Refill Revolution

Investing in Impact

P4G provided the partnership with $364,964 in grant funding. 

The partnership conducted several awareness-raising activities for public servants, start-ups, brand owners and retailers about the importance of strategically implementing reuse and refill solutions.

With the collaboration of its advisory group comprised of representatives from local government, NGOs, private sector and academia and the NGO Politica y Legislacion Ambiental (POLEA), Refill Revolution identified opportunities for promoting reuse and refill solutions in the Mexico City Circular Economy Law and Rulebook. These recommendations were handed to the Mexico City Ministry of Environment.

The partnership dealt with several challenges to its original workplan where organizational changes in the retail companies prevented it from implementing the planned pilot of refillable household products. A key lesson learned was the importance of a formal agreement with the companies involved in the pilot and defining a common understanding about the project objective, timeline and costs.  

Refill Revolution also emphasized the importance of having a diverse range of products available in the refill station pilot projects because consumers are more likely to purchase the products, thus increasing the profit for the retailers and making the investment more feasible for them. The partnership explored the possibility of refills of drinks but found that it would require more time to sufficiently assess the market and establish formal agreements with clients.