Reuse Standard v0.1-alpha2
This is the second draft (alpha) of this standard. Please contact us with questions or feedback. We are especially keen to hear from individuals and organisations interested in using this standard.
Why a reuse Open Data Standard?
Packaging pollution is ubiquitous and impossible to ignore; where other types of pollution may be “invisible”, we are faced with daily evidence of this broken system. Companies and consumers across the world are pushing for change, as we collectively acknowledge that our single-use culture has to evolve.
The opportunity for an Open Data Standard to accelerate and de-risk the shift towards reusable products (especially packaging) is significant.
Whitepaper
This whitepaper presents research into the potential for an Open Data Standard and digital tracking to aid and accelerate the transition to circular packaging systems.
The paper identifies the findings from research conducted across the packaging ecosystem that led to this draft Open Standard. It also seeks to recognise the challenges that businesses face on their journey to adopting more circular systems.
Summary
The goal of this Open Standard, is to identify and standardise definitions that will support the launch, scaling, analysis and regulation of safe, optimised and compliant reuse systems.
Our hope is this standard will eventually:
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Create a shared Vocabulary: Common definitions ensure everyone understands what words mean in the context of the data being collected or analysed.
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Facilitate data transfer & sharing: enabling organisations (including reuse business, environmental regulators and researchers) to share only the data that is relevant, while enabling the wider goal of improving and growing reuse business models.
What vs How
This draft standard defines the “what” of the reuse data for the purposes of shared understanding. It does not attempt to define:
- How the data is made available (e.g. API endpoints or direct download of data files etc).
- How the data is stored.
- How physcial reusable assets are tagged and tracked. The standard enables, but does not proscribe, tagging each individual asset (e.g. with QR Codes, NFC or RFID) and tracking it through the reuse cycle.
Open vs Closed data
The standard itself is Open for the purposes of shared understanding. The standard does not require that any actual data sets be made “Open” and available to all.
The standard does enable organisations to choose which data to share publicly (if any) and also enables more detailed data to be shared only with trusted parties or regulators.
Versioning and Update Process
As the reuse space continues to develop and evolve, updates to the Standard will be necessary to ensure it remains relevant to both current and prospective users. This process is defined here
Who
This draft Open Standard was researched and designed by Reath in collaboration with:
Support came from Innovate UK
Shield: 
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
