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ELIMINATING THE IDEA OF WASTE®
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Plastic Bags Are Making a Comeback. Will It Last?
Plastic Bags Are Making a Comeback. Will It Last?
Loop’s zero-waste everyday product delivery service is expanding to the whole U.S.
The platform, which ships things like ice cream in metal containers you then send back for reuse, is expanding this summer, after a huge surge during the pandemic.
If you’ve started buying basic supplies like shampoo and toothbrushes online during the pandemic, you may notice that you’re creating a lot of extra waste in your house. But soon you’ll also be able to buy versions that come with sustainable, reusable packaging. Loop, the milkman-style platform that partners with big brands to offer subscriptions to common products like Tide detergent in reusable packaging, will expand its delivery service across the contiguous U.S. early this summer. The startup, which began its first pilots in and around New York City and Paris in 2019, has seen record sales in March and April as consumers have turned to e-commerce to avoid shopping in crowded stores. The expansion is a response to demand from customers, but also offers an alternative to recycling at a time when the recycling industry is struggling even more than it already was. [Photo: Loop] “We’re in a waste crisis,” says Tom Szaky, Loop’s CEO, who is also CEO of Terracycle, the recycling company that first helped launch the new platform. “That’s only worse because of COVID. During COVID, recyclers are hurting even more because oil is at an extreme low, so it makes it hard for recyclers to compete. And many are struggling because of health and safety—recycling is crashing during COVID.” Instead of shipping products in packages designed for a single use before recycling (or going straight to landfill), the platform sells products in packages designed for multiple reuses. When a container is empty, a consumer drops it in a shipping tote, schedules a pickup, and then sends the packaging back to be fully sterilized and then repackaged for another customer. Reuse has faltered in some cases during the coronavirus outbreak—some grocery stores have banned reusable bags, and some coffee shops have stopped reusable cup programs. But Szaky says that hasn’t been the case for Loop. “We’re learning that consumers are comfortable with reuse during COVID, which is very important,” he says. “If you give a coffee cup to a barista at a Starbucks, it has no dwell time, no health and safety protocol, and no cleaning. So it’s pretty bad. In Loop, it’s a professional reuse system, which has all of those three things in a very, very big way.” The platform now offers around 200 products that major brands have redesigned for reuse, either in the packaging or the product itself. A new toothbrush from Oral B called Clic has a reusable base and a head that snaps off to be sent back for recycling. Pantene shampoo comes in a lightweight aluminum bottle instead of plastic. Puretto, Loop’s in-house brands, sells snacks like chips and pretzels in stainless steel tubs instead of plastic bags. The design process for each item takes months; a tub designed for Häagen-Dazs ice cream, for example, uses a unique structure that works in the system, but also keeps ice cream colder longer. Four hundred brands have now signed onto the platform and are working through the process of developing new packaging for their products. As the company tracks where orders are most popular across the country, that will help its retail partners—Kroger and Walgreens—decide where to prioritize offering the same platform in stores later this year.Earth911 Podcast: Sustainable Home Shopping With Loop
Are you thinking about shopping with home delivery during the lockdown? You need to know Loop, the home grocery delivery service that picks up and recycles what you buy when you are done. Earth911 talks with Benjamin Weir, North American business development manager at Loop. Launched by TerraCycle, the innovative recycling company, Loopstore.com currently offers 173 food and personal care products to customers in the U.S. Northeast and in France. Like the traditional milkman, Loop drops off and picks up product packaging. The packages are cleaned and reused by TerraCycle. No mess, lots less recycling hassle.
Loop has developed new returnable and reusable packaging for products that include a steel Häagen-Dazs ice cream pint, Tide purclean detergent, and Love Beauty Planet personal care products. Customers receive their orders in an insulated tote bag, which is picked up when full by UPS and returned to TerraCycle. Weir explains that customers typically have two totes “in motion.”
The company will expand service in the U.S. and Europe during 2020; it also is working to expand its product selection. We also discuss how Loop is working with its partners to reduce customer and worker exposure to potential coronavirus infection.
