The Step by Step Guide - Section 1: Getting Started - Plastic Reboot

This is Section 1 of the Refill & Reuse Systems Handbook: Step by Step Guide. Learn more about the full guide here.

The Step by Step Guide provides practical guidance for the inclusive and context-driven design of reuse and refill systems. It translates real world experience and knowledge into actionable processes that can be applied by project teams, local governments, and implementing partners. While this guide has been created for Plastic Reboot’s 15 national projects, it is offered as a resource to anyone working at the intersection of design, implementation, innovation and policy in refill and reuse.

This guide aims to be both globally and locally relevant, with guidance, considerations, and examples from different geographic, cultural and economic contexts. This guide will help the user generate outputs and capture learnings using tools, templates, worksheets, and other practical resources. These help document progress and facilitate sharing and consolidating ideas across the project team, building capacity in reuse and refill solutions through the process.

About this section:

Section 1 focuses on developing a clear vision for a refill intervention or reuse system. Beginning with problem identification, the section guides the selection of a priority intervention before testing and refining the intervention hypothesis through ecosystem assessment and early engagement with key ecosystem actors. Throughout this process, the proposed intervention is assessed to ensure it is feasible, appropriate, and beneficial. As real-world conditions, ecosystem assets, interest holder roles, policy context, market dynamics, and behavioral patterns are evaluated, the proposed intervention can be refined, adapted, or pivoted. By consolidating insights, this section develops an intervention concept that is grounded in local context before entering the System Design phase.