Refill is more than a trend—it demands system change and smart strategy, says Willemijn Peeters of Searious Business. From logistics to consumer behaviour, reuse must be treated like a full product launch. When done right, it delivers sustainability, customer loyalty, and a smarter business case. Europe must now act seriously.

Het opzetten van herbruikbare verpakkingssystemen kan kostbaar en complex zijn, maar pooling-systemen bieden bedrijven de mogelijkheid om de kosten te delen en tegelijkertijd de economische en milieuvoordelen van hergebruik te benutten. In deze sessie presenteerde Searious Business het RePLHA-project, een innovatief pooling-systeem voor herbruikbare verpakkingen in de sector van grote huishoudelijke apparaten in Europa. Het systeem is ontworpen om te voldoen aan de komende PPWR (Packaging and Packaging Waste Regulation) eisen en zorgt voor gedeelde voordelen.

Willemijn Peeters, Founder of Searious Business, reflects on her experience at the last Plastic Treaty negotiations in Busan. While progress may feel like one step forward and half a step back, she assures us that the trajectory remains firmly in the right direction.

On the final day of the 4th round of negotiations for the United Nations’ Global Plastics Treaty in Ottawa, Willemijn Peeters, founder of Searious Business, gives us an update on her highlights from INC-4 thus far.

What happens to a dishwasher’s plastic components at the end of the appliance’s life? How can we recover these valuable materials and give them a new purpose? As part of its continuing goal to create sustainable, value-added customer solutions, Evonik has set out to find answers to these important questions. Searious Business helped them find solutions to this recycling challenge.

Imagine you’ve been worried about the fate of our planet from a really young age. And one day when you’re old and grey, you want to look back on your life and see that you did your absolute best. The work you did had a demonstrable positive impact on the environment. Then you’re not going to waste your time with trivial tasks. You put all your energy where you can make the most difference. For example, at corporate monoliths such as Unilever. Or even at the UN summit where environmental goals and measures are set at global scale. Only then can you turn your sustainable ambition into serious business. Or in the case of Willemijn Peeters: Searious Business.

Plastic pollution is having a colossal impact on our oceanic ecosystems. Small Island Developing States (SIDS), in particular, experience a deluge of plastic waste either washing up on their beaches or from plastic they generate themselves. These vulnerable economies, primarily dependent on tourism and fishing, can be devastated by pollution. Since 2019, Searious Business has been working with the IUCN on their "Close the Plastic Tap" Program to mitigate plastic pollution on six Caribbean and Pacific islands. Several options and methodologies were shown to work well—but a holistic approach is needed—hence this Blueprint to guide the way.

Debating into the dead of night – the intergovernmental negotiating committee of over 170 country delegates and observers kept many of us at the edge of our seats. After all, there is a lot at stake: like the climate and the biodiversity crises, plastic pollution is now also officially a planetary crisis. A UN Treaty on Plastics will have the ability to change this and can have a profound impact on the way we produce and consume plastics. Willemijn Peeters gives her take on negotiations so far.