Executives from The Clorox Co., Nestlé and entrepreneur Soapply share insights into the sustainability and cleanliness of reusable packages for products sold through Loop’s shopping platform, especially in a post-pandemic world. Last year, recycling/upcycling firm TerraCycle launched Loop, a shopping platform for zero-waste-packaging products, with the support of some of the world’s biggest brands (see “Loop and big brands boldly reinvent waste-free packaging.”) Together, the eco-commerce provider and the brands have learned that there is indeed a market of consumers who will by Crest mouthwash, Tide laundry detergent, and myriad other products from Loop’s online store — then return their empty packages to be cleaned, refilled, and reused. Since its early 2019 introduction, Loop’s business has grown from a direct-to-your-doorstep model with regional service to testing of mass-market retail partnerships to imminent national coverage. Retail partners include Kroger and Walgreens in the US market, Canada’s Loblaws, and the U.K.-based Tesco chain. Germany and Japan are on the horizon, too.

Loop products in returnable packaging are scheduled for launch nationwide this month, while retail partners in the U.S., France, and Japan plan to offer Loop in their stores later this year. For those consumers going the e-commerce route, there is a $20 shipping fee for orders under $150. In addition, the tote used to deliver and return product comes with a $15 deposit fee. As of presstime, consumers across the U.S. who are interested in shopping online for a range of grocery, household, and personal care products in gorgeously designed, durable, and resusable packaging will have the chance in June, when Loop launches nationwide. Since May 2019, the ground-breaking Loop circular shopping platform has been available in 10 states in the Northeast and in Paris. According to Tom Szaky, founder of recycling company TerraCycle and of Loop, the 10-month pilot allowed participating Consumer Packaged Goods companies, retailers, and Loop itself to gain insights and tweak the program for wider availability. Just as exciting, if not more so, according to Szaky, is the news that Loop will be launching in retail stores, including Kroger in the U.S., Carrefour in France, and AEON in Japan, later this year. Currently 400 brands have joined Loop, 20% of which are now available for purchase on Loopstore.com and 80% of which are still in development. Says Szaky, it can take a CPG anywhere from six to 18 months from the time they join Loop until they have product ready to ship. Among some of the more well-known CPGs that have signed on are Seventh Generation, Clorox, Procter & Gamble, Nestlé, Unilever, and Mars Petcare. Loop also sells a “private-label” brand, Puretto, which Szaky says is being used by name-brand companies to test products on the platform while they develop their own, unique version. “As soon as that version is live, we disable the Puretto version,” he explains. Szaky notes that the rapid speed of the nationwide launch—Loop was only just unveiled in February 2019—is due to the fact that “it’s a platform and not a producer or retailer.” He continues, “By being a platform, it is really our fantastic brand partners that are doing all the production and ramping up, and the retailers that are doing the scale up and later the in-store deployments. What we really have to ramp up is the ability to accept that used packaging, sort it out, and clean it. And that’s an area that TerraCycle has almost two decades of experience doing in disposables. Now we just have to bring the same experience to reusables.” With the e-commerce model, all packaging—both filled and empty—is handled through Loop’s Northeast location, from which it sends orders to consumers and where it cleans the empty packaging. Loop will also soon be adding another location on the West Coast. “As the stores move into bigger and bigger volumes, we will deploy in total seven major facilities in the U.S.,” Szaky says. “I expect that to take about two to three years.” Outside the U.S., Loop has one facility in each country in which it operates and is planning to add more. When the in-store platform becomes available, CPGs will supply the stores with product directly. Then, when consumers are through with the product, they will drop off the empty packaging at the store, and Loop will pick it up for cleaning. For those consumers going the e-commerce route, there is a $20 shipping fee for orders under $150. In addition, the tote used to deliver and return product comes with a $15 deposit fee. Deposits are also required for every package and range anywhere from $1.25 for a glass liquid soap dispenser bottle from Soapply, for example, up to $10 for a rust-resistant metal container with one-touch dispensing lid for Clorox disinfecting wipes. One of the biggest learnings from the Loop pilot says Szaky is that the deposit costs have not deterred consumers from using Loop. “I thought they would be, but they haven’t in any capacity,” he says. “Even deposits as high as $10 have not been a deterrent. So we’re very, very happy about that.” Not only that, Szaky says, but they also found that within 90 days of purchase, there was a 97% return rate for the packaging by consumers. “I was surprised, but I think it has to do with the fact that people want the product inside, and they’re happy to have us professionally clean it and have it professionally refilled so they can access it again.” For the in-store business, the only deposits are for the containers, which consumers are refunded when they return the empty packaging to the store.  

In this month’s edition of Business Report, we return to highlight the sometimes unexpected twists and turns resulting from the coronavirus pandemic, this time focusing on recycling and sustainability impacts. TerraCycle’s Szaky noted that though refillable container use at grocery stores has certainly suffered as a result of the pandemic, its Loop initiative, whereby consumers ship back reusable containers to consumer product companies and retailers through the LOOP system, has continued to gain traction, with 15 major retailers, 400 brands and 100,000 consumers participating, though it needs more scale to become  profitable, which it anticipates will take two to three years. And, packaging firm Ball Corp. continues to work on its aluminum drinking cup efforts, touting aluminum cups as infinitely recyclable.

