Proposal:Reusable packaging
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| The Feature Page for this approved proposal is located at Key:reusable_packaging |
| reusable_packaging | |
|---|---|
| Proposal status: | Approved (active) |
| Proposed by: | Ajojo |
| Tagging: | reusable_packaging=* |
| Applies to: |  
|
| Definition: | Describes a shop accepting reusable containers from their customers and/or proposing some |
| Statistics: |
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| Rendered as: | hidden |
| Draft started: | 2019-07-13 |
| RFC start: | 2021-04-23 |
| Vote start: | 2021-05-16 |
| Vote end: | 2021-05-30 |
Note: This proposal is revived and continued by user flo2154.
Proposal
Create a tag that allows to identify shops reducing their amounts of waste by accepting or proposing reusable packaging for their products for sale.
Rationale
Many organizations, including Zero Waste France (see this french article for the initiative description), try to identify shops accepting reusable packaging from their customers and make the information public using a sticker like "Bring your own containers" on the shop window.
The goal of this sticker is to make customers comfortable asking to buy some products using their own packaging (reused glass jar, reused paper bag, reused fabric bag, no packaging like taking the bread in the hand...).
Nowadays many different isolated maps exist to identify these shops but none of them is based on OpenStreetMap database to identify them and there is no common map for all these organizations and shop initiatives.
bulk_purchase
OpenStreetMap allows to identify bulk purchase shops and it exists some applications like https://cartovrac.fr for people who just want a render of these data.
Shops accepting reusable containers are not necessarily shops who sell "bulk products". It could be any shop that accepts that people bring their own containers to buy a food product, soap, detergent ... A shop that has bulk products, as described in the OpenStreetMap wiki, is not necessarily a shop who accepts reusable containers. Some shops selling bulk products will only accept that their customers use the one-use only bags proposed by the shop.
zero_waste
It also exists a feature that describes Zero waste shops. This features is much more exclusive and is limited to shops "that largely do without packaging material" while the majority of shops that accept reusable containers just accept it for customers who ask for it, which is a customer initiative to not have a new packaging and not a shop one as the Zero Waste shops.
There is also a feature proposal Low_waste_and_zero_waste that is really close to the zero_waste one.
Detailed description: what & why
Accepting reusable packaging for a shop means that the products of the shop are not already packaged when the customer wants to buy it. Like a bakery with a huge bread basket, a bulk purchase shop, a butcher display ... It's not just about avoid the extra plastic bag in supermarket to carry all the products just bought.
Shops accepting reusable containers are often conveniences and supermarkets selling bulk products, greengrocers, bakeries, butcher's shops, fish shops, delis, chocolate shops, cake shops, but it could also be restaurants or fast foods which accept reusable containers for a takeaway service. In my opinion, this could also apply for vendor machines with packaging in option (milk vending machine, orange juice, bread and vegetables/fruits distributors ...).
Most of the time, if the customer wants to buy the products without packaging he has to ask the seller for it and sometimes the shops deny the request. This could be demoralizing especially for shy people. It's rare that the seller proposes himself to not package the product or to use a reusable container. Some organizations like Zero Waste make the task easier for customers by proposing stickers to shops to put on the shop window. Below is an example of sticker from Zero Waste Lille in France. On these sticker we often see "bring your own containers" or "We like your jars" ... It's easier for customers to ask the product in a reusable container when a sign says that the shop accepts that service. It also means that the seller will know why the customers ask for it.
Example of sticker: Sticker from Zero Waste Lille
Also, some shops even propose some reusable packaging. They have a kind of deposit you pay once and reuse (sometimes the shop even cleans it for you: you give the old one when coming back to the shop and you get clean one for your new purchases), or even packaging customers give to the shop, the shop cleans it and proposes it back to all clients for free (often using glass jars that we find for jam, tomato sauce ... that people usually use once and put to trash).
Warning: "reusable" doesn't mean "recyclable". They are not of the same level of involvement. Even if a container is recyclable and/or biodegradable, the highest environmental cost of this packaging is to produce it and re-produce it for recycling (high energy & water cost). Re-using, means produce once and re-use multiple times until it's not reusable anymore.
