Anykščiai Leads the Way on Reusable Takeaway Packaging and Wins National Award

Anykščiai has become an example of how the circular economy can take root in everyday life – at a café counter, during a lunch break or at a city festival. While implementing the Interreg Baltic Sea Region project “Change(K)now! – A mindset change from single-use to circular or multiple-use of food delivery systems in cities of the BSR”, Anykščiai District Municipality carried out green public procurement to acquire reusable containers. For this initiative, the municipality has received the 2026 Public Procurement Leaders Award in the green procurement category.

Every year, the Public Procurement Office, together with the Ministry of Economy and Innovation of the Republic of Lithuania, honours organisations that successfully apply circularity principles in public procurement. The evaluation committee recognised Anykščiai District Municipality as the first in Lithuania to introduce a circular economy-based reusable container system for takeaway food. The initiative genuinely reduces the use of single-use packaging.

The system is based on a simple deposit principle. A customer who chooses food in a reusable container pays a symbolic deposit and receives it back upon returning the container at any partner location. The returned container is washed, prepared and put back into circulation following the principle “use – repeat – enjoy”.

More than 16 catering establishments in Anykščiai – restaurants, cafés and snack bars – have joined the initiative so far. Thanks to them, reusable containers are available to every resident and visitor to the town. The municipality has purchased 2,000 reusable food boxes and 1,000 soup containers. All of them comply with EU food-contact requirements, as well as quality and environmental standards:

• 100% recyclable;
• made without bisphenol A (BPA);
• heat-resistant up to 100 °C;
• dishwasher- and microwave-safe.

Yesterday, on 5 October 2026, representatives of Anykščiai District Municipality received the award at the ceremony in Vilnius. Project coordinator Daiva Žiogienė also took part in the panel discussion “Buying Change: How Green Procurement Is Transforming Our Everyday Lives” and presented the Change(K)now! project. This recognition shows that green procurement can be not only a legal obligation but also a real tool for changing everyday life in the city. Anykščiai’s experience demonstrates that when the municipality, businesses and residents move in the same direction, the amount of single-use packaging decreases and circularity becomes the norm.

Read more on this case in this interview: https://interreg-baltic.eu/project-posts/changeknow/how-anyksciai-turned-reusable-takeaway-food-containers-into-a-local-success/

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