We can’t shop our way to saving the planet, but mindful choices matter. From ingredient sourcing to sustainable packaging, here’s how the industry’s forward thinkers are striving to tread more lightly as they produce the beauty products you see on the shelves. RETHINK (INGREDIENTS) The fine print on beauty labels tells us next to nothing about how responsibly sourced ingredients are. To muddy matters, calculating a product’s eco-footprint is far trickier than checking if the formula is all-natural or organic. For starters, natural ingredients can still cause environmental havoc—take, for instance, palm oil and its derivatives. Widely used in beauty products, they can be found in everything from shampoo to lipstick. They are largely produced in Indonesia and Malaysia, and the destruction of rainforests to clear the way for palm oil plantations is rampant. “A lot of companies are coming in and bulldozing and forcing communities out,” says Lindsay Dahl, senior vice-president of social mission at Beautycounter. Although the brand initially wanted to eschew palm oil, it realized that palm derivatives are still the best choice for many of its products.

The fairy tale of recycling — and it is a fairy tale — does not start at the register, or the curb, or even hovering over the kitchen trash can, licking the yogurt top clean, and wondering if it's good enough. No, the story we Americans believe in begins in our hearts, put there lovingly by Sesame Street puppets, parents, and teachers: Place your depleted bottle in that blue bin and soon enough it will be reincarnated — or smooshed or melted down or however, whatever — into something new. Maybe the two of you will meet again. We are a generation raised to believe in recycling. Too bad it rarely happens. Only nine percent of all plastic waste ever produced has actually been turned into something that we were then able to use again (i.e., recycled). Wait, what? And also: Wait, why? There are two main reasons. One, that waste has to be disposed of perfectly correctly, which is difficult even for those with the best intentions. A bottle cap, a shard of glass, traces of tomato soup... they contaminate the entire bin and typically condemn everything in it to landfill-ville. But honestly, the stuff was probably headed there anyway because of the second reason: For waste to be recycled, someone needs to want it. And pretty much no one does. (The exception is aluminum — there's money to be made there, and more often than not, it gets recycled.) China was willing to take our recyclable trash for a while, but that party ended a couple of years ago with the country's ban on the import of foreign trash. So where does that leave us? With a new sustainability motto, already promulgated by cities such as San Francisco: reduce, reuse, recycle, refuse. "Buy less, use less, buy in bulk, use resealable containers," says Sonya Lunder of the Sierra Club's Gender, Equity & Environment program. And yes, do your damnedest to sort your trash. But do not pass off all the responsibility to a blue bin. It's on you. Thankfully, experts are here to help. In a world where "recycling" doesn't exactly mean what we thought it meant but we still want clean hair and crimson lips, how do we imagine a world without packaging? It requires expert foresight and a little wishful thinking. Julie Corbett is the closest thing to a sustainable packaging oracle that we've got. Corbett, the founder of Ecologic, is behind such innovations as Seed Phytonutrients' shower-friendly paper shampoo bottles. And the future she sees might not be what you expect. Or what you want to hear. You may have heard about the problem with pumps. Often presented as the white whale of the sustainable packaging community, pumps are typically made out of two or more types of plastic and a metal spring. Short story: "The pump will never be recyclable, no matter what people say," says Corbett. She predicts there will be a new breed of pump, made of recycled plastic, which is better than the current situation. But her ultimate solution is a bit more radical: Standardized pumps, purchased somewhat like a knife set, and used for decades for everything from cleansing oil to dish soap. "I call it the liquefication of America," says Corbett. "We're addicted to plastics because we've liquefied everything." The only way out is to move toward solid and powdered products — and to invest in new beauty technology. (Like a just-add-water moisturizer, for example. We're ready!) But even bars are not devoid of packaging — where else would the ingredient list go? But Corbett has a solution for that too: "It's going to involve technology. Maybe at the store, you'll have a touch screen that will tell you what the ingredients are before you buy." For those wondering why we can't just use glass for all that liquid America sloshing around: Glass is heavy, expensive, and carbon-polluting to ship. And that's just part of the problem: The recycling process for glass releases more greenhouse gases than plastic or aluminum do. And it pretty easily pollutes the recycling stream. "Everyone is asking why [the big beauty brands] don't use more glass," says Corbett. "It's because they've all made carbon commitments to lower their footprints, and glass will increase them." Instead let's ask the big beauty brands another question: "Where can I buy parchment-wrapped wafers that mix with water to make a facial essence?" Recycling giant TerraCycle's Loop program, which launched last year, has a solution to the packaging problem: What if we used reusable, refillable packaging for...every single product in the world? The concept is a simple return to the days of the milkman, only now you're putting down a deposit on a reusable aluminum shampoo bottle, delivered to (and later picked up at) your door in a reusable fabric box. You can now get Pantene Pro-V shampoo, Gillette razors, and more in nine states, Washington, D.C., and two regions in France, and there are plans to expand to the West Coast, Canada, Japan, and the U.K. this year. Loop's service, ambitious and utopian, provides a hint that refillable, standard packaging could be the future.

