Várias das maiores empresas de bens de consumo do mundo vão testar um novo sistema de compras com embalagens reutilizáveis e recuperáveis em algumas das suas marcas mais famosas. A iniciativa pretende reduzir a produção de resíduos plásticos e o seu impacto no ambiente.

© Loop (used with permission) If the Loop pilot project succeeds, store shelves could soon look a lot different than they do now. Something major happened last week. On Thursday in Davos, Switzerland, 25 of the world's biggest brands announced that they will soon offer products in refillable, reusable containers. Items such as Tropicana orange juice, Axe and Dove deodorants, Tide laundry detergent, Quaker cereal, and Häagen-Dazs ice cream, among others, will be available in glass or stainless steel containers, instead of single-use disposable packaging.   The project is called Loop and it is the result of a partnership between these brands and TerraCycle, a waste management company that first pitched the idea to these brands a year ago at Davos. Brands who liked it, or saw the wisdom in sprucing up their environmental credibility, pay to be part of the project and commit to designing reusable packaging. Loop will start as a pilot project, launching in May 2019 for 5,000 shoppers in New York and Paris who sign up for it in advance. It will expand to London at the end of the year and spread to Toronto, Tokyo, and San Francisco in 2020. If it is successful, more partners could join Loop and products would eventually become available on store shelves. © Loop (used with permission) It works similarly to Amazon in that customers use a retail website to order goods; they must also put up a fully refundable deposit for the reusable packaging. The items are delivered to their doorstep in a reusable tote – a modern take on the old-fashioned milkman. Once the products are used up, the empty containers are returned to the tote and collected by a UPS driver. They do not need to be cleaned and, even if the containers are banged up, the deposit is issued in full. Customers only lose money if they fail to make a return. From CNN's report on Loop, "[TerraCycle CEO] Tom Szaky acknowledged that it’s a lot to ask people to use yet another retail website. He hopes that Loop will eventually be integrated into existing online shops, including Amazon. 'We’re not trying to harm or cannibalize retailers,' Szaky said. 'We’re trying to offer a plug-in that could make them better.'" © Loop (used with permission) This is an incredible step forward. These brands have enormous reach and influence in the consumer sphere, which puts them in a uniquely powerful position to effect real change. They are not perfect, of course. In the followup to the Loop announcement there has been some criticism about their less-than-perfect track records on other environmental issues, such as palm oil and animal testing, but I think that's beside the point. It is impossible to tackle everything at the same time. Plastic pollution is one thing that has captured the public interest of late and it poses a potential PR crisis for these brands if they don't act quickly. We should celebrate the steps that they are taking, which are more progressive than anything else I've seen so far. © Loop (used with permission) – Even Pampers diapers can be purchased in a refillable container, which TerraCycle says eliminates the need for a Diaper Genie. They'll even deal with the waste inside. Loop's future will depend on how the trial goes, but it looks promising. In the words of Bridget Croke, leader of external affairs for Closed Loop Partners, a group that invests in recycling technologies and sustainable consumer goods (and is unconnected to Loop), "If there's ever a time that these new models can succeed, it's now." Meanwhile, the recycling industry is broken, a "failing industry," and people are asking for reusable packaging. The interest is real. From CNN: "Small dairies throughout the country are already reviving the milkman by offering delivery services... Refillable beer growlers are staging a comeback, with Whole Foods and Kroger offering in-store beer taps. Startups are trying to help people refill reusable soap containers at home, and millions of consumers are already refilling SodaStream bottles in their kitchens." I think we're catching a glimpse of a future that looks more hopeful and exciting than it has in a long time. Visit Loop for more information.

Another major coalition to reduce plastics waste has been announced (see PIEWeb of 17.01.2019) with consumer goods giants such as Procter & Gamble, PepsiCo and Coca-Cola participating. Established by waste management company TerraCycle (Trenton, New Jersey / USA; www.terracycle.com), Loop (Trenton; www.loopstore.com) is an e-commerce platform that will ship products in reusable packaging and collect it after use – "Loop is the milkman reimagined."

Reusable shampoo bottles (Photo: TerraCycle)

Consumers can order products from participating companies, and empty used containers are then put into dedicated shipping tote bags and collected by Loop directly from households. The packaging will be cleaned for refill and reuse, or recycled as appropriate. The aim is to eliminate waste from single-use packaging and shipping materials, such as cardboard boxes. "Through Loop, consumers can now responsibly consume products in specially-designed durable, reusable or fully recyclable packaging made from materials like alloys, glass and engineered plastics," says Tom Szaky, CEO of TerraCycle. Loop was presented at the World Economic Forum(WEF, Geneva / Switzerland; www.weforum.org) that was held from 22-25 January 2019 in Davos / Switzerland. Two pilot projects in New York and Paris will start in the coming spring, with more locations to be added during 2019 and 2020. The other companies taking part in the initiative include 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. French food retailer Carrefour is the founding retailer, and Tesco will pilot Loop in the UK later in 2019. Transportation company UPSand waste disposal group Suez are also participating.  