When it comes to packaging, first impressions matter, but it is the lasting impression that might be more important. After all, while a beautiful bottle may look great on-shelf or online, it will surely lose its appeal if it washes ashore on a sandy beach or ends up as landfill. All CPG companies—household, beauty and personal care included—are looking to reduce the impact their packaging has on the planet. But finding the right solution can be complex and the situation is fluid, which makes for a lot of gray areas, according to marketers, retailers and other stakeholders along the supply chain. In 2020, nearly every high-profile multinational, medium-size brand and startup is on a pathway toward becoming a more sustainable business. When it comes to packaging, they are making changes—some sweeping, some incremental—to the tubes, caps, bottles and boxes in which they house their products. At the same time, they need to keep a close eye on aesthetics and functionality, as consumers still have high expectations about the products they purchase and use on a daily basis. Take ubiquitous personal care staple deodorant. Procter & Gamble Beauty is testing Old Spice and Secret deodorants in all-paper tube packages at 500 Walmart stores in the US. This new packaging, made of 90% recycled paper, is certified by the Forest Stewardship Council and features a push up design that would replace some of P&G’s plastic stick deodorant cannisters. In this test, P&G wants to glean how consumers respond to the design, which is different than the typical stick deodorant package to which consumers have become accustomed. If successful, P&G says it will expand the new package across more of its line. “With switching to a paperboard structure, the functionality is different. We will be learning about how much consumers will be willing to trade off functionality of that format,” Chris Bates, personal care R&D packaging, Procter & Gamble, told Happi. Additional efforts have already reduced P&G’s deodorant packaging footprint overall. Earlier this year, the company reduced the amount of plastic in its Secret antiperspirant and deodorant cannisters by 8%, a move it contends saves 900,000 pounds of plastic waste. Incremental steps like these can have a big impact when they’re taken by an industry giant. For example, if P&G converts 10% of its current deodorant packages to recycled paper or another recyclable material, it could annually eliminate up to 1.5 million pounds of plastic waste. In fact, finding better, more sustainable packaging has been a work in progress for Procter & Gamble for years, from the use of PCR in Tide bottles, that’s been ongoing for three decades, to last year’s roll out of a limited-edition Olay Regenerist Whip with a refill pod that eliminates 94% of plastic waste. Under its Ambition 2030 program, P&G established more goals. For example, P&G Beauty brands have committed to using 100% recyclable or reusable packaging while reducing the use of virgin petroleum plastic 50% by 2030. With so many brands under the P&G umbrella, sustainability is no doubt a complex endeavor. But Bates sees it as an asset. “When you have big leadership brands like Secret and Old Spice, the changes we can make can have a big impact in terms of tonnage. We also have smaller brands that we can experiment with. I view this as an asset toward making progress,” he told Happi. Procter & Gamble was an early partner in Terracycle’s Loop, which sells mainstream consumer products from laundry detergent to ice cream in durable, reusable packaging. With its pilot launched just about a year ago in the New York City and Mid-Atlantic area, Loop recently announced that it will be available to “consumers in every ZIP code in the contiguous US” this month. According to reports, Loop had record sales in March and April, following the shift in consumer spending from in-stores to online during stay-at-home orders and rising concerns about COVID-19’s spread. With the uptick in online purchases, Kao USA’s launch comes at the right time. Its new MyKirei by Kao products, which hit Amazon in late April, feature plant-based formulas that 95% biodegradable and housed in a new bottle uses up to 50% less plastic than traditional bottles. The bottles of Nourishing Shampoo, Conditioner and Hand Wash gain their rigidity through an air fill, allowing them to stand upright like a traditional bottle. Kao has partnered with TerraCycle to create a program to allow consumers to recycle the package and the pumps post-use. (Re)Filler Up Many consumers are still going to the store during the pandemic, but they have been doing so less frequently, often stocking up on key products and buying in bulk to avoid making extra trips. In this new normal, consumers would be more willing to stock up—as long as they had a place to store it and it was easy to use. Options like the new Mother & Child Ecos Refill Kit from homecare company Ecos fit the bill. Recently rolled out for the brand’s Dishmate Dish Soap and All-Purpose Cleaner Orange Plus, the kits have a patented “click-in” packaging design that includes a 64- or 96oz refill bottle that’s easy to hold, lift and pour, and a 16oz everyday bottle that’s light and comfortable for one-hand use. The unique system also makes storage easier, according to the company; both bottles in the refill snap together, making them compact and convenient to store under the sink or in the pantry. Aside from the convenience it