![The Loop Häagen-Dazs container can be reused without recycling](https://23pxcp3u31lgiybw92v8rma1-wpengine.netdna-ssl.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/Loop-Haagen-Dazs-300x301.png)
Sustainable packaging goes beyond traditional recycling
TerraCycle
pepsico
Dove
Nestle
Unilever
Include USA
UPS
Walgreens
Tide
Tesco
Loop
Clorox
Tropicana
Häagen-Dazs
Gillette
Kroger
Loblaws
Chameleon Cold Brew
Hidden Valley
AEON
They’re Fixing The World’s Plastic Problem Using ‘The Milkman’ Concept – With All Your Favorite Products
TerraCycle
Dove
Include USA
Febreze
UPS
Procter & Gamble
Carrefour
Tide
Pampers
Loop
Clorox
Tropicana
Häagen-Dazs
Gillette
Pantene
Crest
Cascade
Ariel
Hellmann’s
For several generations of young Americans, the idea of a ‘milkman’ is a completely foreign concept. But if you lived in the 40s, 50s, and 60s, and you were in the middle-class, you likely had a delivery truck dropping off fresh bottles of milk on your front porch—and you would leave the empties outside to be picked up. It was super convenient—and, better yet, there was no waste generated in the process.
With tons of plastic containers overrunning landfills, and an innovative partnership of consumer brands emerging, the milkman idea of circulating containers is making a comeback.
Loop launched in Paris and New York one year ago as a company that ships customers their favorite products packaged in reusable stainless steel or glass containers to be collected later for cleaning and refilling—just like your grandfather’s milk.
They quickly expanding their operation to cover much of the U.S. Mid-Atlantic region, and this month Loop will be bringing their pioneering business model to the UK, a move they hope will make them the biggest eliminator of single-use plastics in the global grocery market. They also announced plans to expand soon into Canada, Germany, and Japan.
Loop teamed up with some of the biggest consumer industry giants to create eco-versions of hundreds of popular products like Tropicana, Haagen-Dazs, or Hellmann’s mayonnaise; cleaning products like Tide and Clorox wipes; and skin and hair care essentials like deodorants, from companies like Dove, Pantene, L’Oreal, and Crest. Procter & Gamble, Loop’s biggest partner, which also owns a 2 percent stake in the enterprise, tapped into 10 of its most iconic brands as part of the Loop 2019 launch, including Ariel, Cascade, Crest, Febreze, Gillette, Pantene, Pampers, and Tide, according to GreenBiz.
Image by Loop
Stateside, the refillable products are available at Kroger and Walgreens, in addition to the online Loop store, and they cost nearly the same as their plastic counterparts, except for the cost of a deposit.
Founded by the brilliant recycling company TerraCycle, Loop plans to expand across the U.S. this year where more consumers in specific zip codes can place empties inside their Loop insulated zipper tote on the doorstep—to be picked up, washed, and reused.
In France, where Loop has already partnered with Carrefour—one of the largest grocery chains in Europe, consumers pay a small deposit on the items purchased, in case the packages aren’t returned later. This includes small bottles, where a deposit might only be a few cents, or large tubs that might contain laundry soap or paper towels.
1953 photo by Ben van Meerendonk / AHF, collectie IISG, Amsterdam
When asked about the hefty carbon footprint of shipping the products all over the country and then shipping them back for washing and refilling, Loop’s founder, the mastermind of Terracycle, Tom Szaky, explained that if you add up all the energy and shipping it takes to create and distribute plastic, the carbon footprint is cut in half—plus you are digging up the actual root of the plastic problem, so it can be eliminated.
Furthermore, as drone delivery technology becomes more and more feasible in major cities, delivery will become much cheaper and more energy efficient. Companies like DHL, UPS, Amazon, Google, Dominoes, Rakuten, and 7-11 all have drone-delivery technology.
According to the Business Insider 2018-2020 report on online grocery shopping, 10% of consumers utilize online grocery store options, while the market value of these services doubled from $12 billion in 2016 to $26 billion in 2018 and shows no sign of slowing down.
It’s possible that in the next ten years thanks to companies like Loop, all the benefits of the friendly neighborhood milkman will be resurrected to create a healthier planet for all.
This Startup Is Building A Closed Loop System: A Future Where Shopping Is Zero-Waste
We have all heard the age-old story of the milkman — the epitome of convenience before the invention of the refrigerator. Fresh milk was delivered right to your door and the empty bottles would be whisked away. While this seems to be a way of the past, what if this technique was resurrected with our products today? (A closed loop system, if you will.)
Meet Loop, a startup focused on creating a platform for helping consumers live zero-waste lifestyles, is doing just that. Operating under recycling company Terracycle, Loop’s thesis is that product packaging is the killer when it comes to how the buying process contributes to waste.
To learn more about what Loop is working on, I spoke with Ben Weir, the company’s Business Development Manager. In our conversation, we talked about the statistics that motivate the company’s work, what it’s doing, and the sustainable future of shopping the company is betting on.
