The Real Challenge of Reuse in Europe Begins Now

The European Union now has an unprecedented regulatory toolkit to accelerate the transition toward a more circular economy: the Packaging and Packaging Waste Regulation (PPWR), the Ecodesign for Sustainable Products Regulation (ESPR), the Right to Repair, the Batteries Regulation, Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) schemes, and more. Never before have objectives related to reuse, repair, and extending product lifespans been so clearly embedded in European law. Yet one reality remains: ambitious rules alone do not guarantee effective outcomes. Without harmonization, coordination, monitoring, and consistent enforcement across Member States, the Reuse Economy risks remaining fragmented, costly, and unable to reach its full industrial potential.

The Reuse Economy can only function sustainably within a framework of trust. Companies investing in washing facilities, collection systems, repair operations, or reverse logistics infrastructure need regulatory certainty. They must be able to operate within a coherent European market governed by comparable rules across countries. Today, this is still not the case. Methodologies for calculating reuse rates differ, monitoring systems vary in effectiveness, administrative capacities are uneven, and enforcement remains limited in some cases. This fragmentation creates economic uncertainty, discouraging investment and slowing the scaling-up of reuse solutions.

Harmonizing Rules and Coordinating Stakeholders: Two Key Levers for Accelerating Reuse

The challenge is now less about creating new regulations and more about making existing ones operational. Europe must transform its regulatory framework into a true engine for action, trust, and investment.

The first priority is the harmonization of methodologies and indicators. It is impossible to manage a reuse economy effectively without a common language. Concepts such as return rates, reuse cycles, preparation for reuse, and EPR system performance must be defined and measured consistently across Europe. Without this, comparisons between countries become impossible and targets lose credibility. This harmonization process has already begun through the PPWR, which introduces common requirements for traceability, reporting, and data exchange for packaging reuse and refill systems. It must also extend to the data contained in the Digital Product Passport (DPP), ensuring interoperability between digital systems and enabling genuine European-wide traceability.

The second priority is coordination. Reuse involves a wide range of stakeholders: manufacturers, retailers, reuse operators, local authorities, EPR organizations, logistics providers, social economy actors, and public authorities. Too often, each develops its own tools, standards, and infrastructure. This siloed approach prevents the industrialization of the sector. By contrast, shared systems and interoperability reduce costs and create economies of scale beyond national borders.

The example of the European standardized pallet system (EPAL) demonstrates that success largely depends on common formats, harmonized rules, and shared infrastructure. This model should inspire packaging reuse systems as well as other sectors. Stronger European coordination is essential to avoid the proliferation of incompatible systems. A timely and highly relevant example is the **Interloop** project, partly funded through the European INTERREG NWE program, which aims to develop reusable and interoperable primary glass packaging systems initially across France, Germany, Belgium, and the Netherlands, before expanding at the European level.

Rules Must Be Enforced, Not Just Adopted

However, harmonization and coordination alone are not enough. Rules must also be enforced credibly. Today, some European obligations remain insufficiently monitored. In several Member States, reuse targets are not subject to robust tracking, and on-the-ground inspections remain limited. This creates a major risk: companies that invest seriously in reuse may find themselves disadvantaged compared to actors that do not genuinely comply with the rules.

Europe must therefore strengthen its monitoring and oversight mechanisms. This should include:

• Regular audits;
• Common reporting methodologies;
• Graduated sanction mechanisms;
• Greater transparency regarding national performance.

One essential tool would be the creation of an annual European Reuse Economy Scoreboard, publishing comparable indicators by country and sector. Such transparency would generate a dynamic similar to that already observed with European climate indicators: no Member State wants to be seen as falling behind.

Monitoring is also strategically important in combating greenwashing. In the field of reuse, unverified claims can quickly undermine consumer and investor confidence. Common European standards, harmonized audit protocols, and credible certification systems are therefore essential to secure the market.

This requirement for oversight and transparency also applies to EPR systems. Historically designed around waste management and recycling, EPR schemes and deposit-return systems must now evolve toward a prevention- and reuse-oriented approach. A portion of producer contributions should be redirected toward financing washing, reuse, repair, and the associated infrastructure. However, this evolution can only succeed if governance and monitoring rules are harmonized across Europe.

Ultimately, the real issue is the economic credibility of reuse. Companies will invest massively in the Reuse Economy only if they are confident that the rules will be stable, comparable, and effectively enforced. Ambitious but poorly enforced regulation generates uncertainty; harmonized and credible regulation creates a market.

The European Union has already achieved similar transformations in other industrial sectors through common standards and a well-structured single market. The Reuse Economy can become the next major pillar of European industrial sovereignty—but only if harmonization, coordination, and enforcement are elevated to political priorities.

Because the Reuse Economy is no longer a marginal or experimental topic. It is gradually becoming a strategic industrial infrastructure capable of reducing dependence on virgin resources, strengthening the resilience of value chains, and creating local, non-relocatable jobs. Europe now has the rules. The challenge of the coming years will be to make them truly operational, recognizing that the effectiveness of the law is a prerequisite for market credibility.