Toothpaste tablets are marketed as a plastic-free, more portable oral care solution –
James Shackell bites down in search of a better brush
While enterprises like
TerraCycle offer
collection-points for oral care products, plenty still end up in landfill. Moreover, many toothpastes – roughly half according to Dutch NGO Plastic Soup Foundation’s
Beat the Microbead campaign – also contain microplastics, tiny indestructible plastic polymers that get spat down the sink and washed into the food chain.
Hoje I'll bring details of a service that I recently tested:
Loop . This is a food delivery system created by TerraCycle in order to eliminate the number of garbage that ends up falling into landfills and oceans. When I think of the planet that I want my children (and their children) to live in, I know that services like this should be used and that is why I am writing this post for you today. And the photo above the super happy boys shows that this reason is more than enough, isn't it?
Loop is defined as a new way to buy all your favorite products without producing too much waste. The idea is simple: you do NOT need the packaging, but what is inside, correct? So several people can use the same packaging, obviously cleaning and taking important care. This service has already been implemented in the USA and Europe and arrived in Ontario on February 1, 2021.
Below is a summary of how it works, step by step:
1. You must enter the Loop website and make your purchases
here . There are 100 products to choose from and from great brands like Haagen-Dazs, Hersheys, President's Choise and Organic Meadow. There are also little known brands, but they are very pro-nature like Puretto and Noice.
2. When you make your purchases you will have to make a
100% refundable deposit of the packages, since they are loaned. When you return your products the deposit will be automatically returned to you.
3. It is worth mentioning here that there is no monthly fee or anything like that and you can use the service as many times as you want.
4. Delivery is free for purchases over $ 50.
5. The products are delivered in a box -
tote bag - also reusable (see more details about it
here ). There is no cardboard, bubble paper or anything that is discarded. The seal that comes in the box must be placed inside it for the company to recycle. The
tote bag was made for you to receive and send your products and is completely washable.
6. After you use all your products you just need to put them washed back in the tote bag and check
here for someone to pick up your packaging for free. There is also the option to take to a
FedEx drop off point . The service is working so that the packages can be returned to supermarkets and restaurants.
This is the seal that comes in the box when you receive it. As it says on it, you must put the cut seal inside the bag for them to recycle. Look at the photo below for the new seal that comes for you to use when sending the products back.
As I said to you, after having consumed all the products, the company's brand comes to pick up the box and uses the seal to close it. The card with your address and that of the company has two sides, so just turn to the side that says: “delivered to the company” and that's it.
The products thus come inside the box: all with dividers and a foam that will be cleaned and reused in the next purchase.
Obviously - and especially in the times we are living in - the biggest question is about cleaning the packaging. And everything is explained
here . In short, there are many rules, audits and laws that make this cleaning safe.
Here are some of the products we received to test this experience: juice, ketchup, tomato sauce, olive oil, soap, dipping sauce, toothpaste and deodorant.
As much as the products are from well-known brands they have a difference: on the packaging there is an indication that the product is from the Loop service (most of the time it is on the label). I thought it was great because until we change our habit, this detail reminds us that we can't throw away the packaging.
It is worth mentioning that the
Loop is just starting here and they intend to expand to other locations in Canada and also to associate with Tim Hortons so that people use reusable cups for their coffees. I loved the experience and I want to become a regular buyer, because I think this small change in our habits can make a lot of difference there in the future.
Tom Szaky says, “Wow! "
Maybe he plugs his nose like we all do, but in front of a full Pampers - just like in front of a cigarette butt, glasses of glasses thrown in the trash or fabrics with enigmatic names of fibers doomed to the dumps. - he sees the opportunity to find a solution.
Born in Hungary, arrived in Toronto at the age of 5, now living in New Jersey - he studied at Princeton -, Tom Szaky is truly one of the entrepreneurs who stand out in the world by greedily embracing the challenges of the circular economy.
You may know one of his babies, Loop, a company already present in the United States, France and the United Kingdom, which has just arrived in Canada and which allows brands sold in supermarkets to use containers. recorded. It's being tested in Toronto now, in partnership with Loblaw and other well-known brands, such as Heinz or Häagen-Dazs. "It's been just over a week and we've exceeded our one-month goals," Szaky said in a telephone interview.
Basically: we order online, it is delivered by Loop, the customer consumes the contents - soup, ketchup, juice, etc. -, and the container is then taken back by a delivery system which will carry everything for cleaning. Then the containers will return to the brands, who will refill them, resell them. You get the picture.
And it will be in Montreal at the beginning of 2022, the garbage recycling giant told me.
Because there isn't just Loop in the life of the 39-year-old entrepreneur.
There is also TerraCycle, his first company, dedicated to the transformation of waste.
His first product, at the very beginning, in 2001, was kitchen waste, which he vermicomposted, sold in recycled plastic bottles.
But today, it has gone much further in the recovery and transformation of waste long considered irrecoverable, such as dirty disposable diapers - which its teams make into plastics in particular - and cigarette butts, from which they also extract plastics from the filter, while composting the rest of the tobacco.