Some of Loop’s products. Photo Credit: Mark Kauzlarich/CNN
Partnering with some of the largest household companies such as Tide, Pantene, and Häagen-Dazs, Loop offers popular products in reusable containers. Highly durable and sustainable materials, such as stainless steel, aluminum, and glass, are used to redesign well-known products in a design-conscious manner. Plus, the packaging has a minimum threshold of ten reuse cycles.
Nestle designed reusable containers for Loop. Photo Credit: Brinson and Banks (CNN)
At the same time, Loop provides consumers an assortment of products, which has helped the company expand into more market sectors. And by refining its packaging and design quality, the startup wants to convince consumers who aren’t typically big on sustainability to come aboard.
Image: Loop customers. Photo Credit: Loop
It sounds like Loop’s primary goal is to shift responsibility and ownership back to the manufacturer. Instead of depending on consumers being environmentally-conscious , Loop thinks offering incentives for manufacturers can be more effective.
Loop’s (Sustainable) Vision of the Future
Imagine a ‘milkman’ scenario where a vendor delivers a product to you and once you’re done using it, someone comes by to pick up, clean, and refill the empty container for the cycle to repeat once again. This process is what Weir calls a ‘closed loop system’ — and it’s what Loop is betting big bucks on.The Numbers: What a Closed Loop System Could Accomplish
Weir emphasizes that Loop strives to be durable, cleanable, and circular (reusable) with its packaging. After these ten cycles, Loop has a 35% lower environmental impact compared to regular eCommerce. The startup also optimizes its supply chain to make it as sustainable as possible by sourcing locally whenever possible. Every year, approximately 300 million tons of plastic are produced with 50% of it coming from single-use plastic. Avoiding a ‘disposable lifestyle’ is what Loop aims to do by promoting zero-waste alternatives.How Loop Develops its Partnerships and Customer Relationships
Loop has approximately 100 employees globally, making it a relatively small company in the industry. But it is a subsidiary of the Terracycle brand, which has been around for some 20 years. And that has helped the company collaborate with over 150 brands to date. To make partnering with those brands an enticing possibility, Loop’s process benefits manufacturers by promoting product innovation and creating a halo effect around the brand.Building a Truly Closed Loop System Will Take Collaboration
Ever since announcing its intentions at World Economic Form in 2019, Loop has been on a mission to reform how society views shopping. In fact, this small company has big goals to expand and shift global perspectives. Over the next 12 months, Loop plans to expand to eight new geographic markets, including regions in Asia, Australia, and Canada. In the near future, there are plans to launch integrated eCommerce in France over the next month. Additionally, Loop looks to focus on more brick and mortar implementation on the West Coast. It would be difficult to do all that alone. By aiming to create an omnichannel approach with retail partners, Loop highlights its dedication to integration. The company hopes to expand in all aspects possible — including more accessible products, drop-off locations, and partners.Loop’s Bet Doesn’t Come Without Market Risk
Proposing such a large manufacturing change to corporations doesn’t come without resistance. In general, many product producers are moving towards using less packaging with lighter weight. So although the idea of reusable packaging is gaining popularity, it does not always provide the convenience that consumers desire. But that’s where Loop’s bet comes in. It’s not an execution risk — it’s a market risk. The stakes? Loop fails if customers and manufacturers don’t believe this model works. On the contrary, if the model does work, the company could be an early player in a huge market.First Came the Milkman. Then Came Loop.
How one company is working to eliminate the very idea of waste
Since 2001, where most of us have seen trash, Tom Szaky has seen potential. From cigarette butts to coffee capsules, Tom set out to recycle the hard-to-recycle products we use. His company, TerraCycle, offers everything from free recycling programs to industrial waste solutions.
“But we can’t recycle our way out of the waste crisis,” Eric Rosen, publicist for TerraCycle said. “And [Tom] is the first to say if TerraCycle didn’t exist — or couldn’t exist — he’d be thrilled.”
In other words, he would love to see a world where we produced zero waste to begin with. That’s where TerraCycle’s latest venture, Loop, comes in.
“The next thing to do was to attack waste at the root cause,” Eric said. “If the economics are good, we can recycle virtually anything. But that’s not going to solve the problem.”
“The next step was to create a circular economy where there’s virtually no waste.”
Loop was announced at the World Economic Forum in January 2019, proposing a new model of consumption whereby people can get their favorite home goods, cosmetics, and food products through a sustainable, circular system of pick-up and drop-off using reusable containers. It took off from there. “We immediately had thousands upon thousands of people who went to the website and were waitlisted,” Eric said. “So we knew right away that there was a clamoring for this. And we’ve continued to see that as we grow.”