After decades of bitter fights, environmentalists seemed to be winning the war against single-use plastics in recent years, with cities around the world banning or taxing them. Then the coronavirus arrived, raising fears that reusable goods might lead to infections. The impact has been swift. From Maine to Hawaii, plastic-bag bans have been suspended or postponed. In San Francisco, reusable shopping bags — once totems of the city's vibrant commitment to sustainability — have simply been outlawed. These reversals have sparked deep concern among activists. Some fear the bans will never be reinstated; others that reusable products may be permanently tainted as “unsafe.” The good news is that activists aren’t the only ones demanding more sustainable packaging these days. So are consumers — and some of the world's biggest corporations are paying attention. Campaigns against consumer plastics date roughly to the discovery of the Pacific garbage patch in 1988. The environmental movement was soon galvanized, and single-use plastics — especially grocery bags and straws — became a focus of global activism. Much of this was misdirected. According to the Environmental Protection Agency, plastic bags and wraps amounted to only about 0.3% of all the waste generated by homes and businesses in 2010. By comparison, containers and packaging make up about 30%. Nonetheless, the proliferation of ocean plastic has worried consumers well beyond San Francisco. Last year, a survey of 6,000 people in 11 countries found that 77% perceived plastics to be the "least environmentally-friendly packaging material.” Perhaps unsurprisingly, 72% said they're buying more environmentally friendly products than they were five years ago, and 83% thought it was important for companies to design products that can be reused or recycled. Those shifting perceptions haven’t gone unnoticed by consumer brands. Over the past decade, some of the biggest have adopted ambitious sustainability agendas. In 2017, Apple Inc. rolled out an aggressive strategy to embrace sustainable paper and cardboard, which resulted in a 30% reduction in plastic use in iPhone 7 packaging. The next year, nearly 300 global organizations, including companies such as Nestle SA, Mondelez International Inc. and Colgate-Palmolive Co., pledged to eliminate unnecessary plastic packaging entirely. Some of those commitments may not amount to much. But the broader trend is unmistakable. For example, last May, 5,000 U.S. households gained access to a zero-waste e-commerce site called Loop. It offers brand-name products packaged in custom-designed glass and metal containers, which the company will deliver to your doorstep in reusable tote bags. Once you’re done with them, Loop will collect all the packaging for washing and refilling. Tom Szaky, the chief executive officer of TerraCycle, the company behind the site, told me that the experience isn't all that different from throwing stuff out; it asks almost nothing of the consumer. Loop isn’t making much money to start. But its animating idea — that reuse should be as easy as throwing something away — is powerful enough that some very big consumer-goods companies are now designing packaging specifically for the site. Want Clorox wipes delivered in a reusable metal container? Loop has them. Want the same experience with Haagen-Dazs ice cream or Pantene shampoo? Loop has those too, along with products from 400 other brands. It also has a waiting list of would-be shoppers that's about "100,000 long," Szaky says. Later this year, the company will start offering pick-up-and-return services at retail outlets around the world. "Manufacturers are promising recyclability and reusability," Szaky told me during a Zoom session, "and we're the easiest way to do it." Loop may or may not be successful in the long-term. But the fact is, consumers everywhere are expressing a clear preference for sustainability — and brands are increasingly responsive. Whatever happens with plastic-bag bans, it’s highly likely that this dynamic will ensure that single-use plastics continue to fade from the marketplace. The coronavirus, for all of its challenges, won't change that hopeful trend.