TerraCycle also works to collect and process plastic bottles around the world. Because the company is everywhere, from Tokyo to Trenton, in Ontario, present in twenty countries.
With laboratories all over the place, but mainly in New Jersey - in a landfill - TerraCycle is constantly doing research. Its business model: wait for a major player to ask for its help. The company does not seek to sell its green solutions. She finds solutions for those who want them. In large scale. Its partners are called Walgreens, Home Hardware, Procter & Gamble… The list goes on.
One of the next projects: promoting waste as an information medium. The contents of diapers say a lot about the health of babies, as does used oil on the condition of engines, says Tom Szaky. You might as well take advantage of everything that can be revealed.
Another avenue explored: the Loop system of material reuse in a loop, but applied to cloth diapers and children's clothing.
It's coming fast in the United States and the United Kingdom. In both cases, in partnership with very large companies.
So, we forget the small community cloth diaper cleaning service. We think big brands sold in supermarkets.
With cleaning, transport and reuse systems in the case of diapers. And simply a cash deposit system, such as a deposit, in the case of baby clothes. Deposit that we recover, of course, by bringing back clothes that have become too small.
***
TerraCycle is not a newcomer to the world of waste recovery and recycling. It was founded in 2001 when young Szaky was a student at Princeton. It was during a trip with friends from university to Montreal, at this time, that he saw for the first time worms transforming organic waste into compost and that he had the idea of make the first product of his waste recovery business.
Today, about a third of the company's work is industrial waste, and the rest is our everyday consumer waste.
The next challenge right now is, you guessed it, on the side of masks, gloves and all the disposable equipment used in the fight against COVID-19. “There's a whole new stream of waste here,” says Szaky.
TerraCycle takes care of it.
But the real challenge, 20 years after the discovery of vermicomposting, is no longer concentrated at all towards the quest for new waste streams, new gold in the bins. The new frontier is logistics on a large scale, the search for solutions that work on a large scale and, above all, very, very large.
Loop, for example, now operates on a large scale in the United Kingdom with the giant Tesco, in France with Carrefour, and in the United States with notably Walgreens and Burger King! Major players.
Currently, explains Mr. Szaky, there is a remarkable awakening of individuals to the need to produce less waste as well as to recover and reuse objects. Consumers' support is therefore less difficult to obtain than before. Loop's home in Toronto is one example, as is the proliferation of grocery stores offering unpackaged products.
But the world of recovery and reuse is also becoming more complex, and the financial challenges are not trivial.
The price of oil is low, so there is less reason to want to recover its derivatives otherwise. Also, the raw material is not what it was 20 years ago. There is less waste than before, they are lighter, packaging is often made with more complex materials, more difficult to work with and to break down. (Besides, Szaky thinks that packaging should be simplified, not become more and more multi-layered and multi-material.)
Countries that bought waste from others became more demanding. We saw it, in Quebec, when China started to refuse our waste.
When I ask him if the company also intends to take new paths to integrate its work into larger, more global pollution reduction systems, Tom Szaky answers no.
“You want to focus on one problem and be good,” he says. So Loop does not come with a guarantee of green transport, for example.
It is up to the partners to then be consistent. In France, Carrefour is looking for a solution for “green” delivery.
And can consumers do more to recycle better?
Should we buy everything second-hand? At TerraCycle, offices all over the planet are fitted out and furnished with recycled materials, used objects.
“Actually, no,” Mr. Szaky replies.
“What is needed more than anything is buying less. "
A Nestlé acaba de lançar um programa para reciclagem de embalagens de filme plástico metalizado, geralmente usadas em chocolates e biscoitos. Desenvolvido em parceria com a TerraCycle, o programa inclui a capacitação de cooperativas de catadores para a reciclagem do material e a mobilização de consumidores para a destinação correta das embalagens. A iniciativa aceitará tanto embalagens de biscoitos e chocolates quanto de salgadinhos, misturas para bolo, barrinhas de cereal e ovos de Páscoa, que também costumam usar o material.
A Nestlé acaba de lançar uma iniciativa que concilia a reciclagem de embalagens laminadas de chocolates e biscoitos com o repasse de recursos a entidade sociais. Desenvolvido em parceria com a TerraCycle, o programa de reciclagem inclusiva envolve capacitação de cooperativas de catadores e o engajamento de consumidores para a correta destinação e reaproveitamento das embalagens de filme plástico metalizado conhecido na indústria como BOPP (polipropileno biorientado).
Alors que la pandémie persiste dans le monde, environ 130 milliards de masques jetables se retrouvent chaque mois dans les décharges, les rues des villes, les rivières, les plages et les océans, ce qui représente un risque considérable pour l’environnement.
Dans
une étude publiée la semaine dernière, Des chercheurs australiens ont proposé une solution potentielle: recycler les masques usagés dans les routes.
As it deepens its commitment to the environment, Eva NYC is rolling out aluminum packaging for its full-size products.