An estimated 3,000 government officials, business leaders, economics experts and non-profit representatives flocked to Davos, Switzerland, for the 2019 edition of the World Economic Forum’s annual gathering. To create a new world, we need a new world order. And that order should be guided by a vision for shared prosperity and shaped, at least in part, by a circular economic model. That mantra was espoused by many of the estimated 3,000 government officials, business leaders, economics experts and non-profit representatives who flocked to Davos, Switzerland, last week for the World Economic Forum’s annual gathering. Amid the kerfuffle about the comings and goings of an estimated 1,500 private jets, consternation over the U.S. no-show and muted cheers over record numbers of female delegates, calls for circularity — including the bold push for reusing consumer products packaging fronted by TerraCycle — and inclusivity sounded again and again. "This next phase of globalization needs to deliver economic growth — but deliver it such that it is equitable growth," said Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella, one of the conference co-chairs, in prepared remarks for his speech at the event. "Let’s challenge the status quo with innovation and ingenuity." That requires an intergenerational, international perspective: This year, six of the eight meeting agenda co-chairs were millennials representing Colombia, Iraq, Japan, Kenya, Sweden and the United States. Noura Berrouba, member of the Governing Body of the European Youth Parliament, challenged participants to find empathy. "These are not threats; these are not problems," she said, referring to the distance between the Davos attendees and those whose voices need louder amplification. "These are change agents and opportunities, and if we want to create a world where we tackle our common challenges, we need to work with the people outside of these halls." The tone of these remarks was echoed later in keynote addresses by the prime ministers of Spainand Italy, as well as the United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres, who spoke extensively about the need to address the growing wealth gap in Europe and the rest of the world. The "yellow vests" movement in France, for example, has been a wake-up call to other members of the European Union. Governments’ climate change strategies have focused on renewable energy, energy efficiency and avoiding deforestation but they have overlooked the vast potential of the circular economy. "I am a multilateralist; I am deeply convinced there is no other way to deal with global problems but with global responses," Guterres said. "It is also not enough to vilify those that disagree and call them 'nationalists' or 'populists.' We need to understand the root causes of why large sectors of the population in different parts of the world today disagree with us — and we need to address those root causes and show these people that we care for them." Just one more exacerbating factor: New data from Oxfam suggests that Earth’s 26 richest individuals own as much as the poorest 50 percent. In 2017, it took 43 billionaires to get to that number. In an essay penned for the World Economic Forum (WEF) media center, the chief sustainability officer for Indian equipment and vehicle conglomerate Mahindra, Anirban Ghosh, suggested that the ingredients to build compelling circular economy businesses and models in poor or developing nations — including India and China — are plentiful and potent. He noted that addressing climate change offers an unparalleled opportunity to "reboot" the world economy, pointing to materials recovery and higher rates of repair as steps in the right direction. "Often handled informally, these activities provide the only source of livelihoods to some of the world’s poorest populations," wrote Ghosh. "By turning these existing trends into core development strategies, these countries could generate significant economic savings and massively cut down on carbon emissions. While developing countries must learn to do more and do it better, developed economies have an opportunity to re-orient the ‘take-make-dispose’ economic model towards a more circular paradigm." A sense of urgency Much has changed globally in the 12 months since the last Davos gathering, most especially the publication last fall of a report by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change signaling that humans are acting far too slowly to meet the climate-mitigation goals of the Paris Agreement. Everyone needs to get a move on, to stay within just 1.5 degrees Celsius warming of global temperatures by 2030, the panel urged. "Unprecedented changes in all aspects of society" are required to get there — touching land use, energy, buildings, transport and cities — costing an estimated $2.4 trillion a year worldwide, it warned in October. We’re already witnessing the fallout in the form of more frequent hurricanes, droughts and wildfires around the world. As is tradition, the forum released its annual report (PDF) about global risks shortly before the gathering: the top three dangers, in terms of likelihood, are all related to global warming — extreme weather events, failure of mitigation and adaptation and natural disasters. That’s almost the same as last year’s list, with the exception of the weight the forum placed in 2018 on cyber attacks and data privacy concerns. "Renewing and improving the architecture of our national and international political and economic systems is this generation’s defining task," wrote World Economic Forum's president, Børge Brende, in the risk report introduction. "It will be a monumental undertaking, but an indispensable one." The upside potential of circular economy strategies It also could be lucrative for the businesses that step ahead, according to several economic