After decades of bitter fights, environmentalists seemed to be winning the war against single-use plastics in recent years, with cities around the world banning or taxing them. Then the coronavirus arrived, raising fears that reusable goods might lead to infections. The impact has been swift. From Maine to Hawaii, plastic-bag bans have been suspended or postponed. In San Francisco, reusable shopping bags — once totems of the city's vibrant commitment to sustainability — have simply been outlawed. These reversals have sparked deep concern among activists. Some fear the bans will never be reinstated; others that reusable products may be permanently tainted as “unsafe.” The good news is that activists aren’t the only ones demanding more sustainable packaging these days. So are consumers — and some of the world's biggest corporations are paying attention. Campaigns against consumer plastics date roughly to the discovery of the Pacific garbage patch in 1988. The environmental movement was soon galvanized, and single-use plastics — especially grocery bags and straws — became a focus of global activism. Much of this was misdirected. According to the Environmental Protection Agency, plastic bags and wraps amounted to only about 0.3% of all the waste generated by homes and businesses in 2010. By comparison, containers and packaging make up about 30%. Nonetheless, the proliferation of ocean plastic has worried consumers well beyond San Francisco. Last year, a survey of 6,000 people in 11 countries found that 77% perceived plastics to be the "least environmentally-friendly packaging material.” Perhaps unsurprisingly, 72% said they're buying more environmentally friendly products than they were five years ago, and 83% thought it was important for companies to design products that can be reused or recycled. Those shifting perceptions haven’t gone unnoticed by consumer brands. Over the past decade, some of the biggest have adopted ambitious sustainability agendas. In 2017, Apple Inc. rolled out an aggressive strategy to embrace sustainable paper and cardboard, which resulted in a 30% reduction in plastic use in iPhone 7 packaging. The next year, nearly 300 global organizations, including companies such as Nestle SA, Mondelez International Inc. and Colgate-Palmolive Co., pledged to eliminate unnecessary plastic packaging entirely. Some of those commitments may not amount to much. But the broader trend is unmistakable. For example, last May, 5,000 U.S. households gained access to a zero-waste e-commerce site called Loop. It offers brand-name products packaged in custom-designed glass and metal containers, which the company will deliver to your doorstep in reusable tote bags. Once you’re done with them, Loop will collect all the packaging for washing and refilling. Tom Szaky, the chief executive officer of TerraCycle, the company behind the site, told me that the experience isn't all that different from throwing stuff out; it asks almost nothing of the consumer. Loop isn’t making much money to start. But its animating idea — that reuse should be as easy as throwing something away — is powerful enough that some very big consumer-goods companies are now designing packaging specifically for the site. Want Clorox wipes delivered in a reusable metal container? Loop has them. Want the same experience with Haagen-Dazs ice cream or Pantene shampoo? Loop has those too, along with products from 400 other brands. It also has a waiting list of would-be shoppers that's about "100,000 long," Szaky says. Later this year, the company will start offering pick-up-and-return services at retail outlets around the world. "Manufacturers are promising recyclability and reusability," Szaky told me during a Zoom session, "and we're the easiest way to do it." Loop may or may not be successful in the long-term. But the fact is, consumers everywhere are expressing a clear preference for sustainability — and brands are increasingly responsive. Whatever happens with plastic-bag bans, it’s highly likely that this dynamic will ensure that single-use plastics continue to fade from the marketplace. The coronavirus, for all of its challenges, won't change that hopeful trend.