provides for end users, the design reduces plastic use, too. The proprietary  design keeps the everyday bottle securely in place in the refill bottle with shrink wrap or outside packaging. In addition, the refill kits offer a significant savings in bottle plastic compared to five individual containers that the kit replaces. Refills have been growing in beauty, too. Rahua, which offers plant-powered beauty products, recently unveiled its first refill system with Classic Shampoo and Classic Conditioner Refill Pouches. The sustainable pouches provide customers the ability to immediately reduce plastic usage of their regular bottle by 90%; as well as reduce their individual carbon footprint, said the brand. The pouches are made with 60% biodegradable plant fibers. “That is our current solution. We are looking for com completely compostable options now,” Anna Ayers, Rahua co-founder, said during an Earth Day video press conference. In addition, Rahua is transitioning to sustainable frosted glass bottles, starting with three key products—Rahua Control Cream, Rahua Omega 9 Hair Mask and Rahua Freestyle Texturizer. Marrying sustainability with luxury design is on display at Lancôme. Its Absolue Revitalizing & Brightening Soft Cream and Rich Cream come with refill pods that clip into a gold jar allowing for a more ecologically sustainable design that’s upscale, too. With each refill purchase, the weight of the glass is reduced 33%, and total waste reduction is cut 41%, according to Lancôme. Continuous Change Across beauty, brands are implementing plans centered on more sustainable packaging. Now a certified B Corp., Arbonne earlier this year unveiled ArbonneCycle, a recycling program for its hard-to-recycle packaging and componentry in partnership with TerraCycle. The program covers Arbonne personal care product packaging as well as products such as protein shake bags and bar wrappers, Fizz Stick packets and more. Launched in the US, Arbonne says it plans to expand the programs globally. In addition, by offering a concentrated shower gel, Arbonne has been able to make a change in packaging. Only a pea-sized amount of Botaniques Concentrated Shower Gel is needed and one package—which has a footprint that’s half the size of a traditional body wash—provides enough product for 40 showers, according to Arbonne. Zotos Professional recently unveiled Better Natured, a prestige hair care brand with naturally-derived, stylist-developed formulations. Better Natured, which is free from what Zotos calls “12 ingredient taboos” (silicones, parabens, SLS/SLES sulfates and phthalates for example), is packaged in post-consumer recycled PET plastic. The line was tested in a certified Green Circle Salon. Green Circle is a B Corp that provides a sustainable salon program that allows salon owners to repurpose and recover up to 95% of the resources that were once considered waste—materials such as hair, leftover hair color, foils, color tubes, aerosol cans, paper and plastics. Zotos is also working with TerraCycle on the Better Natured Recycling Program. Tossing an empty bottle into the recycling bin seems simple enough, but recycling is much more complex for consumers and stakeholders alike, especially in the beauty space. “When you look up and down the supply chain, many are confused about what is recyclable—and that is problematic,” said Mia Davis, director of social and environmental responsibility at Credo. Varying small sizes and multi-composition materials—think metal springs and plastic in a pump dispenser—means skin care and cosmetics packaging can’t always be recycled in public programs, leaving end users with few options beyond their trash can. By working with TerraCycle, Credo has made it easier for its customers to recycle personal care products. Since the San Francisco-based company paired up with TerraCycle three years ago, 6,300 customers have brought their empties into Credo stores, resulting in the proper recycling of more than 30,000 pounds of products. With a customer base that prioritizes clean beauty, recycling would seem second nature, but Credo does offer a carrot—participation points that can be used for future purchases. “Points are the icing on the cake,” Davis said. Across beauty and personal care, brands continue to assess and retool their packaging. This past January, for example, Fekkai relaunched a collection of shampoo, conditioner, and treatments packaged in 95% high-grade repurposed plastic that is 100% recyclable. This year, the company says it will repurpose 64 million grams of plastic, roughly seven million plastic bottles. In April, the company offered limited edition mushroom packaging created with 100% compostable and biodegradable ingredients such as mycelium and hemp hurds. Mary Kay Inc. has signed on to the Sustainable Packaging Initiative for CosmEtics (SPICE), joining 17 other member organizations that include L’Oréal, Chanel, Coty and Estée Lauder that aim to collectively shape the future of sustainable packaging. SPICE members are working to make significant progress in three key areas:

• Guiding solid sustainable packaging policy development based on a robust and harmonized methodology, recognized at sector level;
• Driving packaging innovation based on objective eco-design criteria to progress toward more sustainable solutions; and
• Meeting consumers’ expectations by improving communication and providing more clarity on the environmental performance of products.