analyses and reports published this week alongside the forum. Research from Dutch-based Circle Economy estimates that just 9 percent of the global economy operates in a circular manner. Only by prioritizing broader reuse of the roughly 92.8 billion metric tons of minerals, fossil fuels, metals, biomass and other materials that enter the economy annually can countries meet the United Nations target of limiting global warming to 1.5 degrees C, the organization suggests. "Governments’ climate change strategies have focused on renewable energy, energy efficiency and avoiding deforestation but they have overlooked the vast potential of the circular economy," said Circle Economy CEO Harald Friedl in a statement. "They should re-engineer supply chains all the way back to the wells, fields, mines and quarries where our resources originate so that we consume fewer raw materials. This will not only reduce emissions but also boost growth by making economies more efficient." Certain industries could have a massive impact. A separate report (PDF) published by WEF and the United Nations E-Waste Coalition estimated the annual value of electronic waste at $62 billion, three times the worth of all the silver produced in a single year. Put another way, the current "volume" of e-waste produced annually, almost 50 million tonnes, weighs more than every commercial airplane created. The data heralds a new collaboration between several U.N. agencies and technology giants Dell, HP Inc., Microsoft and Philips, which are investing $15 million to begin constructing an e-waste recycling industry in Nigeria. The Ellen MacArthur Foundation also weighed in with an updated report about the connection between food waste and circular economy principles, which the organization estimates could be worth $2.7 trillion annually to the global economy. The paper is essentially a call to action for city planners, given that urban areas will consume roughly 80 percent of all food produced by 2050. Three practices that will be particularly imperative: local sourcing that prioritizes agribusinesses using generative soil techniques; more creative ways of making use of food by-products to eliminate waste; and more weight on plant-based protein alternatives. Here are some ways that technology can help One company that has factored the implications of circular economy principles for some time is Google. One of its quests has been researching and imaging ways in which it can help cities rethink energy management, transportation systems and waste diversion, recycling and reuse systems. Naturally, Google believes technology will be central to accelerating and enabling the transition. This week, the company’s cloud software organization kicked off a social entrepreneurship contest in collaboration with SAP called Circular Economy 2030 to surface "original ideas" for transforming anything from agriculture to packaging. Google also believes artificial intelligence has a big role to play in accelerating and scaling the circular economy transition, a position it defends in a white paper released in collaboration with the Ellen MacArthur Foundation. Two of the bold claims: Design choices enabled by AI could help eliminate up to $127 billion in spending per year related to food waste and up to $90 billion in electronics production — both predictions are pegged to 2030. AI could be particularly useful in overhauling the product design process, according to the paper. Here’s why: Circularity requires more features to be taken into consideration for the design of products, components, and materials, such as disassembly, upgradability, or recycled content. Add to this list of features the wide choice of materials and the possibilities of manipulation of structures with 3D printing and other manufacturing techniques, and the design options become countless. AI technology can be a helpful tool to enable designers to manage this complexity when making decisions. A continuous feedback process where designers test and refine AI generated design suggestions could lead to a better design outcome in a shorter time period. For a hint of other technologies that could play a role in the transition, peek at information about Accenture’s latest The Circulars awards, meant to recognize trailblazers. This year’s program attracted more than 450 applications. The winners included Lehigh Technologies, which helps reincarnate end-of-life tires for new uses; TriCiclos, a company that has reinvented the waste management infrastructure in Brazil, Chile, Colombia and Peru; and Winnow, which makes a "smart meter" used by companies such as IKEA and Hilton to reduce food waste in commercial kitchens. An infinite loop for consumer products, inspired by reusability Davos was also the launch pad for a new initiative, Loop, convened by consumer products giants such as Procter & Gamble, Unilever, Danone and Mondelēz to test a system of reusable packaging imagined by upcycling pioneer TerraCycle. In the first phase, available this spring near Paris and in the New York metropolitan area, about 300 products will be made available in reusable, durable containers. Once an item is consumed, the empty container can be returned for a refill. "We realized that recycling and using recycled content is about trying to do the best you can with waste, but it's not solving the foundational reason we have waste," TerraCycle founder and CEO Tom Szaky told GreenBiz. "We did a lot of reflection on that and realized that the foundational cause of garbage is disposability and single-use. We tried to come up with a way to solve for disposability but maintain the virtues of disposability, which are convenience and affordability." Whether consumers embrace the idea remains to be seen, of course, but the need for more business models build on the concept of reuse never has been more urgent.