Examples
Each local antenna of the Zero Waste organization have identified around 100 shops using a sticker like the "Bring your own containers" sticker per city of medium/large size (more than 100k people). Therefore the number of shops accepting the containers of the customers is about a few thousands for a country like France.
See also the usages of takeaway:lunchbox=* tag, which is used for the same reason[1]: https://overpass-turbo.eu/s/13iq
Tagging
Shops accepting that their customers bring and use their own packaging to buy a product:
- reusable_packaging:accept=no: the shop doesn't accept this initiative
- reusable_packaging:accept=yes: the shop accepts this initiative
- reusable_packaging:accept=only: the customers can only buy products of this shop with reusable containers because the shop doesn't propose any one-use only packaging. Therefore the customer has to use either the shop's reusable containers or to bring his own.
A shop accepting reusable containers should physically display it on the shop. It could be a sticker on the shop window, a sign hand-made by the shop saying "here you can bring your reusable containers" or a shop that explicitly says "Zero waste shop" meaning that the philosophy is not to sell products with packaging.
The reusable container accepted could be a strong one that will be used hundreds of times like a glass jar or a fragile one that is considered as "reused" like a paper bag that could be usable only a few times. The second type is not really a "reusable" packaging but is considered as "reused".
Shops proposing some reusable containers to their clients:
- reusable_packaging:offer=no: the shop doesn't propose deposit or reusable container
- reusable_packaging:offer=yes: the shop proposes a deposit or reusable containers for some products or as an alternative for one-use only packaging.
- reusable_packaging:offer=only: the shop sells all its products with deposit or reusable containers.
The deposit could be a packaging the user pays for and get the money back when bringing the packaging at the next time or a free deposit that the user have to bring back later. A reusable container could be a glass jar that the customer doesn't have necessarily to bring back but that could be reused for another shop or purpose.
Both deposit and reusable container have to be strong enough to be really reusable like: a glass jar, a strong-plastic box, a fabric bag ... A paper bag or a plastic bag are not considered strong enough to be a reusable container.
Definition by examples:
- a shop that accepts that customers use their own container: reusable_packaging:offer=no & reusable_packaging:accept=yes
- a shop that sells some products with a deposit or that provides a reusable packaging and accepts the customer's ones: reusable_packaging:offer=yes & reusable_packaging:accept=yes
- a shop that sells all its products with a deposit or a reusable packaging and accepts the customer's ones: reusable_packaging:offer=only & reusable_packaging:accept=yes
- a shop that sells all its products with a deposit or that provides the reusable packaging for all products and accept customer's ones: reusable_packaging:offer=only & reusable_packaging:accept=only
- a shop that proposes some of its products with a deposit or that provides the reusable packaging for some of its products and accept customer's ones: reusable_packaging:offer=yes & reusable_packaging:accept=only
- a shop that sells all its products accepting only reusable containers but that doesn't provide any: reusable_packaging:offer=no & reusable_packaging:accept=only
- a shop that sells all its products with a deposit or that provides the reusable packaging for all products but doesn't accept that customers bring their own: reusable_packaging:offer=only & reusable_packaging:accept=no
- a shop that sells some products with a reusable packaging but doesn't accept that customers bring their own: reusable_packaging:offer=yes & reusable_packaging:accept=no
- a shop that doesn't accept reusable container at all: reusable_packaging:offer=no & reusable_packaging:accept=no
Applies to
Nodes and areas.
It could be:
- shops (conveniences, supermarkets, greengrocers, bakeries, butcher's shops, fish shops, delis, chocolate shops, cake shops)
- restaurants, cafe, fast foods ... which accept reusable containers for a takeaway service
- vendor machines with packaging in option (milk vending machine, orange juice, bread and vegetables/fruits distributors ...).
Rendering
The new tags should not affect rendering.
Features/Pages affected
- Key:reusable_packaging
- Key:reusable_packaging:accept
- Key:reusable_packaging:offer
- Key:shop
- Tag:amenity=restaurant
- Tag:amenity=cafe
- Tag:amenity=fast food
- Tag:amenity=vending machine
- Environmental OSM § Waste/Recycling
External discussions
- Initial Tagging mailing list discussion: https://lists.openstreetmap.org/pipermail/tagging/2019-September/048146.html (see also the thread overview, or the thread on Nabble)
- Discussion on the OpenStreetMap forum: https://forum.openstreetmap.org/viewtopic.php?id=66456
- Discussion on the similar (cancelled) proposal Proposed features/Own dishes at takeaway restaurants:
- Revived Tagging mailing list discussion: https://lists.openstreetmap.org/pipermail/tagging/2021-April/061234.html (see also the thread overview, or the thread on Nabble)
Comments
Please comment on the discussion page.
