The Paris Olympics Prove Reusable Packaging Is Possible On a Massive Scale

It seems the whole world is talking about the Paris 2024 Olympic and Paralympic Games, from athletes performing superhuman feats to Snoop Dogg’s wealth of comic relief on the sidelines. More than 15 million people flocked to France’s capital to feel part of the action, with over 3 million holding tickets for the games. Many of those spectators noticed something new when they stopped by a snack stand for their favorite beverage, as the Paris Olympics are the first to serve drinks in reusable packaging, in partnership with the France-based company Re-uz.

The Paris Olympics are the largest sports event ever to replace single-use beverage cups with refillable alternatives, and advocates hope it will send a clear message to event organizers and beverage brands that reuse is possible on a large scale.

“The objective of doing the Olympics was to show the world and to show everyone that it’s doable — if there is a will, if you plan and if it’s organized,” said Octave Pirmez, sales director for Re-uz, which provides reuse and refill services across six European countries and parts of Canada.

That’s good news for the planet, considering the equivalent of more than 280 billion beverage bottles are washed into the world’s oceans every year. If nothing changes, the production of plastic — much of it single-use — will account for an estimated 20 percent of the world’s oil consumption and up to 15 percent of the global carbon emissions that drive climate change by 2050. The dangers climate change pose to our way of life — and the sports we love — were on full display in Paris as temperatures soared above 95 degrees Fahrenheit in a national weather emergency that scientists say would have been “virtually impossible” if not for rising emissions.