Once the products are used up, the idea is to put the empty packages back in the Loop box for UPS pickup and the containers will be cleaned, sanitized and recirculated — everything is reused. Even the shipping label was a thick piece of paper that slides into a slot in the top of the box that simply needs to be flipped over to send the box back. One of the most striking elements about the experience was how the consumer is never without instructions as to what to do next. Every item has some form of return direction on it encouraging the user to complete the Loop. Even the tiny plastic zip tie that secures the delivery box (and the fresh one inside for the return shipment) is well-marked with instructions. Every item, from reusable box filler to each product, is marked with instructions so the user is never unclear as to what to do next.  |   Credit: Emma Cosgrove   The product selection in the store is so far fairly limited — spanning dry bulk food products like nuts, spices and pasta, a few personal care items like razors and hand wash, household cleaners and ice cream. Many more brands are advertised as partnering with Loop, so hopefully the assortment will grow soon. In my first order, I tried to choose items from every category and receive a variety of products — and more importantly, a variety of containers. The packaging, after all, is a key part of the innovation. TerraCycle worked with the committed vendors like Unilever, Mars, Nestle, PepsiCo, Colgate-Palmolive, Procter & Gamble and more to develop versions of selected products in largely non-plastic packaging with the aim of getting 100 cycles out of every container. "Reusable packaging is more expensive from an environmental perspective to make the first time ... but every time it goes around, you don't have the cost of remaking it. All you do is have the cost of collecting it and cleaning it. And by using really efficient supply chains to do the collection, it’s very efficient to transport," Szaky said at the launch. Most of the containers I received were stainless with some plastic components like pumps and spray nozzles. I also received peanut butter in a glass jar (with a $2 deposit, which admittedly caused a bit of sticker shock). All were perfectly functional (even in the shower) and certainly better to look at than logo-adorned plastic.

How do the prices compare?

In short ... it varies. At today’s prices, Loop's more premium items are more comparable to the market price than the mass-market brands. For example, 19.5 oz. of organic lemon-flavored almonds cost $16.65 plus the container deposit — a slightly cheaper per ounce rate than the product is priced on the brand’s website. While dry black beans are priced at $3.25 a pound plus the container deposit – at least 60% more than a bulk price in a grocery store. Tide detergent is fairly competitively priced, while a pint of Haagen-Dazs is at least $1 more than at the grocery store and carries a hefty $5.00 deposit for the much-hailed stainless container that allows the eater to hold the pint comfortably, and shovel directly into their mouth, even after pulling the metal directly from the freezer. The Haagen-Dazs container is designed with an inner and outer stainless steel layer to enable faster melting only at the top and comfortable eating from the pint straight form the freezer.   |   Credit: Emma Cosgrove And those deposits add up. On my first order, I paid $30.50 in deposits including the $15.00 deposit for the shipping box — 23% of my total order. Cleverly though, upon return, the deposits go into a deposit balance on the site instead of being refunded back through your payment method, so the blow will be much softer next time around. (The circular nature of the platform not only keeps your shopping nearly waste-free but also is a fairly effective marketing tool to encourage subsequent orders since not all products empty out on the same schedule.)

Would I order again?

The experience of opening the Loop box and producing no immediate waste is exactly as I expected – a relief. The box itself, especially for a relatively small order of seven items like mine, came with a lot of foam packaging and a cooler with many ice packs for the ice cream I ordered. I had to remind myself that though it seemed excessive, none of this was waste. When I finished with about half of the items, I sent the box back and received an email within 24 hours acknowledging receipt of my empty products. Every bit of package filler protecting the Loop products is reusable.  |   Credit: Emma Cosgrove   All in all, Loop is still for true believers. As an avid online shopper, especially for household basics and groceries, keenly aware of how much waste that generates on a nearly daily basis — I am such a believer. I will order again to reduce my waste, to support the initiative and to satisfy my curiosity as this program grows and changes. The platform doesn’t meet quite enough of my needs to cancel out any of the other vendors I currently shop with — though I’m watching eagerly for the day that it does. The brands available now don’t all work for me, and I imagine with mass market and niche brands accounted for in a relatively small assortment of products, this will be true for almost everyone. It's not a platform for value or selection yet. But it is relatively guilt-free and offers a smooth, responsive and guided user experience that is enjoyable. The supply chain innovation when it comes to Loop is mostly in the products themselves. The return, wash and recirculate model is borrowed from various industries like commercial linens (though the product variety is much larger and the per-order minimum much smaller for Loop) and the transport itself is simple logistics and reverse logistics. But scaling the products as the platform grows will be something to watch — and so will the shifts in consumer behavior as the platform expands its products and customer base. Did it change my consumption life? No. But I see how it could one day.  