The first committee meeting took place in May 2018, and since then, SPICE has hosted five committee meetings where members share their experience and knowledge. Like so many other events during the COVID-19 pandemic, the most recent one, in early April, was held virtually, according to staffers at sustainability consultancy Quantis, which is a SPICE co-founder. Common Goals How an individual company addresses sustainability in terms of its packaging is influenced by myriad factors, including business size, core values and customers’ expectations, to name just a few. Supplement brand Hum is moving to packaging “ocean-bound” plastics. According to the company, the contract it signed indicates that “millions of bottles’ worth of plastics will be reused before they end up in our oceans.”  The first of the new bottles will make their way into Hum’s supply chain by the end of this year and will be on shelves in 2021. In addition, Hum is joining the New Plastics Economy Global Commitment. As part of its efforts to reduce plastic and carbon footprint, all of Coola’s tubes are made of sustainably-sourced sugar-cane resin, which is 100% recyclable, secondary packaging is made of post-consumer recycled paper and the firm uses as much glass as possible. In fact, the majority of its bottles and jars, more than 80%, are made of glass. Plastic is used mainly when needed for the safety and functionality of the product, in which case Coola says it strives to use the eco-friendliest options available, according to company. Indie deodorant brand Each & Every continues to seek more sustainable packaging, too. “Before we even launched the brand, we wanted to launch with sustainable packaging, but because we use 100% natural essential oils and no synthetic fragrance, none of the sustainable package options we tried were compatible with our formula,” Each & Every’s Co-Founder Lauren Lovelady told Happi. “The essential oils would break down the package materials. We ultimately decided to launch in plastic so that consumers would have access to our incredible formula and we decided that we would keep working on sustainable packaging in parallel.” In 2019, the company found a package that was made from post-consumer recycled material. “This was a more sustainable option than petroleum-based plastic, but consumers told us that while they appreciated the effort, they didn’t see it as sustainable enough. We value the feedback of our incredible community and feel so fortunate to be able to have a two-way dialogue because this conversation led us to decide to look for other new materials instead of investing in a solution that they didn’t feel was sufficient.” Recently, it switched its Lavender and Lemon scent SKU into new sugarcane packaging, which is recyclable and can be recycled at home or commercially. “What we love about the sugarcane is that it’s actually carbon negative, so it reduces our carbon footprint,” said Lovelady. “Sugarcane is a renewable resource, unlike petroleum, and growing it absorbs CO2 from the atmosphere, so it’s a great sustainable packaging option.” Each & Every plans to expand sugarcane packaging to other SKUs during the course of the year. A Plastic Pushback Boulder, CO-based Alpine Provisions Co., a maker of natural and organic personal care products, has committed to going completely plastic-free, switching out the 100% post-consumer plastic it was using. Founder and CEO Joshua Scott Onysko said he believed that his company was making a sound choice using post-consumer plastic to house his product line, but realized that whether it was petroleum- or plant-based, it was still plastic—and too much of it was ending up in the ocean. Alpine Provisions will use aluminum, a material that can recycled infinitely, for its hand-sanitizer, hair care and liquid soap bottles; its lip balm and deodorant will be housed in paper tubes that are recyclable and compostable; and its bar soap will be wrapped in paper. “Our industry has been surviving on plastic for 80 years. Plastic is a major problem,” he said. According to Alpine Provisions, only 7% of all plastic is ever recycled, and it can only be recycled 2-3 times. “We are so addicted to plastic. It has no value. That’s why it is littered all over. Aluminum and glass has value and that’s why you don’t see in on the road and in the ocean.” According to Onysko, single use plastic is used for a few minutes and thrown away knowing it lasts for 25 years or even longer. On the flip side, 84% all aluminum ever made is still in use today, and because it is lightweight, shipping aluminum saves millions of pounds of carbon emissions per year. Alpine Provisions recently announced that it has been picked up by national outdoor retailer REI, and other shops like Natural Grocers, Lazy Acres and Thrive Market, have reportedly placed orders to carry the brand’s plastic-free packaging when it’s available, which is expected sometime around the end of the month. Onysko wants to see his company’s initiative spark an industry-wide shift away from plastic packaging entirely. “Saying it’s recyclable is a cop out,” Onysko said. Further, he questioned whether or not companies that sell their products in plastic packaging could claim to be cruelty-free, knowing that their packaging could end up in places like the ocean, where “100 million marine animals die every year because of plastic pollution.” Solution Seeking Brand leaders across the household and personal products industry must continue to make decisions about their packaging componentry and related programs with a keen eye on the environment as well as consumers. Brent Heist, global packaging sustainability lead, Procter & Gamble, said there’s a need to consider the “spectrum of consumers” and where they may be in their own journey regarding sustainability, too. “We recognize that there is the heavily involved consumer to those who don’t want to be bothered,” said Heist said, noting that there are also economic and time constraints that factor into where a consumer falls on that spectrum. “We need to design solutions that make it easy for consumers to make better choices.”

Na economia circular a gente quer eliminar o conceito de lixo. Para isso, os materiais são nutrientes que devem ser desenhados para os próximos ciclos. E, quando falamos de embalagens para a  economia circular, as possibilidades de soluções para manter as embalagens e os seus materiais circulando são bem diversas. Podemos, por exemplo, pensar em soluções para embalagens circulares que não geram nenhum tipo de resíduo, ou que usam matérias-primas feitas a partir de resíduos de outros processos, que preveem sistemas de reuso, ou ainda que permitem a reinserção dos materiais em cadeias industriais.