Tim Cook, Matt Damon, economic worries and social unrest The week of the annual meeting of the World Economic Forum is a fire hose of news. Headlines, predictions, sightings and tidbits that months and years later are recognized as the flash point for much larger shifts and trends can often get overlooked. To help you sort through it all, we’ve put together this crib sheet of everything that we think was important that happened here in Davos. (Yes, I’m writing this from Davos on my way home.) Before we get into the substance, a couple of observations. The World Economic Forum has traditionally brought together the world’s top political and business leaders. But this year, the political leaders were largely absent — remaining in their home countries to handle crises largely of their own making (President Trump with the shutdown and Prime Minister Theresa May with Brexit). The surprise guest this year was Tim Cook, Apple’s chief executive, making his first appearance; it may be an indication of Apple’s increasing dependence on foreign markets for growth.

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The topic du jour (besides the shutdown) was a debate over where the global economy was headed. Chief executives professed confidence that their earnings would continue apace, while economists and investors talked about the prospect of a recession in 2020. And others, like Ray Dalio — and Seth Klarman, who did not attend, but whose annual letter was a constant talking point — worried about social unrest. Interestingly, Dr. Doom — Nouriel Roubini — was actually upbeat. A Chinese chief executive described his country’s economy as “ugly” — he used that world repeatedly — suggesting that the underlying foundation there was more fragile than most economists acknowledge. That could lead to weakness in China spreading to the rest of the world. And the general sense is that while the U.S. and China may reach a trade détente, we might be headed for a decades-long economic cold war. Larry Fink’s letter and the concept of E.S.G., shorthand for “environmental, social and governance,” got a lot of discussion this year — it felt like it might be a tipping point in the dialogue. European companies are still more interested in E.S.G. than U.S. companies, but it feels like a trend that isn’t going away. TPG’s Rise Fund started a new company, Y Analytics, to measure E.S.G. Bono, a board member of Rise, was on hand to talk about impact investing and to support his Red brand, which he started a decade ago in Davos (DealBook broke that story at the time) as well as his One franchise. Matt Damon was in town to raise money for his water.org, which is turning into a quite successful story (side note: Mr. Damon had to borrow a suit because his bag got lost by Swiss Air). Jane Goodall was also in Davos — and let me say that she is as nice as she is important. Even the Vatican sent a delegation to talk about conscious and inclusive capitalism. And Rebecca Blumenstein, the deputy managing editor of The New York Times, interviewed Bill Gates on Twitter about his work around the globe. ____________________________ Today’s DealBook Briefing was written by Andrew Ross Sorkin in Davos, Switzerland; Stephen Grocer in New York; and Tiffany Hsu and Gregory Schmidt in Paris. The U.S. versus China: It’s not a trade war, it’s a tech war The soap opera of tariff negotiations has riveted economists and executives: Will Beijing keep its promises? Will Washington cooperate? But the real drama is not about trade, but about technology, many in Davos have said. The brewing conflict could affect generations and disrupt the world order, according to Fred Kempe, the chief executive of the think tank Atlantic Council. He wrote: The growing danger is that the tech race could become the primary battleground in a struggle between democracy and autocracy — and between China and the U.S. The dangers of a technological Cold War, a zero-sum contest for global dominance that ultimately separates Chinese and U.S. tech sectors from each other and divides up the world, are increasing. What’s the worry? The billionaire George Soros said that artificial intelligence, when in the hands of authoritarian regimes, was a “mortal threat” to the world. He cited China, which is developing a social credit system that would use personal data to judge an individual’s trustworthiness, as an example. President Xi Jinping could eventually have “total control over the people,” making him “the most dangerous opponent of open societies,” Mr. Soros said. What do the Chinese think? The technology industry relies heavily on global interactions and is “probably suffering the most right now,” said Ken Hu, the deputy chairman of Huawei. The Chinese telecommunications company has been accused by multiple nations, including the U.S., of violating trade rules. Other players, such as the Chinese state-owned oil and gas company Sinopec, say they expect Chinese companies to scale back foreign investment — steps already taken by Alibaba and by GAC Motor. Last year, nearly 60 percent of Chinese C.E.O.s considered the U.S. to be the most important foreign market; this year, only 17 percent feel the same, according to one survey published this past week. Hope for resolution? Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said via video link that Washington was willing to play nice with Beijing if China pledged to protect intellectual property. At a dinner in Davos, a top Chinese regulator heard complaints from international business leaders about the ownership structure of state-owned enterprises and about the Made in China 2025 effort, which aims to take the lead in industries such as artificial intelligence and robotics. But China wants its space. Vice President Wang Qishan said in a speech that “it is imperative to respect national sovereignty and refrain from seeking technological hegemony.” He added: We need to respect the independent choices of model of technology management and of public policies made by countries, and their right to participating in the global technological governance system as equals. More forecasts for a global economic slowdown A recession may not be coming this year, but neither is a boom, Greg Ip of the WSJ writes. The International Monetary Fund downgraded its 2019 forecast for global growth to 3.5 percent. That’s a respectable number, he writes, but the world is struggling to sustain even that muted pace. The reason: The world cannot tolerate interest rates as high as it once did. The “neutral” interest rate — one that is high enough to contain inflation, yet low enough to avoid recession — is much lower than before. The underlying cause: As aging workers retire and birthrates drop, the labor force has grown more slowly. Productivity has also eked out smaller gains than in the past. The upshot: Central banks need to proceed carefully, because a little fiscal tightening goes a long way. More on the global economy: Ray Dalio, founder and chairman of the hedge fund Bridgewater, said he foresaw slower growth rates in the U.S. and Europe. France is sticking to a 1.7 percent economic growth forecast for 2019, the French finance minister, Bruno Le Maire, said. Christine Lagarde, the managing director of the I.M.F., warned against an overreliance on central banks, urging countries to strengthen their economies through fiscal and structural changes. In the absence of world leaders, the atmosphere was downbeat. Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez.CreditAndrew Harnik/Associated Press   Image Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez.CreditAndrew Harnik/Associated Press Tax the rich Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez wasn’t in Davos this week. It just felt like she was. The New York representative’s proposal to impose a 70 percent tax rate on income above $10 million came up frequently among the uber-wealthy in attendance. In those elite circles, filled with people whose fortunes have soared in recent years, the idea was not popular. Michael Dell, the billionaire founder of Dell Technologies, is not a fan, for one. Scott Minerd, the chief investment officer of Guggenheim Partners, said the concept was “scary.” Glenn Hutchins, the chairman of North Island and a co-founder of Silver Lake Partners, suggested that it was an attempt to “score political points” and that it would probably be unsuccessful. Ken Moelis, the chief executive of the investment bank Moelis & Company, said it would be “disastrous for the economy.” Stephen Schwarzman, the billionaire chief executive of Blackstone, said he was “wildly enthusiastic” about Ms. Ocasio-Cortez’s pitch. (He was being sarcastic.) But as the economy slows and 2020 election talk surges, taxing the rich is a topic that will most likely continue to surface. Senator Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts, a Democratic candidate for president, proposed a so-called ultramillionaire tax this week on the 75,000 wealthiest families in the country, including President Trump’s. Still, top earners would probably figure out how to sidestep such rules, Mr. Minerd said. The political pendulum is swinging. The conservatives found out they’re being held hostage by the extreme right. Now the Democrats are going to find out they’re being held hostage by the extreme left. Defending the international order Globalization had some powerful defenders in Davos, with world leaders imploring delegates not to abandon postwar principles of international integration. Several took jabs at the absent President Trump without mentioning him by name, criticizing his “America First” foreign policy and his habit of provoking trade disputes. The vice president of China, Wang Qishan, whose own country has been accused of running roughshod over foreign competitors and global business rules, nonetheless condemned “practices of the strong bullying the weak and self-claimed supremacy.” Carrie Lam, the chief executive of Hong Kong, said that certain countries were drifting from the multilateral framework of the past few decades. “If that is no longer the mainstream, we could be in trouble,” she said. Chancellor Angela Merkel of Germany, who leads a country that is deeply reliant on international trade and increasingly surrounded by neighbors confronted by protectionist tendencies, urged Western powers to “act against the fragmentation of the international architecture.” She said that global organizations such as the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank should be reformed and that countries should embrace compromise. She added: I think we should understand our national interest in a way that we think about the interests of others, and from that create win-win situations that are the precondition for multilateralism. Shinzo Abe, the prime minister of Japan, pledged his country’s support for “the free, open, and rules-based international order.” He called on forum participants to “rebuild trust toward the system for international trade.” A call for greater oversight of Big Tech World leaders called for more regulation. Prime Minister Shinzo Abe of Japan said his country would push for a new international system for the oversight of data use. His proposal was echoed by others: • The South African president, Cyril Ramaphosa, said African Union leaders would discuss greater oversight of the tech sector at a meeting early next month. • Chancellor Angela Merkel of Germany cited a need for the European Union to have a “common digital market.” • Vice President Wang Qishan of China also said that more international cooperation in regulating the market was required. Talk focused on global governance, data privacy and the impact of artificial intelligence, but there was no consensus on what approach to take. Some official sessions tried to put a positive spin on the effects of technological advances, but the optimism seemed out of step with public concern about the disruptive effect on privacy and politics. Tech leaders make the rounds: On his first trip to the forum, Tim Cook, the Apple chief executive, met with world leaders, including President Jair Bolsonaro of Brazil and Dubai’s crown prince, Sheikh Hamdan bin Mohammed bin Rashid al-Maktoum. Sheryl Sandberg, the chief operating officer of Facebook, acknowledged that her company needed to earn back the trust of the public. Microsoft’s chief executive, Satya Nadella, said that as facial recognition technology grew, he would “welcome regulation that will help the marketplace not be a race to the bottom.” The milkman makes a comeback Environmental issues took center stage, with world leaders and celebrities weighing in and new partnerships being formed. One of the biggest initiatives announced at the forum was an alternative recycling platform called Loop, which seeks to change the way consumers buy brand-name products. The concept: The project revives the milkman concept, in which products are delivered in reusable containers that are returned to the manufacturer. The partners: Some of the largest consumer goods companies — including Danone, Mars Petcare, Mondelez International, Nestlé, PepsiCo, Procter & Gamble and Unilever — are working together on the project as a way to limit waste. The pitchman: Tom Szaky, founder and chief executive of the recycling company TerraCycle, headed to Davos two years ago to meet with the leaders of packaged goods companies and push his big idea. Climate concerns dominated much of the discussion elsewhere at the gathering: • In an interview with Prince William, the naturalist David Attenborough took world leaders to task for waiting too long to address climate change. • Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern of New Zealand joined the chorus, urging her global counterparts to think about the role they play in addressing climate change, while Prime Minister Shinzo Abe of Japan called for action on the issue. • The singer Bono poked fun at sustainable development goals, saying, “The S.D.G.s, it does sound like a sexually transmitted disease, doesn’t it?” • An expected drop in private jet traffic to Davos this year could be a sign that participants are taking the environmental impact of their travel more seriously. • Greta Thunberg, a 16-year-old climate activist from Sweden, gave a speech urging the global elite to protect the planet. The best of the rest • Forum participants seemed receptive to Saudi Arabia’s damage control campaign over the killing of journalist Jamal Khashoggi. (Reuters) •The World Economic Forum hosts 3,000 official participants, but the population of Davos swells to 30,000 during the week. Here are the unaffiliated events, sessions and parties that drew celebrities like Matt Damon and Wyclef Jean. (CNBC) • The Bank of England is ready for Brexit and is disillusioned with Bitcoin, said its governor, Mark Carney. (Bloomberg) • Hundreds of protesters, some waving signs that read “Let them eat money,” complained that the elite participants at Davos cared more about the bottom line than about the state of the world. (AP)

