Refillable Packaging Is Gaining Traction—Here's How to Evaluate Whether It Fits Your Operation

You'd think replacing single-use beverage bottles with a capsule-based dispenser would add complexity to your procurement workflow. Counter-intuitively, after tracking three refillable systems through vendor evaluation over the past year, I've found the operational overhead is often lower than maintaining relationships with multiple single-use packaging suppliers—once you get past the qualification stage.

The latest development that caught my attention is Founteyn, a Netherlands-based startup that just partnered with PepsiCo to roll out a patented all-in-one beverage dispensing system. Their claim is aggressive: up to 80% reduction in single-use packaging and a halving of associated carbon emissions. Whether those numbers hold in practice depends on the specifics of your operation, but the model is worth evaluating seriously.

Here's the step-by-step framework I'd use—and that I'm using right now—to assess whether refillable packaging makes sense for your purchasing portfolio.

Step 1: Map Your Current Single-Use Spend

Before evaluating any refillable system, you need a clear baseline. Pull your last 12 months of POs for all beverage-related single-use packaging: bottles, cans, cups, lids, shrink wrap bundles.

When I took over materials purchasing in 2021 for our 180-person operation, I discovered we were spending about $22K annually on beverage packaging for office and breakroom supply alone—spread across three vendors with three different invoicing formats. That fragmentation alone was costing our accounting team about four hours a month in PO matching.

Your baseline should include:

• Total annual spend on single-use beverage packaging
• Number of vendors involved
• Administrative time (ordering, receiving, invoice reconciliation)
• Waste disposal costs associated with the empties
• Storage space for bulk beverage inventory

Most operations undercount the disposal and storage costs. In our case, adding those in brought the true annual cost closer to $28K.

Step 2: Understand the Refillable System Architecture

Refillable isn't one model. The three examples from ThePackHub's recent Innovation Zone roundup show the range:

Founteyn (beverage dispensing): An all-in-one system that integrates chilling, carbonation, and capsule-based dispensing. Hot, cold, and carbonated options. PepsiCo is a launch partner, with Euro-Caps handling capsule production and Culligan Quench leading distribution for the pilot phase. Initial target: office and SME beverage service markets, with plans to expand to household.

Tallow + Ash (household products): A refillable stain pen where the outer casing is kept and refill inserts are swapped in. The refill design means you're not disposing of the entire unit each time—only the consumable insert.

Salt of the Earth (personal care): A refillable deodorant system following a similar keep-the-outer, replace-the-inner model.

The common thread: a durable outer component paired with a consumable refill. For procurement, this means you're shifting from buying finished packaged goods to buying refill consumables plus an upfront equipment or outer-casing investment.

Step 3: Run the Total Cost Comparison

This is where most evaluations either succeed or fall apart. You can't compare the per-unit cost of a refill capsule to the per-unit cost of a bottled drink and call it done. The comparison needs to be TCO—total cost of ownership.

After four years of managing supplier relationships, I've learned to include:

• Equipment/hardware cost: The Founteyn system requires an upfront unit. What's the lease or purchase cost? Maintenance contract?
• Consumable cost per serve: What does each capsule or refill cost, and what's the expected volume?
• Reduced waste disposal fees: If you're eliminating 80% of single-use packaging (per Founteyn's claim), quantify the waste hauling savings.
• Reduced storage footprint: Capsules take up less space than cases of bottles. Does that free up usable space?
• Administrative simplification: Going from three beverage vendors to one system vendor saves procurement time.
• Carbon reporting value: If your company tracks Scope 3 emissions, a 50% carbon reduction on beverage packaging is a reportable line item.

I'm not 100% sure on Founteyn's specific pricing yet—their pilot phase is targeting office and SME markets, so quotes may still be evolving. But the framework for evaluation is the same regardless of the specific vendor.

Step 4: Qualify the Vendor Supply Chain

Refillable systems create a different kind of supplier dependency. With single-use, if your bottle supplier has a hiccup, you can probably source an alternative within a week. With a proprietary capsule system, you're tied to one consumable source.

Questions I'd ask before committing:

• Who manufactures the refill capsules, and do they have redundant production capacity? (Founteyn's partner Euro-Caps handles production; Culligan Quench handles distribution.)
• What's the lead time on refill orders? What's the minimum order quantity?
• Is there a service-level agreement for equipment uptime and maintenance?
• What happens if the startup folds? Is the equipment proprietary or transferable?

That last question matters more than people think. In 2023, I found a great price from a new consumable supplier—about $3K cheaper annually than our regular vendor. Ordered a trial quantity. They couldn't provide proper COAs. QC put the shipment on hold, and we ate $1,800 in expedited reorder costs from the original supplier. Now I verify documentation capability and business stability before placing any first order.

Step 5: Plan the Internal Rollout

The hardest part of refillable systems isn't the procurement. It's the internal adoption. People are used to grabbing a bottle from the fridge. A dispensing system requires a behavior change, even a small one.

Practical rollout checklist:

• Identify 1-2 locations for pilot installation (break room, reception area)
• Set a 90-day pilot period with clear metrics: usage volume, employee feedback, maintenance incidents
• Assign a point person for capsule reordering and basic machine maintenance
• Track waste reduction against your baseline from Step 1
• Report results to both operations and finance (I report to both, and they care about different numbers)

After five years of managing these kinds of vendor relationships, I've learned that pilots with clear success criteria get approved for expansion. Pilots without metrics get forgotten.

Step 6: Watch the Bigger Trend

Founteyn's PepsiCo partnership is the headline, but it's part of a broader pattern. Refillable models are showing up across categories: household cleaning products, personal care, food service. The Tallow + Ash stain pen and Salt of the Earth deodorant are small-scale examples, but they signal that the refill-and-reuse model is being tested across price points and product types.

For an administrative buyer, the practical implication is that refillable options are going to start appearing in vendor catalogs more frequently. Having an evaluation framework ready—rather than assessing each one ad hoc—saves time and produces better decisions.

I should note: this framework works best for office, facility, and breakroom purchasing where you control the consumption environment. If you're evaluating refillable systems for retail distribution or consumer-facing channels, there are additional factors—consumer behavior, retail shelf requirements, reverse logistics—that go beyond my typical scope. For those decisions, you'd want input from your brand and supply chain teams, not just purchasing.

But for the office and SME use case that Founteyn is targeting first? The evaluation is straightforward. Map your spend, compare TCO, qualify the vendor, pilot with metrics, and scale if the numbers hold. That's the checklist.