Recycling alone isn’t enough to ensure a circular economy. With REPASYS, Fost Plus is taking on the second pillar: reuse.

Since April 2026, six major retailers — Albert Heijn, Aldi, Carrefour, Colruyt, Delhaize and Lidl — have been participating in a unique pilot project in Mechelen.
For the first time in Belgium, mushrooms are being sold in standardised reusable trays. Consumers return these to the shop after use in exchange for a 30-cent refund. The trays are then industrially cleaned in accordance with food safety standards and put back into circulation.

What makes REPASYS stand out is the scale of the partnership: six direct competitors, the same packaging, shared logistics and digital traceability via QR codes. The consortium behind this project brings together producers, logistics experts and researchers from the University of Antwerp.

Fost Plus has been an active partner in the project since its preparatory phase, during which it was in charge of coordination and management. Since the launch of the pilot scheme, it has been involved in its organisation and joint funding, the development of consumer communications in the Mechelen region and the construction of logistical and economic models.

For Fost Plus, this six-month pilot project represents a further concrete step in the promotion of reusable packaging: the extended producer responsibility organisation is building up the necessary expertise in order to support its members through this transition.

The transition has been made inevitable by the European PPWR regulation, which bans single-use plastic packaging for fresh fruit and vegetables weighing less than 1.5 kg from 2030. This ambition is set out in Fost Plus’s accreditation for the period 2024–2028, with REPASYS as one of the first practical outcomes.