A packet of pot and a discounted Canadian barrel of oil are around the same price, laments columnist Chris Nelson.Ryan

Excessive packaging now plaguing legal pot could make cannabis edibles harder to swallow, say industry players.

Ottawa’s proposal to limit a legally maximum 10 mg dose of THC to a single package is wasteful and bad optics for a product rooted in environmental awareness, say some producers who want the federal government to relax that guideline. “Most cannabis consumers care very much about the environment and we’ve already gotten a lot of flak from the public,” said Allan Rewak, executive director of the Cannabis Council of Canada which represents licensed producers. “You’re going to see plastic containers piled up outside stores with people putting (edibles) all in one container.” A frequent knock on legal cannabis retailing is the often multi-layered packaging that involves paper, cardboard and different forms of plastic for even the smallest quantity of bud. Many in the industry expect edibles and other derivatives to become hugely popular once and even eclipse smokeable products after they’re legalized in October. Rewak said he appreciates the fact some of that packaging is meant to render legal cannabis child-proof and he’s not opposed to the 10-mg limit for THC in single doses. But he says more of those 10-mg doses should be allowed in each package. “Can you imagine the amount of waste it will generate? We should be able to have 10 doses in child-proof containers,” said Rewak, adding Ottawa is dumping the waste issue on the provinces and local governments. Awareness of wasteful packaging has even been exploited by black market dealers, including one in Calgary who sells his product in glass mason jars that can be refilled or recycled. Peter Aceto said his company is hearing the concerns from clients. “The edible legislation does imply a lot of packaging but we would like less of it — our patients and customers would like less packaging,” said Aceto, CEO of licensed cannabis producer and retailer CannTrust. Much of the existing container surface is used to host government excise stamps and warnings, space Aceto said he’d like to see reduced, instead to be used more for CannTrust’s branding. Some companies, including producer Canopy Growth, have teamed up with such recycling outfits as TerraCycle to ensure their packaging doesn’t end up in landfills. “It’s on us as producers to deal with the problem and it’s a choice of our business, it’s not baked into the regulations,” said Canopy Growth spokesman Jordan Sinclair. Alberta-based cannabis retailer Canna Cabana said it’s launched an effort to collect any of the Health Canada-sanctioned package, at no charge, to have it reduced to pellets for re-purposing. “Excessive packaging has been a recurring theme in the media and feedback from customers,” said a company press release. Cannabis industry players say the issue is one they’re putting forth during a 60-day consultation process in response to Health Canada’s draft regulations on edibles and derivatives, which ends Feb. 20. A spokeswoman for Health Canada said since that consultation is still ongoing, it’s too early to say how the government might respond the industry’s concerns. But she pointed to a ministry website which detailed how proposed packaging requirements ensure their contents are safe overall and less attractive to youth. It estimates meeting regulations on packaging, labelling and record-keeping would cost industry players $5.8 million a year. “In contrast, the public health and public safety benefits resulting from the current proposal are considerable, even if they cannot be quantified,” it states. “It is expected that these benefits would outweigh the costs.” The cannabis council’s Rewak said he’s not optimistic about the chances of changing Ottawa’s mind. “The truth is, regulations don’t change that much during consultations,” he said.