After decades of bitter fights, environmentalists seemed to be winning the war against single-use plastics in recent years, with cities around the world banning or taxing them. Then the coronavirus arrived, raising fears that reusable goods might lead to infections. The impact has been swift. From Maine to Hawaii, plastic-bag bans have been suspended or postponed. In San Francisco, reusable shopping bags — once totems of the city's vibrant commitment to sustainability — have simply been outlawed. These reversals have sparked deep concern among activists. Some fear the bans will never be reinstated; others that reusable products may be permanently tainted as “unsafe.” The good news is that activists aren’t the only ones demanding more sustainable packaging these days. So are consumers — and some of the world's biggest corporations are paying attention. Campaigns against consumer plastics date roughly to the discovery of the Pacific garbage patch in 1988. The environmental movement was soon galvanized, and single-use plastics — especially grocery bags and straws — became a focus of global activism. Much of this was misdirected. According to the Environmental Protection Agency, plastic bags and wraps amounted to only about 0.3% of all the waste generated by homes and businesses in 2010. By comparison, containers and packaging make up about 30%. Nonetheless, the proliferation of ocean plastic has worried consumers well beyond San Francisco. Last year, a survey of 6,000 people in 11 countries found that 77% perceived plastics to be the "least environmentally-friendly packaging material.” Perhaps unsurprisingly, 72% said they're buying more environmentally friendly products than they were five years ago, and 83% thought it was important for companies to design products that can be reused or recycled. Those shifting perceptions haven’t gone unnoticed by consumer brands. Over the past decade, some of the biggest have adopted ambitious sustainability agendas. In 2017, Apple Inc. rolled out an aggressive strategy to embrace sustainable paper and cardboard, which resulted in a 30% reduction in plastic use in iPhone 7 packaging. The next year, nearly 300 global organizations, including companies such as Nestle SA, Mondelez International Inc. and Colgate-Palmolive Co., pledged to eliminate unnecessary plastic packaging entirely. Some of those commitments may not amount to much. But the broader trend is unmistakable. For example, last May, 5,000 U.S. households gained access to a zero-waste e-commerce site called Loop. It offers brand-name products packaged in custom-designed glass and metal containers, which the company will deliver to your doorstep in reusable tote bags. Once you’re done with them, Loop will collect all the packaging for washing and refilling. Tom Szaky, the chief executive officer of TerraCycle, the company behind the site, told me that the experience isn't all that different from throwing stuff out; it asks almost nothing of the consumer. Loop isn’t making much money to start. But its animating idea — that reuse should be as easy as throwing something away — is powerful enough that some very big consumer-goods companies are now designing packaging specifically for the site. Want Clorox wipes delivered in a reusable metal container? Loop has them. Want the same experience with Haagen-Dazs ice cream or Pantene shampoo? Loop has those too, along with products from 400 other brands. It also has a waiting list of would-be shoppers that's about "100,000 long," Szaky says. Later this year, the company will start offering pick-up-and-return services at retail outlets around the world. "Manufacturers are promising recyclability and reusability," Szaky told me during a Zoom session, "and we're the easiest way to do it." Loop may or may not be successful in the long-term. But the fact is, consumers everywhere are expressing a clear preference for sustainability — and brands are increasingly responsive. Whatever happens with plastic-bag bans, it’s highly likely that this dynamic will ensure that single-use plastics continue to fade from the marketplace. The coronavirus, for all of its challenges, won't change that hopeful trend.

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.

