The containers, produced as part of recycling company TerraCycle's Loop initiative, will at first only be available to customers shopping online. Loblaws will also pick them up and clean them once customers are done. While there's no set date for the in-store launch, it's expected to be later in 2020.

The containers, produced as part of recycling company TerraCycle’s Loop initiative, will at first only be available to customers shopping online. Loblaws will also pick them up and clean them once customers are done. While there’s no set date for the in-store launch, it’s expected to be later in 2020.

Loblaw Co. announced Thursday that it has partnered with Loop, a brand launched this year at the World Economic Forum by New Jersey-based TerraCycle with the goal of revolutionizing how products are delivered to customers.

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.

Loblaws announced today that a new pilot will soon be tested in the Toronto area. Loop, a company known for its circular shopping system designed to limit waste, will be teaming up with Canada's largest grocery retailer on Loblaws reusable grocery containers in Toronto. According to a Loop press release, the new initiative will be launched early next year in Toronto on a trial basis. It will allow participants to buy products from several leading brands, including President’s Choice, in reusable containers.

Loop, founded by TerraCycle, was unveiled at this year’s World Economic Forum. With the announcement came a renewed sense of hope about the human drive to preserve the planet. And a wish that, after the US got their share of the experience, the milkman-model sustainable delivery platform would make its way to Canada.

But perhaps the biggest move forward is Loop, a new innovation from TerraCycle. The idea is simple: Durable, reusable packaging that you return through a milk man-inspired delivery and pick-up system. Corporations like P&G, Unilever, and The Body Shop have all signed onto the pilot program which launched just this week in New York, New Jersey, Washington D.C., Pennsylvania, and Maryland. “This is a huge step for brands to take towards more sustainable packaging,” TerraCycle's Teeter says, noting that she believes that this will be the future of consumption. It’s clear that the beauty industry needs to reform, and the sooner programs like this find success, the sooner it can, but it prompts a bigger question: how much time do we really have to figure this out before it’s too late to save the oceans?

But perhaps the biggest move forward is Loop, a new innovation from TerraCycle. The idea is simple: Durable, reusable packaging that you return through a milk man-inspired delivery and pick-up system. Corporations like P&G, Unilever, and The Body Shop have all signed onto the pilot program which launched just this week in New York, New Jersey, Washington D.C., Pennsylvania, and Maryland. “This is a huge step for brands to take towards more sustainable packaging,” TerraCycle's Teeter says, noting that she believes that this will be the future of consumption. It’s clear that the beauty industry needs to reform, and the sooner programs like this find success, the sooner it can, but it prompts a bigger question: how much time do we really have to figure this out before it’s too late to save the oceans?

“It all comes down to economics,” says Sarah Teeter, global project manager of recycling company TerraCycle. “Recyclers can only sustain themselves by recovering and recycling the things that are profitable.” That means that, ultimately, recycling is a business and, as of now, only clear and white plastic sells.