References
Voting
Voting on this proposal has been closed.
It was approved with 13 votes for, 1 vote against and 1 abstention.
I approve this proposal. --Flo Edelmann (talk) 11:31, 16 May 2021 (UTC)
- I approve this proposal. --Hedaja (talk) 11:50, 16 May 2021 (UTC) a good start for tagging reusable take-away in restaurants. Could be extend by reusable_packacking:network/brand= to show if the reusable packaging is part of a wieder network that other restaurants might be using as well.
- I approve this proposal. Nice proposal which matches bulk customs in my area. --Penegal (talk) 15:28, 16 May 2021 (UTC)
- I approve this proposal. Well fleshed-out proposal, thank you. The only problem I see is the same as diets, bulk_purchase and others : how many products can be put in reusable products. For example, I don't think any grocery shop will deny a reusable bag for vegetables, but most of other products will not be buyable in bulk and in reusable containers. --Gileri (talk) 07:57, 17 May 2021 (UTC)
- I approve this proposal. But a network-key should exist --SafetyIng (talk) 11:16, 17 May 2021 (UTC)
I have comments but abstain from voting on this proposal. Sorry I wasn't active in the discussion to bring this up. I would prefer to even extend this scheme with an extra tag or values to describe the policy in some countries, like Rwanda & Uganda, where plastic bags are forbidden. In Rwanda very strict adhered to, UG less. Something like reusable_packaging:offer=yes - plastic bag forbidden or reusable_packaging:offer=sustainable or reusable_packaging:offer=eco-friendly or reusable_packaging:offer=biodegradable. In essence, if the customer is willing and creative, most packaging is reusable but not necessarily eco-friendly or biodegradable. Would be nice if we can include all packaging policies in 1 or a limited number of tags. Missed opportunity or can we change it later?--Bert Araali (talk) 12:20, 17 May 2021 (UTC)- I approve this proposal. The supply of plastic bags should be another tag. Warin61 (talk) 04:21, 18 May 2021 (UTC)
- I approve this proposal. Highly specific and it will take some time before it gain any real use in my area but I’m rooting for it ! --Lejun (talk) 20:44, 22 May 2021 (UTC)
- I approve this proposal. --HirschKauz (talk) 17:49, 24 May 2021 (UTC) and I think like Hedaja... could be expanded to own packaging /any packaging / brand
- I approve this proposal. --scai (talk) 12:40, 26 May 2021 (UTC) Yes to reusable packaging!
I oppose this proposal. I'm voting no for two reasons 1. I'm not a fan of needlessly ballooning the database with arbitrary no tags. Especially when it comes to\ namespaces and these inventorying type tags. Either something applies to somewhere or it doesn't. If it doesn't, just don't map it. Otherwise, someone has to browse through hundreds no tags to figure out if somewhere actually provides something or not. 2. There's zero reason this needs to be a namespace. It would be just as good as something like reusable_packing=yes/no/offers. Having it as a namespace just adds extra, completely unnecessary words and therefore complication to a tagging scheme that really doesn't need it. For instance, the "only" in reusable_packaging:accept=only implies that they accept reusable packing. So the word "accept" in the namespace is completely un-needed. Name goes for reusable_packaging:accept=yes. --Adamant1 (talk) 23:56, 26 May 2021 (UTC)- I approve this proposal. It makes sense, is well-defined, and would be a welcome addition to the existing tagging available for sustainability-related information. --Chtfn (talk) 11:22, 27 May 2021 (UTC)
- I approve this proposal. --Starsep (talk) 11:57, 28 May 2021 (UTC)
- I approve this proposal. --Kiezkickerde (talk) 19:33, 29 May 2021 (UTC)
- I approve this proposal. --Alex-galaxy (talk) 22:29, 30 May 2021 (UTC)