The company launched its pilot program that summer, beginning in Paris on May 14 and New York the following week. “We launched in a handful of states as a pilot,” Eric said. “We could not keep up with the number of requests coming in, like ‘When are you coming to our state?’ Certainly, the waste crisis, sustainability, and climate change are in the news, so people are well aware. There’s a sense now that they want to do something about it.”
Loop already has a cleaning facility in Pennsylvania and a warehouse in New Jersey, which made New York a logical place to start. As the company scales, it selects cities within a 24-hour delivery range of both a cleaning facility and a warehouse, particularly for the frozen goods it provides. “We’ll add warehouses and cleaning facilities as we go, but that’s how the places were chosen,” Eric added.
Loop will launch in the UK at the end of March, Toronto in June, and Japan towards the end of the year. Next will be Australia in 2021.
Customers receive their orders in a reusable tote and request a pick-up once items are empty. They’re then cleaned and refilled. Photos: Loop
The price of a Loop good is comparable to a regular one, plus a deposit for the packaging. Since it’s reusable, it becomes valuable. Take shampoo, for example. Before, you bought shampoo for its contents; once the bottle was empty, you would toss it.
“In this instance, now the company owns the package and the package is an asset,” Eric said. “Customers put a deposit down on each pack. When that pack comes back, the deposit is returned to the consumer.”
This deposit essentially sits in an account. You can opt to let it remain there as you continue to buy products through Loop; or, once you’re done, you can request the deposit back.
The brand owns the package, so they want that package back. This inherently makes the process a circular one, removing waste from the equation.
While Loop is currently e-commerce only, “we will be in-store at some point in 2020 in the United States,” Eric explained. With retail partners like Kroger and Walgreens stateside, Carrefour in Paris and Loblaws in Canada, you might find a Loop aisle at a grocer near you.
“The process will work virtually the same,” Eric said. “You’ll be able to bring your shipping tote into the store, where there will be an aisle with all the Loop products and packaging.” You shop, pay for the product, and bring it home, as you would any other pet food or ice cream pint. Then, as soon as you finish the pack, you bring it back. That store would then send it back to Loop to be cleaned, sanitized, refilled, and shipped back out to another consumer.
In many ways, Loop seems like the future. But it draws on our current thinking and behavior — and a model that dates back to the 1950s.
“When you finish your normal plastic shampoo, consumers are pretty accustomed at this point to dropping it in the blue bin. Now, as opposed to dropping that in that bin, you just drop it back into shipping tote.”
“We don’t want to change behavior. That becomes a much harder proposition.”
Loop isn’t the first to discover the effectiveness of the pick-up/drop-off model. Remember the milkman?
“We were seeing that model up until the 1950s when all of a sudden we turned to all of this disposable packaging for convenience. Obviously we’ve created so much waste that it’s no longer effective.
“The idea behind Loop is exactly that: it’s the milkman model where the brand owns the pack and we come collect it, sanitize it, and fill it again.”
But instead of homogenous glass bottles, companies are investing in containers you want to show off.
“One of the things we’re finding is that people appreciate and want these packs because they’re so pretty. Like the Pantene bottles: people want to leave them on a counter.”
Loop has very specific specs companies need to adhere to when creating packaging. Aesthetics is “not a requirement, but it certainly is playing a role in how these are being designed.” Most importantly, they need to be durable, cleanable, and circular (by having an end-of-life solution).
“It’s not necessarily material,” Eric said. “Plastic is not necessarily the demon, it’s the single-use that’s the problem. So these packs have to be durable.”
“Häagen-Dazs, which has made an absolutely beautiful pack, had a whole R&D team develop it. We have designers at Loop who can help develop the packaging, but, depending on the size of the company, some are big enough to do it on their own.”
Just how durable these containers are varies from company to company. “Obviously these containers are going to get banged up,” Eric said. “And it’s up to the company to determine when they want to take them out of circulation. When that time comes, the containers themselves are recyclable. They’ll be turned back into themselves by TerraCycle.”
Eric said the company is working on a public-facing Life-Cycle Assessment, which will highlight the environmental benefits of these containers—transportation costs included—as opposed to single-use packaging that most often ends up in landfills.
Ultimately, the dream would be to have a whole store filled with reusable product containers. “We would create an entirely circular economy,” he said. “There would be absolutely no waste. That is the ultimate goal.”
TerraCycle’s next project with this goal in mind? ReDyper, a partnership in which parents send in soiled Dyper diapers to TerraCycle’s facility for composting. It was announced this week.
Stores are essential for the Loop reusable packaging program
TerraCycle
Include USA
UPS
Walgreens
Tide
Tesco
Loop
Reinberger Nut Butter
Clorox
Häagen-Dazs
Kroger
Loblaw