Sustainability efforts for beauty companies may cost more in the short term, but often pay out over time. Beauty brands that want to be part of TerraCycle’s Loop program must develop durable packaging that can be reused at least 10 times. It costs more for businesses upfront, but has the potential to help brands reduce their packaging costs over the long term. It’s one example of the return on investment for sustainability — Ren, Pantene, Melanin Essentials, Love, Beauty and Planet, Soapply, Plaine and The Body Shop are among the brands working with and selling through the Loop operation. “Manufacturers are hitting parity on price and sustainability anywhere from two to three uses sometimes,” said Benjamin Weir, Loop’s director of business development and sales innovation. “We’re pushing the system to be as durable and as reusable as possible.” For Procter & Gamble, which has invested in Loop, the cost of making Loop-approved packaging is actually more expensive — but the business views it as an investment in learning. “While ROI is definitely something we are getting in certain pockets of our business, it is not the sole criteria for learning in this space, particularly with some of the pilots we are running,” said Anitra Marsh, associate director of global sustainability and brand communications at P&G Beauty. Marsh was referencing Loop, as well as Olay Whips refills, which launched in the fall. “We have to learn before we can bring things to scale.” Another P&G pilot launches Monday: The business is testing paper board tube packaging for deodorant, available exclusively at Walmart. “If you’re looking at return on investment, sustainability initiatives are the long game. There are no short wins with sustainability,” said Sarah Jindal, Mintel’s senior innovation and insights analyst for beauty and personal care. She called Loop’s efforts “a great example of that initial upfront investment that pays in bucketloads,” and said renewable energy is another key example. “At some point, once you’ve made that initial investment, you no longer have an electric bill that you’re paying to someone else,” she said. P&G, for example, has saved more than half-a-billion dollars after years of energy conservation programs across the company, said Kelly Vanasse, chief communications officer for P&G beauty and grooming. “That’s one example — the work we’re doing on zero waste to landfill, it’s the same thing.…The more we continue to realize those successes, it just creates a virtuous circle.” Jindal stressed that the timing of returns from sustainability initiatives can vary. “Returns will come in many different forms at many different levels at many different time points,” Jindal said. Unilever, for example, has started to see increasing sales momentum from “sustainable living brands.” Sustainable living brands grew 69 percent faster than the rest of the business in 2018, compared with 46 percent faster in 2017, the company said. Biossance, the skin-care line born out of biotech operation Amyris, has worked to build up its own virtuous circle — a sustainable supply chain in order to offer Amyris-produced squalane to the broader beauty market at “desirable price points,” said president Catherine Gore. “The promised land is really connecting sustainable ingredients, sustainable thinking, sustainable manufacturing and sustainable packaging with the cost effective-nature of that. We’ll really hit our sweet spot when all of the brands can afford to make these types of changes.” Biossance’s key sustainability initiatives revolve around sustainable sugarcane in Brazil. The company makes its own squalane with that sugarcane, versus harvesting from sharks. Sugarcane stalks are used for boxes, and gas off-put is used to power the plant. “All of that has been optimized so we can offer squalane by the ton to consumers and brands worldwide at a much more desirable price point than [killing sharks],” Gore said. “The whole idea is to keep the mission first, and in order for that to be accessible, it has to be at the right price point.” There’s also a softer side to the ROI equation. As sustainability permeates consumer consciousness, companies and brands that have taken steps in earth-friendly directions expect to see dividends coming in the form of consumer loyalty. “The concept of brand loyalty…has kind of flown out the window, but this view on sustainability — because it is becoming so important to the consumer, and it is so visible to the consumer — that becomes one of those really important parts of, ‘do I want to buy from this brand, or do I want to buy from that brand?” said Jindal. “That loyal relationship becomes really important in the fragmented world we’re living in where you’ve got new brands popping up almost every single day,” Jindal said. Right now, consumers are at the stage where they notice obvious things, Jindal said, like packaging. But as beauty companies delve deeper into sustainability and talk openly about their initiatives, consumer expectations are likely to evolve. “The more prevalent that information becomes, it becomes that much more important to a wider range of consumers,” Jindal said. “They’ll look at [company practices] and say, ‘you know what, I don’t agree with the practices of that company, so I won’t buy from them anymore.’ It’s as simple as that, to flip that switch, because there are so many brands out there they can choose from.” For Biossance, sustainability is a key part of customer retention. “There’s a large community that’s very close to our shark-saving initiative,” Gore said. The company estimates that by producing squalane, it saves two million sharks per year. That, combined with Environmental Working Group certification and other commitments, like zero waste by 2025, compostable boxes and going carbon neutral in 2020, keep customers coming back. “As we share those stories, it holistically brings a very dedicated community together that believes in the sustainability, wants to put their purchase power toward that, and trusts in the brand,” Gore said. P&G also sees customers caring more about sustainability. “When we have products consumers love, they’re like, ‘OK, I love your product — now help me love your product even more. What are you doing from a sustainability perspective?’ Everyone wants to do the right thing…today, doing the right thing is being more sustainable,” Vanasse said.

"There are no short wins with sustainability."