Each of these trash-to-treasure concepts are real practices by real businesses: Green Guru, which makes outdoor gear out of busted bike tubes and old climbing rope; Greenline Paper Company, which offers compostable to-go clamshells from bagasse (sugar cane waste fiber); and Pioneer Millworks which takes wood from dilapidated buildings for new home building projects. These are just a few examples of business leaders redefining capitalism as a mechanism to care for the planet instead of taking advantage of it.   While this concept is getting more press in recent years, it is not a new phenomenon-compassionate businesses have been coming together for decades under Green America's Green Business Network® to demonstrate unity for a circular economy.   While there are several schools of thought that inform a circular economy-from cradle to cradle, to natural capitalism, to industrial ecology-at its most basic level, a circular economy is about rethinking supply chains to minimize waste. The Ellen MacArthur Foundation describes it in three parts: "designing out waste and pollution, keeping products and materials in use, and regenerating natural systems." This economic model takes the principles of reduce, reuse, and recycle, and scales them throughout society. Read more about the various schools of thought at the Ellen MacArthur Foundation's website.   Conversely, our country runs on a linear economy: we take resources, make products, and when we tire of them or they outlive their usefulness, throw them away. This take-make-toss model operates as if resources are infinite-whereas the circular economy makes the most of the planet's resources while giving back. The following case studies from Wrangler, TerraCycle, and Green America's Center for Sustainability Solutions demonstrate examples of each piece in the Ellen MacArthur Foundation definition of designing out waste, keeping things in use, and regeneration.   Design Out Waste   Most pollution and waste occur early in the supply chain, not from consumer purchasing. For example, the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) states that about one-fifth of the world's industrial water pollution occurs in textile mills, long before the finished clothing items make it to the hands of buyers. Green America's winter 2019 issue, "Unraveling the Fashion Industry," took a deep dive into the world of harmful fashion be an authoritative resource on issues and victories throughout the industry.   Jeans alone will go through several chemical-intensive washes to get that "lived in" look (unless you're buying raw denim, yours have gone through this too), generating a significant amount of wastewater; however, by designing out waste at the beginning of the supply chain, businesses have the opportunity to generate industry- wide positive impacts.   Wrangler's newest denim collection is one such example. In 2019, the brand released Indigood™, a collection that uses a foam-dyeing process to eliminate 100 percent of wastewater from the indigo dyeing process. Wrangler collaborated with Texas Tech University, Indigo Mill Designs and the Spanish fabric company Tejidos Royo to bring the foam-dyed denim to market.   Compared to conventional denim manufacturing, which uses around 1,500 to 2,000 liters of water by dipping denim yarn in 12 to 14 different dyeboxes-imagine bathtubs filled with dye-the foam dyeing processes uses almost no water.   The Indigood Collection was originally released in 2019 and is currently available in stores. Atwood says Wrangler intends to increase the amount of foam-dyed denim throughout their entire collection.   Additionally, Atwood states that Wrangler won't monopolize the foam-dyed denim market. Wrangler has already shared the technology with competitors because of its potential to completely change the denim industry.   For a notoriously water-intensive item of clothing, the foam-dyeing process offers a clear solution to designing out waste near the beginning of the supply chain-the first piece in the Ellen MacArthur Foundation's definition of a circular economy.   Keep in Use   A linear economy turns a profit off waste: Americans threw away 4.51 pounds of trash per person per day in 2017, according to the EPA. Most of that discarded material comes from goods that are used briefly, such as food waste and packaging materials. As these items are replaced, they perpetuate the take-make-waste model of a linear economy.   Combating this model begins with re-imagining how these materials are wasted and is also the second part of the Ellen MacArthur Foundation's circular economy definition: keeping items in use longer. In the Wrangler example, pollution and waste must be managed by businesses and therefore, are out of the average person's control; however, we do have control over how often we buy items, how long we use them, and how we repurpose them. Food waste and some paper materials can be composted, which gives them a new life as fertilizer. Certain plastics, metals, and glass can be recycled in curbside bins, too.   But what about household items that can't be composted, repaired, or recycled? Empty toothpaste tubes, dead car batteries, and dried out markers are a few examples of "unrecyclables"- in other words, items that are not accepted by municipal recycling and thus, landfilled. This is where TerraCycle comes in.   TerraCycle is a leader in recycling the unrecyclable-the company partners with major consumer goods manufacturers to offer recycling programs. In 2019 alone, TerraCycle collected and diverted over 30 million pounds of post-consumer and post-industrial waste from landfills. The company won Green America's People and Planet Award in 2015 for recycling innovation and has since won additional accolades and expanded to 21 countries.   The recycling company offers multiple programs for collecting unrecyclables, from the Zero Waste Box program for picking up nearly every type of waste, to the Regulated Waste program for items like fluorescent lamps and batteries that would be hazardous in a landfill.   To make these programs possible, TerraCycle works with a variety of third-party processing subcontractors that sort and reprocess the waste into usable raw materials for new product manufacturing. Whenever possible, these processing locations are located near where the collections take place.   TerraCycle's newest project, Loop, follows the "milkman model"-like when the milkman came to the doorstep with a fresh delivery and picked up used containers. Loop expands on this concept with familiar consumer brands by delivering reusable and recyclable packaging of everyday products instead of single-use packaging.   