Thanks to a grant from Keep America Beautiful, Keep Dalton-Whitfield Beautiful (KDWB) will soon be placing special cigarette litter collection bins across Whitfield County. These "ballot bins" allow users to vote for one of two options in the bin. They are used to increase participation in the program and decrease litter. But did you know that the cigarettes in these bins are going to be recycled? With 5.5 trillion cigarettes disposed ever year, finding a way to reuse the waste is valuable for smokers and non-smokers alike. Once full, each bin will be collected and shipped to a company called Terracycle. Terracycle, based in New Jersey, focuses on finding unique solutions to waste issues and creative ways to upcycle and recycle. One of those unique problems is cigarettes. So, they started a program that finds a use for this waste instead of preserving the cigarettes for thousands of years in landfills across America. Recycling can be costly, especially for unique items like cigarettes, so one company stepped up to help fund the program. Terracycle states, "With funding from Santa Fe Natural Tobacco Company, the waste collected through this program is recycled into a variety of industrial products, such as plastic pallets, and any remaining tobacco is recycled as compost." All of the extinguished cigarettes, cigarette filters, loose tobacco pouches, outer plastic packaging, inner foil packaging, rolling paper and ash can be recycled in these bins. While you can't throw the box away in there, the paperboard box can be tossed into your regular paper recycling bin where the Dalton-Whitfield Solid Waste Materials Recovery Facility will handle it. The inside packaging materials and filters get melted, molded and turned into plastic packaging. The ash and paper part of the cigarettes gets composted. The paperboard box gets sorted and pulped to become a new paper product. Cigarettes have filters that are made from cellulose acetate, a synthetic fiber. This filter doesn't biodegrade when tossed outside and ends up in all of our waterways eventually if never picked up. It can, however, be used to make new plastic products if processed correctly. Through this program the filters go through a process called extrusion which turns it into pellets. It is a similar method that is used to make carpet from plastic here in Whitfield County. After extrusion, the filter and other inside packaging materials from the box get mixed with other materials and turned into ashtrays, pallets or lumber. Once the insides are removed and disposed of in the yellow ballot bins, you can put the paperboard box in your regular recycling bin. This box can easily get turned into all sorts of other objects, from book covers to Wendy's napkins. Even with the amount of smoking declining, cigarettes are still the most littered item in America. Not only that, they are the biggest ocean contaminant. Just one butt in a liter of water can poison and kill a fish. Though it’s hard to estimate exactly how much damage this does to oceans worldwide, we can deduce that it is leading to major problems below the surface. For every pound of cigarette waste collected and sent into Terracycle for recycling, Santa Fe Natural Tobacco Company donates $1 towards the Keep America Beautiful Cigarette Litter Prevention Program. Keep America Beautiful helps clean up cigarettes that have been littered by coordinating cleanups, donating supplies and supplying grants similar to the one that was given to KDWB. Cigarette litter causes problems for our wildlife, waterways and environment. Yet, they still get littered here every day. With the incentive to not only keep our town clean, but also the knowledge that these cigarettes can be used as a resource more of those butts should end up in the right place. Amy Hartline is the recycling and education program coordinator for the Dalton-Whitfield Solid Waste Authority. Have a recycling question? Contact her at (706) 278-5001 or at ahartline@dwswa.org.