Across its range, the haircare brand, which is dedicated to achieving B Corp certification by 2024, has become 100% recyclable. Its repackaged aluminum items are 93% plastic-free. Pumps are responsible for the 7% of the packaging that’s plastic, and they can be recycled via TerraCycle, a company specializing in hard-to-recycle materials Eva NYC partnered with last year as it kicked off its sustainable push.
The brand has pledged to invest at least $3 million in its sustainability initiatives through 2025. Jane Moran, VP at Eva NYC, mentions the investment could put Eva NYC on a path to solidifying B Corp status within two years. “We are that focused,” she says.
The beauty industry is a notorious offender to the environment, notes Moran, with an estimated over 120 billion
units of beauty packaging produced annually on a global level. Most of the packaging is out of plastic that doesn’t get recycled.
“Only 9% of plastics actually get recycled, and we want to provide our customers with an option to stop purchasing virgin plastics as they are the hardest to recycle,” says Moran. She shares survey data from
WGSN reveals 88% of consumers want brands to assist them in being sustainable, but 43% feel brands make it harder for them. During the pandemic, interest in sustainability hasn’t ebbed.
Eva NYC selected aluminum for several reasons. It can be recycled over and over again, and Moran points out aluminum is the easiest material to recycle in the United States because all curbside facilities accept it. Consumers give aluminum a thumb-up in Boston Consulting
Group research cited by Eva NYC showing they believe it’s two times eco-friendlier and 1.4 times more recyclable than plastic.
The brand isn’t the only one in the beauty industry to embrace aluminum. We Are Paradoxx’s haircare products are housed in aluminum, and Hand in Hand has
encased liquid soaps in the material. For Eva NYC, the move to aluminum sparked a $1 price increase for shampoos and conditioners. Before the $1 increase, the brand hadn’t changed prices in six years. The aluminum cans hold a slightly greater amount of product than their plastic predecessors.
“It balances out,” says Moran, adding, “Pricing is one of the biggest barriers. We really try to make our products affordable and accessible.” Eva NYC’s products are mostly priced from $10 to $15. The brand’s major retail partners include Target, Ulta Beauty, Sally Beauty and Costco. Target recently expanded Eva NYC from 400 to 1,300-plus doors. The brand added Amazon at the end of last year. Moran says Amazon is performing well, and emphasizes retailers have a swelling appetite for brands with sustainable positioning.
While many stores were closed in 2020, Eva NYC concentrated on influencer and e-commerce efforts. “We put a focus on helping our retail partners as they shifted to more e-commerce. Even before the pandemic, we had started investing in our own site,” says Moran. Last year, Eva NYC’s sales grew by double digits over the year before. A
WWD article in 2017 turned to industry sources to forecast the brand’s sales that year could be $45 million to $60 million.
Along with haircare brand Amika, Eva NYC is in the portfolio of
Heat Makes Sense, a privately-held company formed in 2007 in Brooklyn by co-CEOs Shay and Nir Kadosh, and creative director Vita Raykhman. Eva NYC has been certified cruelty-free by Leaping Bunny since its launch in 2012. Over the past year, the brand also became certified vegan.
“We’ve removed any ingredients that might be harmful to the environment or body and, now, we’ve made this big step with our aluminum packaging,” says Moran. She joined Eva NYC two years ago after building extensive beauty industry experience in roles at past roles at Peter Thomas Roth, Elemis, L’Oréal and Unilever. At the brand, Moran says, “Our focus is to provide our consumers with a good hair day every day.”
Mane Magic 10-In-1 Hair Primer is Eva NYC’s bestselling product. There’s a bevy of releases planned for 2021. This month, Satin Dream Shampoo + Conditioner ($13) and Satin Dream Leave-In Cream ($12) will bow. Next month, the assortment will extend to Just Glisten Hair + Body Shine Mist ($12). In the pipeline are products for brunettes, blondes and split-end repair. The brand continues to study options for
pumps with the aim of reducing plastic.
Eva NYC’s packaging has been upgraded to call out key attributes such as the aluminum it’s constructed from. To publicize the aluminum packaging rollout, Eva NYC teamed up with New York City graffiti artist and muralist Queen Andrea to conceptualize street art entitled “Recycling is Beautiful” located in the Williamsburg section of Brooklyn. Moran strives for consumers to understand that one small change in their lives can make a big impact. “We also hope that new consumers come into the brand looking for a product that gives them fun and affordable haircare and be great for the environment,” she says.
In addition to its aluminum packaging, Eva NYC is on course to save 400,000 kilowatt-hour of energy from the grid through solar and storage systems, and LED lights at its warehouse in Pennsauken, N.J. The publication
Glossy detailed the brand is tapping $1.2 million in government incentives for the warehouse improvements and will save $50,000 on its electricity bill a year. The publication divulged the “gross cost of the solar panels is $683,340 and the gross cost of the solar energy battery is $248,750.”
Moran says, “We won’t stop finding ways to make our brand more sustainable.”
“We won’t stop finding ways to make our brand more sustainable.”
