology does not account for impacts on biodiversity and human health, especially regarding plastics (FPF reported). “These [LCA] methodologies remain incomplete for certain major environmental impacts. In particular, with the current available methodologies, LCAs do not model impacts on biodiversity and human health.” Additionally, they address the fact that plastic pollution is a global environmental and health issue (FPF reported and here).
To scale up future reuse systems in France, the report notes that significant investments in reusable packaging fleets, adaptation of production lines and developments of collection and washing infrastructure are necessary. Awareness campaigns, incentives for consumer returns, standardization of packaging, and packaging design optimizations are among the identified key levers for success to widely implement reuse in France.
Regarding economic viability, the authors emphasize that reuse becomes more competitive as total volumes of reusable packaging within the system increase and is then also less sensitive to fluctuations in energy and raw material prices. Reuse also supports local, non-relocatable jobs.
The study shows that switching to reusable glass packaging is a lever for reducing environmental impacts of packaging. While the study does not describe glass as inert or consider the health impacts of known chemical migration from different packaging materials, existing scientific evidence suggests this can also be considered an additional benefit of using glass (FPF reported). Moreover, it shows that tools and approaches to scale reuse systems are available, but rapid transformation is needed to be effective.
While ADEME’s study does not consider health impacts or chemicals of concern, there are other resources becoming available that do. The UP Scorecard is one example. It is a freely available science-based online tool co-developed by the Food Packaging Forum to help compare and identify foodware and food packaging that is safer and more environmentally sustainable. Integrating both quantitative LCA and novel qualitative methods, scores are provided for plastic pollution, chemicals of concern, climate, water use, sustainable sourcing, and recoverability.
References
ADEME (November 2025) “Evaluation environnementale de la consigne pour le reemploy d’emballages en France.” In French