Regenerate Natural Systems   In nature, waste does not exist. When a leaf falls, it becomes food for microorganisms, then becomes part of the soil to feed the tree. While there are multiple schools of thought educating circular economy theory, the concept of 'waste as food' is an underlying theme. Thus, the third foundational pillar of a circular economy is regenerating natural systems; not only does this principle close the loop of a circular economy, it has the potential to protect and improve the environment by returning nutrients to ecosystems.   Vermicomposting (composting using live worms) is an example: in a household vermicompost system, earthworms are fed kitchen waste, from eggshells to orange peels. Their eliminated waste can be used as a nutrient-dense fertilizer. Now imagine that process on a much larger scale, considering increased biodiversity, soil health, and surrounding ecosystems. This is the idea of regenerative agriculture.   Mary Johnson, the Carbon Farming Innovation Network director at Green America, explains that regenerative agriculture is an approach to farming that mimics nature to create a healthy and symbiotic ecosystem.   "Over the last hundred years, conventional and tillage-based farming systems have not reflected how important living organisms are," says Johnson. "Regenerative agriculture uses knowledge of how nature works on a deep, complex systems level to farm in harmony with those systems, rather than dumbing them down to the most reductionist, controlled approach that relies heavily on applications of toxic chemicals and sterilized soils."   Regenerative agriculture also has the capacity to capture carbon and store it in the ground, reducing the effects of the climate crisis and sequestering global carbon emissions. Read more in "Planting Seeds of Climate Hope."   With this in mind, regenerative agriculture has the potential to not only protect natural ecosystems but improve deteriorated conditions caused by conventional agriculture. Project Drawdown ranks regenerative agriculture as its 11th highest-impact solution to climate change.   The practices of farming regeneratively are applicable to both small, worker-owned or family farms as well as large corporations are looking to incorporate regenerative methods in their supply chains. In 2018, Green America announced its collaboration with DanoneWave-a maker of dairy and plant-based products such as coffee creamer and yogurt-to implement regenerative agriculture practices in its supply chain, as well as to develop a certification for regenerative farms. If regenerative agriculture becomes widely adopted, it has the potential to drastically alter our economic relationship with food, the land, and the climate.   Closing the Loop   Collectively, each of these case studies offer a glimpse at what is possible in a circular economy. The shift would require all facets of society to participate-from government and business, to cities and individuals-but the momentum is already growing. Climate change has never mattered more to American voters. Businesses across the nation are increasingly taking the initiative to be greener. A circular economy is the only economic model that can support humanity on planet Earth-and it is more important than ever.

Each of these trash-to-treasure concepts are real practices by real businesses: Green Guru, which makes outdoor gear out of busted bike tubes and old climbing rope; Greenline Paper Company, which offers compostable to-go clamshells from bagasse (sugar cane waste fiber); and Pioneer Millworks which takes wood from dilapidated buildings for new home building projects. These are just a few examples of business leaders redefining capitalism as a mechanism to care for the planet instead of taking advantage of it.   While this concept is getting more press in recent years, it is not a new phenomenon-compassionate businesses have been coming together for decades under Green America's Green Business Network® to demonstrate unity for a circular economy.   While there are several schools of thought that inform a circular economy-from cradle to cradle, to natural capitalism, to industrial ecology-at its most basic level, a circular economy is about rethinking supply chains to minimize waste. The Ellen MacArthur Foundation describes it in three parts: "designing out waste and pollution, keeping products and materials in use, and regenerating natural systems." This economic model takes the principles of reduce, reuse, and recycle, and scales them throughout society. Read more about the various schools of thought at the Ellen MacArthur Foundation's website.   Conversely, our country runs on a linear economy: we take resources, make products, and when we tire of them or they outlive their usefulness, throw them away. This take-make-toss model operates as if resources are infinite-whereas the circular economy makes the most of the planet's resources while giving back. The following case studies from Wrangler, TerraCycle, and Green America's Center for Sustainability Solutions demonstrate examples of each piece in the Ellen MacArthur Foundation definition of designing out waste, keeping things in use, and regeneration.   Design Out Waste   Most pollution and waste occur early in the supply chain, not from consumer purchasing. For example, the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) states that about one-fifth of the world's industrial water pollution occurs in textile mills, long before the finished clothing items make it to the hands of buyers. Green America's winter 2019 issue, "Unraveling the Fashion Industry," took a deep dive into the world of harmful fashion be an authoritative resource on issues and victories throughout the industry.   Jeans alone will go through several chemical-intensive washes to get that "lived in" look (unless you're buying raw denim, yours have gone through this too), generating a significant amount of wastewater; however, by designing out waste at the beginning of the supply chain, businesses have the opportunity to generate industry- wide positive impacts.   Wrangler's newest denim collection is one such example. In 2019, the brand released Indigood™, a collection that uses a foam-dyeing process to eliminate 100 percent of wastewater from the indigo dyeing process. Wrangler collaborated with Texas Tech University, Indigo Mill Designs and the Spanish fabric company Tejidos Royo to bring the foam-dyed denim to market.   Compared to conventional denim manufacturing, which uses around 1,500 to 2,000 liters of water by dipping denim yarn in 12 to 14 different dyeboxes-imagine bathtubs filled with dye-the foam dyeing processes uses almost no water.   The Indigood Collection was originally released in 2019 and is currently available in stores. Atwood says Wrangler intends to increase the amount of foam-dyed denim throughout their entire collection.   Additionally, Atwood states that Wrangler won't monopolize the foam-dyed denim market. Wrangler has already shared the technology with competitors because of its potential to completely change the denim industry.   