Reusable Container Service Loop Teams With Tesco to Enter U.K.
TerraCycle coca cola Include USA Tesco Loop Häagen-Dazs Heinz Nivea
As virus-wary customers opt for grocery delivery instead of in-store browsing, an eco-friendly startup is offering U.K. shoppers a way to cut down on all that consumer-goods packaging.
Loop, a spin-off of New Jersey recycling specialist TerraCycle Inc., is starting a trial with supermarket operator Tesco Plc that lets consumers order products like Heinz ketchup and Nivea shaving balm in containers designed to be returned and refilled over and over again. Shoppers can order the products via a local Loop website, with Loop keeping a small deposit that’s returned when it gets the packaging back for reuse.
The U.K. is Loop’s latest market -- it already operates in the U.S. and France, while expansion to Canada, Japan and Australia is coming in this year and early 2021, the company said.
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In a phone interview, Loop and TerraCycle founder and Chief Executive Officer Tom Szaky said the company’s sales remain strong amid the Covid-19 pandemic that has roiled the consumer landscape.
Tesco CEO Dave Lewis said in a statement that the grocery chain “has a clear ambition to reduce packaging” and the partnership will help it develop new plans using reusable containers.
Loop, which has partnered with big companies like Coca-Cola Co. as well as smaller ones, ships customers’ orders in stainless steel, glass or aluminum packaging. When the container is emptied, shoppers can either request pickup of the containers or they can drop them off at 2,500 collection points in the U.K. The jars, canisters and bottles are sorted, professionally cleaned and returned to the manufacturer for a refill.
“The professional cleaning means people aren’t afraid” to use the service during the pandemic, Szaky said.