Excessive packaging now plaguing legal pot could make cannabis edibles harder to swallow, say industry players. Ottawa’s proposal to limit a legally maximum 10 mg dose of THC to a single package is wasteful and bad optics for a product rooted in environmental awareness, say some producers who want the federal government to relax that guideline. “Most cannabis consumers care very much about the environment and we’ve already gotten a lot of flak from the public,” said Allan Rewak, executive director of the Cannabis Council of Canada which represents licensed producers. “You’re going to see plastic containers piled up outside stores with people putting (edibles) all in one container.” A frequent knock on legal cannabis retailing is the often multi-layered packaging that involves paper, cardboard and different forms of plastic for even the smallest quantity of bud. Many in the industry expect edibles and other derivatives to become hugely popular once and even eclipse smokeable products after they’re legalized in October. Rewak said he appreciates the fact some of that packaging is meant to render legal cannabis child-proof and he’s not opposed to the 10-mg limit for THC in single doses. But he says more of those 10-mg doses should be allowed in each package. “Can you imagine the amount of waste it will generate? We should be able to have 10 doses in child-proof containers,” said Rewak, adding Ottawa is dumping the waste issue on the provinces and local governments. Awareness of wasteful packaging has even been exploited by black market dealers, including one in Calgary who sells his product in glass mason jars that can be refilled or recycled. Peter Aceto said his company is hearing the concerns from clients. “The edible legislation does imply a lot of packaging but we would like less of it — our patients and customers would like less packaging,” said Aceto, CEO of licensed cannabis producer and retailer CannTrust. Much of the existing container surface is used to host government excise stamps and warnings, space Aceto said he’d like to see reduced, instead to be used more for CannTrust’s branding. Some companies, including producer Canopy Growth, have teamed up with such recycling outfits as TerraCycle to ensure their packaging doesn’t end up in landfills. “It’s on us as producers to deal with the problem and it’s a choice of our business, it’s not baked into the regulations,” said Canopy Growth spokesman Jordan Sinclair. Alberta-based cannabis retailer Canna Cabana said it’s launched an effort to collect any of the Health Canada-sanctioned package, at no charge, to have it reduced to pellets for re-purposing. “Excessive packaging has been a recurring theme in the media and feedback from customers,” said a company press release. Cannabis industry players say the issue is one they’re putting forth during a 60-day consultation process in response to Health Canada’s draft regulations on edibles and derivatives, which ends Feb. 20. A spokeswoman for Health Canada said since that consultation is still ongoing, it’s too early to say how the government might respond the industry’s concerns. But she pointed to a ministry website which detailed how proposed packaging requirements ensure their contents are safe overall and less attractive to youth. It estimates meeting regulations on packaging, labelling and record-keeping would cost industry players $5.8 million a year. “In contrast, the public health and public safety benefits resulting from the current proposal are considerable, even if they cannot be quantified,” it states. “It is expected that these benefits would outweigh the costs.” The cannabis council’s Rewak said he’s not optimistic about the chances of changing Ottawa’s mind. “The truth is, regulations don’t change that much during consultations,” he said.

Loop will send you name-brand products, like Tide detergent, Crest mouthwash, or Häagen Dazs ice cream. When you’re done, you ship the empty container back, where it gets cleaned and reused for the next customer. [Photo: Loop]

