Companies come together for waste-free shopping platform

Some of the world’s largest consumer product companies, along with international recycling business TerraCycle, have come together to launch an innovative, waste-free shopping system called Loop. The initiative was designed to change the world’s reliance on single-use packaging, offering a convenient and circular solution to consumers.

Announced at the World Economic Forum’s Annual Meeting, Loop will enable consumers to responsibly consume a variety of products in customised, brand-specific durable packaging that is collected, cleaned, refilled and re-used. The content, if recoverable, will be either recycled or re-used.

This approach to shopping was made possible as a result of innovation investments made by the founding partners and their commitment to developing more circular supply chains from package design to manufacturing through consumer use. The aim was to offer a zero-waste option for the world’s most popular consumer products while maintaining affordability, improving convenience and returning used disposable or durable items to a circular life cycle either through re-use or recycling.

Here’s how it works:

• SHOP: Consumers will go to the Loop websites (www.loopstore.com or www.maboutiqueloop.fr) or Loop partner retailers’ websites and shop for trusted brands now redesigned to be packaging waste-free.
• RECEIVE: Consumers receive their durable products in Loop’s exclusively designed shipping tote that eliminates the need for single-use shipping materials like cardboard boxes.
• ENJOY: Consumers experience elegance and convenience, all while eliminating the idea of throwaway packaging waste.
• PICK-UP: There is no need to clean and dispose of the package; as consumers finish their products, they place the empty package into one of their Loop totes. Loop will pick up directly from their home.
• CLEANING: Loop’s team of scientists has developed custom cleaning technologies so that each product may be safely re-used.
• REFILL, RECYCLING OR RE-USE: Loop promptly replenishes products as needed and returns the refilled shipping totes to the consumer. If there is recoverable used product such as nappies, pads, razors or brush parts, they will be recovered to be re-used or recycled.

“As a response to the global challenge in managing waste and the opportunity to improve consumers’ experience, a group of committed global brands, retailers [and] infrastructure companies, along with the World Economic Forum, have come together to create a new way to more responsibly consume products,” said TerraCycle CEO Tom Szaky.

“Loop will not just eliminate the idea of packaging waste, but greatly improve the product experience and the convenience in how we shop. Through Loop, consumers can now responsibly consume products in specially designed durable, re-usable or fully recyclable packaging made from materials like alloys, glass and engineered plastics. When a consumer returns the packaging, it is refilled, or the content is re-used or recycled through groundbreaking technology.”

The environmental benefits of Loop durable packaging vs single-use packaging have been verified in life cycle assessments under usage pattern assumptions that will be further validated in pilots scheduled to launch soon in France and the north-eastern United States. Additional markets are expected to launch throughout 2019 and 2020.

The idea for Loop was founded at the World Economic Forum by TerraCycle and consumer product companies Procter & Gamble, Nestlé, PepsiCo, Unilever, Mars Petcare, The Clorox Company, The Body Shop, Coca-Cola European Partners, Mondelēz International, Danone, Jacobs Douwe Egberts, Lesieur, BIC, Beiersdorf, RB, People Against Dirty, Nature’s Path, Thousand Fell, Greenhouse, Grilliance, Burlap & Barrel Single Origin Spices, Reinberger Nut Butter, CoZie and Preserve. Additional partners are food retailer Carrefour as the founding retailer, primary logistics and transportation company UPS, sustainable resource management company Suez and UK retailer Tesco, which will pilot Loop in the UK later in the year.

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