For a notoriously water-intensive item of clothing, the foam-dyeing process offers a clear solution to designing out waste near the beginning of the supply chain-the first piece in the Ellen MacArthur Foundation's definition of a circular economy.   Keep in Use   A linear economy turns a profit off waste: Americans threw away 4.51 pounds of trash per person per day in 2017, according to the EPA. Most of that discarded material comes from goods that are used briefly, such as food waste and packaging materials. As these items are replaced, they perpetuate the take-make-waste model of a linear economy.   Combating this model begins with re-imagining how these materials are wasted and is also the second part of the Ellen MacArthur Foundation's circular economy definition: keeping items in use longer. In the Wrangler example, pollution and waste must be managed by businesses and therefore, are out of the average person's control; however, we do have control over how often we buy items, how long we use them, and how we repurpose them. Food waste and some paper materials can be composted, which gives them a new life as fertilizer. Certain plastics, metals, and glass can be recycled in curbside bins, too.   But what about household items that can't be composted, repaired, or recycled? Empty toothpaste tubes, dead car batteries, and dried out markers are a few examples of "unrecyclables"- in other words, items that are not accepted by municipal recycling and thus, landfilled. This is where TerraCycle comes in.   TerraCycle is a leader in recycling the unrecyclable-the company partners with major consumer goods manufacturers to offer recycling programs. In 2019 alone, TerraCycle collected and diverted over 30 million pounds of post-consumer and post-industrial waste from landfills. The company won Green America's People and Planet Award in 2015 for recycling innovation and has since won additional accolades and expanded to 21 countries.   The recycling company offers multiple programs for collecting unrecyclables, from the Zero Waste Box program for picking up nearly every type of waste, to the Regulated Waste program for items like fluorescent lamps and batteries that would be hazardous in a landfill.   To make these programs possible, TerraCycle works with a variety of third-party processing subcontractors that sort and reprocess the waste into usable raw materials for new product manufacturing. Whenever possible, these processing locations are located near where the collections take place.   TerraCycle's newest project, Loop, follows the "milkman model"-like when the milkman came to the doorstep with a fresh delivery and picked up used containers. Loop expands on this concept with familiar consumer brands by delivering reusable and recyclable packaging of everyday products instead of single-use packaging.   Regenerate Natural Systems   In nature, waste does not exist. When a leaf falls, it becomes food for microorganisms, then becomes part of the soil to feed the tree. While there are multiple schools of thought educating circular economy theory, the concept of 'waste as food' is an underlying theme. Thus, the third foundational pillar of a circular economy is regenerating natural systems; not only does this principle close the loop of a circular economy, it has the potential to protect and improve the environment by returning nutrients to ecosystems.   Vermicomposting (composting using live worms) is an example: in a household vermicompost system, earthworms are fed kitchen waste, from eggshells to orange peels. Their eliminated waste can be used as a nutrient-dense fertilizer. Now imagine that process on a much larger scale, considering increased biodiversity, soil health, and surrounding ecosystems. This is the idea of regenerative agriculture.   Mary Johnson, the Carbon Farming Innovation Network director at Green America, explains that regenerative agriculture is an approach to farming that mimics nature to create a healthy and symbiotic ecosystem.   "Over the last hundred years, conventional and tillage-based farming systems have not reflected how important living organisms are," says Johnson. "Regenerative agriculture uses knowledge of how nature works on a deep, complex systems level to farm in harmony with those systems, rather than dumbing them down to the most reductionist, controlled approach that relies heavily on applications of toxic chemicals and sterilized soils."   Regenerative agriculture also has the capacity to capture carbon and store it in the ground, reducing the effects of the climate crisis and sequestering global carbon emissions. Read more in "Planting Seeds of Climate Hope."   With this in mind, regenerative agriculture has the potential to not only protect natural ecosystems but improve deteriorated conditions caused by conventional agriculture. Project Drawdown ranks regenerative agriculture as its 11th highest-impact solution to climate change.   The practices of farming regeneratively are applicable to both small, worker-owned or family farms as well as large corporations are looking to incorporate regenerative methods in their supply chains. In 2018, Green America announced its collaboration with DanoneWave-a maker of dairy and plant-based products such as coffee creamer and yogurt-to implement regenerative agriculture practices in its supply chain, as well as to develop a certification for regenerative farms. If regenerative agriculture becomes widely adopted, it has the potential to drastically alter our economic relationship with food, the land, and the climate.   Closing the Loop   Collectively, each of these case studies offer a glimpse at what is possible in a circular economy. The shift would require all facets of society to participate-from government and business, to cities and individuals-but the momentum is already growing. Climate change has never mattered more to American voters. Businesses across the nation are increasingly taking the initiative to be greener. A circular economy is the only economic model that can support humanity on planet Earth-and it is more important than ever.

The plastics industry has seized the opportunity to pressure lawmakers to permanently undo bag bans and similar legislation. But others, including executives at the reusable packaging platform Loop, aren't buying it. "Single-use is not sterile either," Heather Crawford, Loop’s global VP of marketing and e-commerce, told TriplePundit. "When you buy a disposable package off the shelf, it's been exposed to all kinds of different elements across the supply chain, including packing, transport, or even the customer who picked it up before you and put it back. Reuse in and of itself isn't the problem. It's the method by which it's done."

