{"id":43536,"date":"2026-08-28T10:19:51","date_gmt":"2026-08-28T10:19:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/this-is-vegan.com\/?p=43536"},"modified":"2026-08-29T01:05:58","modified_gmt":"2026-08-29T01:05:58","slug":"cosmetics-packaging-deposit-cash-statt-trash","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/this-is-vegan.com\/en\/cosmetics-packaging-deposit-cash-statt-trash\/","title":{"rendered":"29 Cents for an Empty Shampoo Bottle: Inside Germany’s Return Scheme for Cosmetics Packaging"},"content":{"rendered":"

The shampoo is vegan, the lotion was developed without animal testing, the formula is free of microplastics. And the empty bottle still goes in the bin. A start-up from Heilbronn in southern Germany wants to close that gap: reo takes cosmetics packaging back through the beverage deposit machines that already stand in German supermarkets, and pays 29 cents per container.<\/p>\n

Diesen Artikel gibt es auch auf Deutsch.<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n

It sounds like the kind of idea you want to like immediately. We still checked what is actually happening right now, which brands take part, and whether the four launch partners are as vegan as they first appear.<\/p>\n

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29 cents per empty bottle: where does the project stand?<\/p>\n

The start-up reo<\/strong> accepts empty packaging from the brands lavera, LOGONA, Sant\u00e9 and Kneipp<\/strong> at beverage deposit machines and pays out 0.29 euros per container<\/strong>. No deposit is charged at purchase, the money is a straight reward. No account, no app.<\/p>\n

One caveat, stated by reo itself: during the 2026 test period the packaging is not yet refilled<\/strong>. What is being tested is the return, the loop comes later. Participating stores are currently in the Munich area, plus Kaufland branches in the Heilbronn area.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

400 million bottles, one single use<\/h2>\n
\"Talk
The figure reo uses to promote the project comes from the company itself. Photo: Isabelle Dupont<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Around 400 million single-use shampoo bottles are consumed in Germany every year. The number has been circulating since early summer, and in every source we could find it traces back to reo. We are not aware of an independent survey behind it, so we treat it as an order of magnitude rather than official statistics.<\/p>\n

The direction holds regardless. Cosmetics packaging is a one-way street: produced, filled, shipped, used once, thrown away. Beverages have had working reuse systems for decades. For shower gel and body lotion there have only been isolated schemes with their own collection boxes or return envelopes, and hardly anyone keeps those up in daily life.<\/p>\n

How the return works<\/h2>\n

reo's trick is to build no new infrastructure. Returns happen at the beverage deposit machines that participating Kaufland and VollCorner stores already have. Participating packaging carries a digital code the machine recognises.<\/p>\n

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  1. Drop in the empty container.<\/strong> Only products from the four partner brands, only in participating stores.<\/li>\n
  2. Take the voucher.<\/strong> The machine prints a receipt worth 0.29 euros per container.<\/li>\n
  3. Redeem it at the till.<\/strong> Exactly like a normal empties voucher.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    What is missing here is worth noticing: nothing is added at purchase, there is no app, no registration, no customer number. Returning a bottle leaves no personal data behind. In an industry where every sustainability scheme now comes attached to an account and a points balance, that omission is a relief.<\/p>\n

    This is also why reo avoids the word deposit: a deposit is money you put down at the till and get back on return. Here nobody pays anything in. The 29 cents are a reward for bringing the packaging back, and there is more on that at reo-reuse.de<\/a>.<\/p>\n

    \"lavera
    Four brands are taking part: lavera, LOGONA, Sant\u00e9 and Kneipp. Photo: Isabelle Dupont<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

    The line at the very bottom of the website<\/h2>\n

    At the foot of cashstatttrash.de sits a footnote that is easy to miss and is the most honest sentence in the whole project:<\/p>\n

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    “During the 2026 test period the returned packaging is not yet reused, so no real reuse loop exists yet.”<\/p>\n

    Notice on cashstatttrash.de, retrieved 28 August 2026, translated by us<\/cite><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

    So the return itself is what is being tested first: does the machine reliably recognise a shower gel bottle, do enough people come, what does retail do with the material? Washing and refilling is the next step. reo showed its purpose-built washing facility publicly for the first time at the Heilbronn kick-off in late June.<\/p>\n

    Reading the press material, you might come away thinking the loop is already turning. It is not. For a pilot that has been running since November 2025, that is an entirely normal stage. It is simply worth knowing the difference before declaring your bathroom saved.<\/p>\n

    Why reuse beats recycling, but only from the second cycle<\/h2>\n
    \"Talk
    The life cycle assessments for the participating packaging were presented publicly at the kick-off. Photo: Isabelle Dupont<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

    Recycling has a built-in problem: turning old material into something new costs energy, water and in many cases virgin material on top. Washing a bottle and refilling it skips that step entirely.<\/p>\n

    The logic does not apply from the very first return, though. Reusable packaging is usually thicker and heavier, washing consumes water and heat, and the bottles have to be collected and transported. Johanna Meier, environmental engineer and LCA expert at Fraunhofer IBP Stuttgart, presented life cycle assessments for the participating packaging at the kick-off. According to Laverana, the result is that from the second to third cycle onwards<\/strong> the reusable option beats single use ecologically.<\/p>\n

    That is the real benchmark for this project. A return system whose bottles drop out after one round would make the balance worse rather than better. Whether reo reaches the necessary number of cycles will only become clear once refilling begins.<\/p>\n

    Are the four brands vegan? The honest answer<\/h2>\n

    Natural cosmetics and vegan cosmetics get lumped together easily. They are two different things, and among reo's four partners the picture varies. Here is what the brands themselves say:<\/p>\n