• BY ADELE PETERS6 MINUTE READ

In the not-too-distant future–as soon as this spring, if you live in or near New York City or Paris–you’ll be able to buy ice cream or shampoo in a reusable container. When you’re done eating a tub of Haagen-Dazs, you’ll toss the sleek stainless steel package in your personal reuse bin instead of your trash can. Then it will be picked up for delivery back to a cleaning and sterilization facility so that it can be refilled with more ice cream for another customer. Loop, a new zero-waste platform from a coalition of major consumer product companies, will launch its first pilots this year. “While recycling is critically important, it is not going to solve waste at the root cause,” says Tom Szaky, CEO and cofounder of TerraCycle, a company that is known for recycling hard-to-recycle materials, and one of the partners behind the project. [Photo: courtesy Loop] “We run what is today the world’s largest supply chain on ocean plastic, collecting it and going into Unilever and Procter & Gamble products and so on,” Szaky says. “But every day, more and more gets put in the ocean, so no matter how much we clean the ocean, we’re never going to solve the problem. That’s really where Loop emerged…To us, the root cause of waste is not plastic, per se, it’s using things once, and that’s really what Loop tries to change as much as possible.” [Photo: courtesy Loop] TerraCycle worked with companies like Procter & Gamble, Nestle, PepsiCo, Unilever, and more than a dozen others for over a year to develop the new platform. Each package in the system is designed for 100 or more uses. In the initial launch, products will be available through Loop’s e-commerce site. When you order, say, deodorant or mouthwash, you’ll pay a deposit for the bottle. The order will show up in a reusable tote–designed by engineers at UPS to withstand repeated journeys–instead of a cardboard box. As you use up products, you’ll throw the empty containers back in the tote. When it’s full, you can go to the Loop website to request a delivery driver to pick it up (or, if you prefer, drop it off at a UPS store).   [Photo: courtesy Loop] For consumers, the process is designed to be as seamless as possible. “The goal isn’t as much to get you to change, it’s instead to create systems that don’t make you change–but have you then solve the issue in the process,” Szaky says. “Creating consumer change is phenomenally difficult. So the first question we asked in developing the model was why did disposability win? Why did it take over? I think it did because disposability is convenient and affordable.” Others have tried to tackle the problem of trash through other models, like refillable packaging or zero-waste grocery stores. But when those solutions fall short of the convenience or affordability of standard plastic packaging, they struggle to gain mass adoption. Loop aims to be essentially as convenient as throwing something in the trash; you don’t even need to rinse the container, so in that respect, it’s simpler than recycling. Apart from the refundable deposit on the package, the cost of the products will be similar to what customers pay now. Customers may also pay for shipping the totes back and forth, though a certain number of products can be shipped free, depending on the weight. ADVERTISING inRead invented by Teads   [Photo: courtesy Loop] UPS, which is partnering on the initial pilot to both deliver orders and pick up totes of empty containers, says that the system fits into its existing operations. “If you think of a typical day for a package-car driver, that driver will leave the building in the morning with a full package car,” says Patrick Browne, global director of sustainability at UPS. “As he’s going throughout the day delivering, on a very engineered route to reduce miles, at the same time, he’s picking up packages. So the effect is that driver leaves full and comes home full.”   [Photo: courtesy Loop] When a package is returned, a customer gets back their deposit (or, if they’ve opted for an automatic subscription, the receipt of the container can trigger a new order). Empty packages go to a facility to be cleaned, and then get sent back to manufacturers for refilling. All of this shipping does have a carbon footprint, but when TerraCycle calculated the total impact of the packaging, they found that it’s between 50-75% better for the environment than conventional alternatives.   “The major [environmental] cost of a product, whether it’s durable or disposable, is its creation–making it for the first time, extracting materials from the earth, and so on,” Szaky says. “That doesn’t happen in reuse. Instead, what you have is the cost of some shipping as well as the cleaning, and that ends up being significantly better than the cost of remanufacturing.” Shifting the ownership of a package from a consumer back to a brand creates new opportunities. “It shifts from being a cost to the manufacturer to being an asset,” he says. Instead of aiming to make the cheapest packaging possible, packaging can be designed to look better on shelves. It can also perform better; the Haagen-Dazs ice cream tub, for example, can keep ice cream frozen for multiple hours. [Photo: courtesy Loop] As brands worked on the packaging designs, it also led to some changes in the products. A toothpaste tube is too difficult to reuse, so Unilever designed toothpaste tablets that consumers can chew instead of squirting out of a tube. The tablets come in a reusable, zero-waste container (they also use less water). And in some cases, the products themselves can also come back for recycling. Loop will sell diapers, for example, in a returnable diaper pail, and then recycle the parts of diapers that are recyclable.     [Photo: courtesy Loop] The model is similar to milk deliveries in the early 20th century, though it’s yet to be proven that it can work in the modern world. In the pilots this spring, Loop will test how the system works, including the durability of containers, the impacts on manufacturing operations, delivery, and, crucially, whether consumers reorder products this way. (At a later point, it will begin to roll out the products at brick-and-mortar stores; the details of the system at physical stores haven’t been finalized yet.) Success, Szaky says, will depend on consumer acceptance, and the fact that the platform sells brands that are already hugely successful will help. “We don’t have to prove our brand of shampoo, it’s already the best,” he says. “We don’t have to prove that consumers shop at our store, they already do this. It’s just giving them an alternative way to access those things.” If the early pilots go well, the platform could become mainstream. The fact that these are major brands like Tide and Gillette–and not niche brands targeting green consumers–is significant. The largest brands are acknowledging that packaging needs to change. (Many have already committed to move to reusable, recycleable, or compostable plastic packaging.) Eight of the 10 companies that Greenpeace has listed as the world’s largest contributors to the plastic waste crisis are part of Loop, and the coalition is in talks with the other two. “We are objectively in a garbage crisis, and brands are really looking to bring solutions to end the crisis,” Szaky says.

A UPS firmou uma parceria com a empresa de produtos de consumo e de reciclagem TerraCycle e lançou um sistema reutilizável e retornável para gestão de embalagens de produtos de consumo – o Loop.

A Procter & Gamble Company (NYSE: PG) anunciou hoje a introdução de embalagens reutilizáveis e recarregáveis em alguns de seus produtos mais populares, como parte de um novo esforço que visa mudar a dependência mundial de embalagens de uso único e de resíduos descartáveis.