TO RECYCLE OR REUSE? — Tom Szaky isn’t rooting for the collapse of the recycling business — but he is prepared to capitalize on it. Szaky, founder of reusable packaging startup Loop, is trying to persuade Americans to return to the days of the milkman, only this time shampoo, peanut butter and ice cream would arrive on doorsteps in specially designed containers and the empties returned for refills. “When less things become recyclable, our relevance increases,” Szaky tells The Long Game. “We’re a reaction to a failing recycling system.” Loop works with brands including Procter & Gamble, Unilever, Nestlé and Mars to create durable packaging that Loop cleans and sells back to them. Kroger plans to begin selling Loop products in some of its West Coast grocery stores by the end of this year, and Walgreens stores on the East Coast will join next year, Szaky says. The company is valued at $100 million, with more than 100,000 customers so far on its online testing platforms.

The COVID-19 pandemic has brought the safety of reuse into question. But Tom Szaky, CEO of TerraCycle, thinks when the crisis is over there will be even more opportunity for reusable packaging and containers to become more commonplace, if done right. "Recycling is going to take a real punch to the face, to be quite fair," Szaky said during GreenBiz Group’s Circularity 20 Digital event this week, pointing to the continued decrease in oil prices and the pressure that's putting on the economics of using recycled plastics. "That’s disastrous for the recycling industry, which creates its revenue by selling recycled plastics, which are hedged against, in many ways, the price of oil." Many recycling activities have been paused as the pandemic has raised health and safety concerns, which could lead to a waste crisis post-pandemic, he said. Recycling centers have closed temporarily or indefinitely, across California and in parts of Ohio, Oregon and Alabama. "That, I think, will benefit waste innovations," said Szaky, whose company is in the business of recycling and eliminating waste. "It will especially benefit the reuse movement because that is sort of the next step up in waste innovation." Szaky acknowledged that reuse is not a silver bullet solution to addressing the waste problem, but if life cycle assessment is considered, he said that reuse can be better than single-use options in a significant number of cases. It plays a role in reducing waste and TerraCycle's e-commerce program Loop — which features items in reusable containers — plans to be part of that, while being affordable and convenient. We’re still very focused on trying to create a reusable system that has the same convenience as disposability ... "We’re still very focused on trying to create a reusable system that has the same convenience as disposability because [while] disposability has a lot of negatives, it is the gold standard, by far, for convenience," he said. "That is our holy grail, to get to the exact same convenience you get when you throw something in the garbage, with no thinking, no thought and off you go." While Loop is still working toward the convenience factor, it’s also working toward building trust with consumers outside of its core following. As Szaky wrote in a piece for GreenBiz recently, "Reusable packaging is faced with proving its trustworthiness alongside disposables in a world that is standing six feet apart in the grocery aisle." In the time that comes after COVID-19, TerraCycle’s Loop and other companies that are working on launching or improving their reuse models must do it right. That means consumers need to be able to know that the reusable packaging they are using was thoroughly cleaned and doesn’t pose a health risk to them. During the Circularity 20 Digital conversation, Szaky described the cleaning process for the packaging in the Loop program, between when it leaves one consumer’s possession and ends up with another. First, the customer either will drop off their Loop tote at a retailer or have it picked up and shipped. (TerraCycle recently announced that it would expand its reuse platform Loop across the contiguous United States including in physical retail stores.) Earlier this year, the company announced partnerships with Walgreens and Kroger that would allow consumers to drop off totes in bins within their stores, starting this fall. Once the tote reaches a Loop distribution center, it is checked in and the packages inside it are sorted based on the contents and type of packaging material. Then each type of packages is stored until there are enough to start cleaning, which takes place in a proper cleanroom where people are in full gear. "The process to clean — which is what chemistry is used, dwell times both in drying and washing and temperatures, and all those different types of knobs and dials on the cleaning protocol — are set to be specific to that content and the type of material that content was in," said Szaky, noting that both factors have meaningful effects on the cleaning process. Once the packages are cleaned, it is immediately shipped to the manufacturer, which has protocols for maintaining cleanliness for the packaging. Szaky noted that each time the cleanroom is used it is reset — pipes flushed for potential allergens and air vented — for the next batch of cleaning. Lauren Phipps, GreenBiz Group’s director and senior analyst for the circular economy, who led the conversation with Szaky, asked if there was an opportunity for retailers and restaurants to implement similar practices for their reusable items and how they could communicate their practices with consumers. Szaky responded by sharing that he’s been working with the group Consumers Beyond Disposability — which is housed under the World Economic Forum and includes the Ellen MacArthur Foundation, City of Paris and PepsiCo — to develop guidelines for companies that want to put reuse in play. The group plans to share those guidelines during the Davos gathering in January. But for now, Szaky gave an example of how safe reuse could work in a coffee shop. "I would recommend that there’s some process that when you give your cup to the barista, maybe the barista looks at the cup and only accepts certain types of cups … then has some process that is consumer-facing, that you can see and that you can be proud that that process is strong and you can trust it," he said. "Trust is a critical commodity that we have to build with individuals right now, or in fact almost re-earn."