It’s the milkman for the 21st century, with customers from Pittsburgh to Philadelphia already having signed up online this spring. Founder and CEO Tom Szaky, who spun Loop off from his Trenton recycling company, TerraCycle, believes this is the right moment for a new way of grocery shopping.

Tom Szaky, the founder and CEO of TerraCycle, is known for recycling the unrecyclable—cigarette butts, chewing gum, diapers—but last year, as he watched the business model for recycling crater (in part because it’s not profitable to recycle many of the new, lighter, more flexible plastics), he had an epiphany.

It’s the milkman for the 21st century, with customers from Pittsburgh to Philadelphia already having signed up online this spring. Founder and CEO Tom Szaky, who spun Loop off from his Trenton recycling company, TerraCycle, believes this is the right moment for a new way of grocery shopping.

First announced earlier this year, Loop is a program from global recycling company TerraCycle, which has partnered with retailers and brands to create sustainable, reusable packaging for products in an effort to reduce waste. After placing an online order for grocery, household and personal care products, the products are delivered in a special, reusable tote. The packaging– which is designed to be specific to each brand and product – is placed back in the tote once it is used and returned to Loop for reuse. Products can be ordered for one-time use, or set to auto-refill once they are returned.

Several major manufacturers are onboard for the circular use pilot. The Clorox Company (NYSE: CLX) has added two of its popular products to the list of items available through the TerraCycle Loop circular sustainable shopping pilot program. First announced at the World Economic Forum in January, Loop enables consumers to purchase commonly-used products in customized, durable packaging that is delivered in a reusable shipping tote. The initiative aims to establish a new model that supports responsible consumption and ends society’s dependence on disposability. Once products are used, consumers place the packaging in a special tote for free pickup, then Loop hygienically cleans the packaging, replenishes the products and returns them to the consumer. TerraCycle partnered with UPS to design its reusable, easily-cleanable tote to handle both liquids and dry goods over multiple uses, Recycling Today reported. The pilot program is available in the mid-Atlantic region of New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Maryland and Washington, D.C. Clorox crisp lemon disinfecting wipes and Hidden Valley Original Ranch topping and dressing will be available through the program, and the company plans to add a Glad food protection product to the platform later this year. Other products available through the Loop program include Procter & Gamble brands including Tide detergent, Cascade dishwashing products, Pantene haircare items and Oral-B dental care. “We are building on more than 180 years of innovation and world-class consumer insight to enable responsible consumption at scale,” Carolyn Tastad, P&G’s(NYSE: PG) Group President - North America, said. “We’re proud to partner with TerraCycle as the first CPG company to be part of this program as we work to accelerate sustainable innovation and explore new circular solutions that consumers love.” Companies including Unilever, Nestlé, PepsiCo, Danone, Mars Petcare, Mondelēz International are also onboard, per CNN, for a total of about 300 products. The Kroger Co. (NYSE: KR) and Walgreens (NASDAQ: WBA) are founding retail partners with Loop, and consumers in the pilot region can shop for products through www.thekrogerco.com/loop orwww.walgreens.com/loop, and in the future, the retailers hope to enable consumers to purchase Loop products in stores in select locations.  

The Loop™ circular shopping system has officially launched its pilot program in the Mid-Atlantic region of New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Maryland, and Washington, D.C., and has announced Kroger Co and Walgreens, respectively the country’s largest grocery retailer and one of the largest pharmacy chains, as the founding retailers in the U.S. The news came at a media event held at the offices of The World Economic Forum in New York City May 21.

“Loop was designed from the ground up to reinvent the way we consume by leveraging the sustainable, circular milkman model of yesterday with the convenience of e-commerce,” Tom Szaky, founder and chief executive of Loop and TerraCycle, said in a news release.

That’s the goal of “Loop,” a durable packaging initiative run by New Jersey-based recycling company TerraCycle that debuted at the World Economic Forum earlier this year. This week, Loop began its U.S. trial, allowing consumers to use steel, glass and durable plastic reusable packaging for everyday items. Kroger Co. and Walgreens, along with such consumer brands as Procter & Gamble, Nestle, The Clorox Co. and Unilever, are taking part.

• Loop, the "circular shopping platform" developed by recycling company TerraCycle, launched its e-commerce site Wednesday and announced Kroger and Walgreens as its founding retail partners at a press conference in New York City Tuesday.