Lidl has ended a pilot of reusable packaging for laundry detergent, which it launched in 2022.
The pilot involved refill machines dispensing Formil detergent into pouches in stores in Swadlincote, Lichfield and Kingswinford.
It was billed as innovative because the pouches could be filled without removing the cap, thanks to so-called ‘closed-fill’ technology, reducing the chances of spillage.
The machines, designed by Chilean sustainability startup Algramo, could also tell the difference between a new pouch just picked up in store and one that had been used before. This meant it was able to give customers reusing pouches a 20p discount.
The machines were also billed as space and labour-saving. Each one took up the space of 66 Formil bottles but could fill over 245 pouches before needing replenishment, therefore providing efficiency gains, Lidl said at the time.
The ending of the trial emerged as The Grocer approached retailers for an update on their pilots of refillable packaging following Ocado’s launch last week of the first from a major online supermarket.
Lidl said its trial had nonetheless been successful. It said work was ongoing in the background as it explored further innovative solutions before determining next steps.
It is the latest in a growing list of refillable packaging pilots to have ended rather than expanded. Mostly recently, Asda last month scrapped a flagship four-store trial of refill aisles and refillable packaging involving big-name brands such as PG Tips, Vimto, Kellogg’s, Radox and Persil, first launched in 2020.
In another of the most high-profile examples, in 2022 Tesco wound down a nine-month, 10-store pilot of branded products in prefilled, returnable containers from reusable packaging platform Loop.
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