Sustainability efforts for beauty companies may cost more in the short term, but often pay out over time. Beauty brands that want to be part of TerraCycle’s Loop program must develop durable packaging that can be reused at least 10 times. It costs more for businesses upfront, but has the potential to help brands reduce their packaging costs over the long term. It’s one example of the return on investment for sustainability — Ren, Pantene, Melanin Essentials, Love, Beauty and Planet, Soapply, Plaine and The Body Shop are among the brands working with and selling through the Loop operation. “Manufacturers are hitting parity on price and sustainability anywhere from two to three uses sometimes,” said Benjamin Weir, Loop’s director of business development and sales innovation. “We’re pushing the system to be as durable and as reusable as possible.” For Procter & Gamble, which has invested in Loop, the cost of making Loop-approved packaging is actually more expensive — but the business views it as an investment in learning. “While ROI is definitely something we are getting in certain pockets of our business, it is not the sole criteria for learning in this space, particularly with some of the pilots we are running,” said Anitra Marsh, associate director of global sustainability and brand communications at P&G Beauty. Marsh was referencing Loop, as well as Olay Whips refills, which launched in the fall. “We have to learn before we can bring things to scale.” Another P&G pilot launches Monday: The business is testing paper board tube packaging for deodorant, available exclusively at Walmart. “If you’re looking at return on investment, sustainability initiatives are the long game. There are no short wins with sustainability,” said Sarah Jindal, Mintel’s senior innovation and insights analyst for beauty and personal care. She called Loop’s efforts “a great example of that initial upfront investment that pays in bucketloads,” and said renewable energy is another key example. “At some point, once you’ve made that initial investment, you no longer have an electric bill that you’re paying to someone else,” she said. P&G, for example, has saved more than half-a-billion dollars after years of energy conservation programs across the company, said Kelly Vanasse, chief communications officer for P&G beauty and grooming. “That’s one example — the work we’re doing on zero waste to landfill, it’s the same thing.…The more we continue to realize those successes, it just creates a virtuous circle.” Jindal stressed that the timing of returns from sustainability initiatives can vary. “Returns will come in many different forms at many different levels at many different time points,” Jindal said. Unilever, for example, has started to see increasing sales momentum from “sustainable living brands.” Sustainable living brands grew 69 percent faster than the rest of the business in 2018, compared with 46 percent faster in 2017, the company said. Biossance, the skin-care line born out of biotech operation Amyris, has worked to build up its own virtuous circle — a sustainable supply chain in order to offer Amyris-produced squalane to the broader beauty market at “desirable price points,” said president Catherine Gore. “The promised land is really connecting sustainable ingredients, sustainable thinking, sustainable manufacturing and sustainable packaging with the cost effective-nature of that. We’ll really hit our sweet spot when all of the brands can afford to make these types of changes.” Biossance’s key sustainability initiatives revolve around sustainable sugarcane in Brazil. The company makes its own squalane with that sugarcane, versus harvesting from sharks. Sugarcane stalks are used for boxes, and gas off-put is used to power the plant. “All of that has been optimized so we can offer squalane by the ton to consumers and brands worldwide at a much more desirable price point than [killing sharks],” Gore said. “The whole idea is to keep the mission first, and in order for that to be accessible, it has to be at the right price point.” There’s also a softer side to the ROI equation. As sustainability permeates consumer consciousness, companies and brands that have taken steps in earth-friendly directions expect to see dividends coming in the form of consumer loyalty. “The concept of brand loyalty…has kind of flown out the window, but this view on sustainability — because it is becoming so important to the consumer, and it is so visible to the consumer — that becomes one of those really important parts of, ‘do I want to buy from this brand, or do I want to buy from that brand?” said Jindal. “That loyal relationship becomes really important in the fragmented world we’re living in where you’ve got new brands popping up almost every single day,” Jindal said. Right now, consumers are at the stage where they notice obvious things, Jindal said, like packaging. But as beauty companies delve deeper into sustainability and talk openly about their initiatives, consumer expectations are likely to evolve. “The more prevalent that information becomes, it becomes that much more important to a wider range of consumers,” Jindal said. “They’ll look at [company practices] and say, ‘you know what, I don’t agree with the practices of that company, so I won’t buy from them anymore.’ It’s as simple as that, to flip that switch, because there are so many brands out there they can choose from.” For Biossance, sustainability is a key part of customer retention. “There’s a large community that’s very close to our shark-saving initiative,” Gore said. The company estimates that by producing squalane, it saves two million sharks per year. That, combined with Environmental Working Group certification and other commitments, like zero waste by 2025, compostable boxes and going carbon neutral in 2020, keep customers coming back. “As we share those stories, it holistically brings a very dedicated community together that believes in the sustainability, wants to put their purchase power toward that, and trusts in the brand,” Gore said. P&G also sees customers caring more about sustainability. “When we have products consumers love, they’re like, ‘OK, I love your product — now help me love your product even more. What are you doing from a sustainability perspective?’ Everyone wants to do the right thing…today, doing the right thing is being more sustainable,” Vanasse said.

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.  

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.

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. 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.

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. 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.

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. 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.