Tenschul – tackling plastic pollution by reusing plastic packaging

Catulli, M.

The dispersal of plastic packaging waste in the environment is a new “tragedy of

the commons,” threatening the marine environment but ultimately even the lives
of human beings, as microplastics end up even in the food chain. Plastic packaging
is a great challenge, accounting for a substantial proportion of plastics used and
it largely ends up polluting water and land and causing greenhouse gas emissions
in its production and transport stages.

Reusable packaging systems through alternative “packaging reuse models” help

reduce waste and the environmental impacts of single-use packaging. Tenschul
offers a Refill-on-the-go system, where consumers refill bottles – in Tenschul’s
case, with personal care products, such as shampoo, shower gel, hand soap –
from an innovative automatic dispenser manufactured by Tenschul, situated at a
refilling point, e.g., on a retailers’ premises. In design terms, the type of offering
offered by Tenschul is called a Product Service System (PSS), a system of products
and services integrated within a supporting network and infrastructure (Mont,
2002). A PSS converts a pure product into a product (tangible) – service
(intangible) hybrid.

There are other exemplars of packaging reuse by refilling modes through

dedicated dispensers, for example the one supported by Loop. Loop was launched
in 2019 and partnered with Procter & Gamble, Nestlé, PepsiCo, Unilever, Mars,
Clorox, Coca-Cola, Mondelēz and Danone amongst others. 300 products are
available in durable, reusable containers through this system and Loop takes back
packaging containers and returns professionally refilled containers to consumers.
Empty containers are sent to a facility where they are washed and refilled. The
process is managed by TerraCycle, an online retailer, from sale and delivery to
package return and cleaning. As in a “classic” PSS exemplar, the package remains
the property of the supplier. This is a model of refilling dubbed “return the
packaging from home,” where the supplier picks up and cleans (possibly from the
consumer’s home) the reusable primary packaging.

In the case of Tenschul, it is the customer that retains the bottle or container,
cleans it and takes it to the refilling point to refill it. An important advantage of
this business model from the business perspective is that some of the logistic costs
are picked up by the customer. The tangible elements are the packaging, i.e., the
container of personal care products and the dispenser. The intangible elements
are the hosting and operation of the dispenser, performed for example by a
retailer, and the cleaning, storing, transport and refilling of the containers,
performed by the consumer. When compared to the Loop example, the logistics
are being performed by the company, which therefore picks up the associated
costs of the resources.

Tenschul was supported by the University of Hertfordshire through the Herts

Sustainability Accelerator, a Community Renewal Fund funded programme,
delivered by the university as part of “Build Back Better,” in partnership with the
Hertfordshire Growth Hub. The Herts Sustainability Accelerator was designed to

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© Maurizio Catulli & The University of Hertfordshire
support 10 Hertfordshire-based SMEs to launch or scale up an innovative and
sustainable product, service or technology.

Tenschul has introduced, as part of their consumer insights program, the

consumer eco journey. The consumer eco journey is defined as

A chronological process of behaviour changes in consumption for individuals or

groups of consumers, supported by multiple adoptions of products and services
with varying attainability, that consumers and producers perceive as positively
impacting the environment (The Author).

The program Tenschul has conducted involved the University of Hertfordshire as

an adviser, a supplier of reusable bottles, Sesi and suppliers of the liquid products
themselves such as shampoo, shower gel and more. From that perspective,
Tenschul’s provision is predicated on the operation of a network and in the
Business Model Canvas supplied in the course this would belong to the “Key
partners” section, whilst the locations where the dispenser can be based at various
refilling points, or refilling stations, belong to the “Channels” section of the
Business Model Canvas. These refilling stations can be placed at retail outlets
(e.g., Boots the Chemist, Tesco) but also hotel chains such as Hilton and the
student halls of universities such as the University of Hertfordshire. Whilst the
main products that are reused to refill the Sesi reusable bottle currently include
personal care products, opportunities for growth have been discussed including
products such as water, various drinks, soup and milk, which often are sold in
plastic containers or bottles. Tenschul simultaneously presents technical and
business model innovations. The latter are recognized to offer as many
opportunities for responsible consumption and production as the former (Bocken
et al., 2014; Bocken et al., 2018; Ritala et al., 2018). Currently, Tenschul is an
innovation which operates in a “strategic niche,” but plans are being drawn to
scale up and consider opportunities for growth. From a change perspective, the
problematics Tenschul encounters are to drive significant changes in consumer
behaviour, as consumers will need to develop habits of taking the old bottles with
them to fill them up; there are issues connected with change within the
organizations Tenschul works with and finally, wider changes connected with the
infrastructure and wider societal, economic and regulatory factors that can shape
a transition to these novel business models to be applied into the personal care
and associated industries.

Case study developed by Dr. Maurizio Catulli – with thanks to Dr Andrew Green,
Dr Diane Morrad and Mr. Jimmy Pressly for comments and amendments.

© Maurizio Catulli and the University of Hertfordshire

This case study can be referenced as follows:

Catulli, M. (2024), Tenschul – tackling plastic pollution by reusing plastic

packaging, teaching case study, University of Hertfordshire.

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© Maurizio Catulli & The University of Hertfordshire
References
Bocken N, Short SW and Evans S (2014) A literature and practice review to develop sustainable
business model archetypes. Journal of Cleaner Production 65: 42-56.
Bocken NMP, Schuit CSC and Kraaijenhagen C (2018) Experimenting with a circular business model:
Lessons from eight cases. Environmental Innovation and Societal Transitions 28: 79-95.
Ritala P, Huotari P, Bocken N, et al. (2018) Sustainable business model adoption among S&P 500 firms:
A longitudinal content analysis study. Journal of Cleaner Production 170: 216-226.

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© Maurizio Catulli & The University of Hertfordshire