A new initiative pushes the responsibility back to the manufacturer.

 

  Instead of a use-it-once ice cream pint, Haagen Daaz containers in the Loop program are made of double-walled stainless steel, which keeps ice cream colder and available for hundreds of uses down the road. (Photo: Courtesy TerraCycle) It's now well-known that the packaging for our food and personal products is an unsustainable, garbage-producing mess. Even stuff that's recyclable mostly isn't — especially plastics. In all the years we've been diligently recycling, the truth is we haven't gotten very far. According to the Environmental Protection Agency, just 9 percent of plastic was recycled, 16 percent of it was burned, and 75 percent was sent to landfills in 2015. Looking at these numbers, it's easy to see why our oceans, and the animals that live there, are choked with plastics, and our beaches strewn with the stuff. Clearly the "recycle more" mantra has failed and we need another solution to packaging. Even the experts agree: "While recycling is critically important, it's not going to solve the waste problem," according to Tom Szaky, the CEO of TerraCycle, a company that has worked on issues around packaging and recycling for over a decade. Enter Loop, a program with a mission to "eliminate the idea of waste," says Szaky. Loop takes up the first part of the mantra "reduce, reuse, recycle" by creating returnable, reusable packaging for common consumer items. The idea for Loop was founded at the World Economic Forum by TerraCycle and some big names in the consumer products business, including Procter & Gamble, Nestle, PepsiCo, Unilever, Mars Petcare, The Clorox Company, The Body Shop, Coca-Cola European Partners, Mondelēz International, Danone, Jacobs Douwe Egberts, Lesieur, BIC, Beiersdorf, RB, People Against Dirty, Nature’s Path, Thousand Fell, Greenhouse, Grilliance, Burlap & Barrel Single Origin Spices, Reinberger Nut Butter, CoZie and Preserve.   A huge variety of products are already part of the Loop roll-out, from shelf-stable foods, to personal-care items. (Photo: Courtesy TerraCycle) How did TerraCycle come up with this large-scale reusable packaging concept? Szaky says he and his team dug deep and looked at some hard truths over several years: "If recyclability is not the foundational answer [to our waste problems], what's the root cause? The root cause of waste is disposability," says Szaky. And while it's easy to say "use fewer disposable items" — something many of us have dedicated serious time to, the truth is that all the rah-rah-reuse enthusiasm and personal changes it may have engendered hasn't been even close to enough. Our waste has increased over the past decade. It's time to get real: "Disposability is easy to vilify, but we also need to look at why disposability won — because it's cheap and convenient. That speaks to why consumers want it — they're willing to sacrifice the environmental negatives for the cheapness and convenience," said Szaky. It's not pretty to hear, but it's true. So, instead of trying to change the behavior of billions, TerraCycle looked at how to solve the root cause of waste, while still maintaining the virtues of disposables, like affordability and convenience. The birth of a circular system Loop works by creating a circular system — rather than a linear one — for packaging. (Photo: Courtesy TerraCycle) Loop takes some of its DNA from AirBnB and Uber, by understanding that consumers have no interest in owning a package, or having to deal with its disposal. Just like many people don't want to own a car, they just want to get from A to B, so Loop shifts the packaging responsibility back to the companies that make the products we want (the ice cream, olive oil or deodorant that's inside the packages). Szaky says some of the cues for this came from the past: "In the milkman model, the package wasn't owned by the consumer, but owned by manufacturer — so they were motivated to make it long-lasting. When packaging was shifted to become the property of consumer, it was all about making it as cheap as possible, to drive price down," says Szaky. How does Loop work exactly? You order from the Loop store, and your stuff will be shipped to you. On the first transaction, there's a deposit for the container — say 25 cents for a Coca-Cola. Once it's returned to the store, or sent back in the reusable shipping container, "no matter what state it's returned in (even if broken, because the container is the manufacturer's responsibility), you get your deposit back in full," says Szaky. Durability becomes a goal again Deodorant in reusable containers means you pay what you always did for the product, but it looks much higher-end in your bathroom vanity. (Photo: Courtesy TerraCycle) If you sign up for auto-refills timed to your schedule for personal care stuff (or, let's face it, ice cream!) the deposit stays in your account and you simply get your deodorant, toothpaste or razors refilled automatically — with literally no waste. You get what you want — the product inside — and the package is the company's to deal with. (Yep, you can even return dirty packages.) The huge boon to a new packaging model isn't just for the consumer or the planet we all share. It benefits the companies that make our stuff, too. When Pepsi owns the package, and the consumer owns the contents, the number of times the package can be reused becomes more important than its cheapness — and a durable package could even cost the company less in the long run if designed well — a win-win for the company and the environment. Durable, reusable packaging also allows companies to make containers that are more functional (like the Haagen Daaz container that keeps ice cream colder, longer). It also allows for way more fun, interesting and marketable design possibilities. Even Pampers gets a circular packaging upgrade in the Loop program. (Photo: Courtesy TerraCycle) Imagine: Instead of ugly, wasteful plastic bottles, what if we used high-design glass ones for our mouthwash? In the age of Instagram, it's actually a genius PR move for companies to make their product containers beautiful as well as functional. In France, Carrefour grocery stores have partnered with Loop, and a pilot program at Tesco in London will debut sometime later in 2019. About 125 products will be available for U.S. consumers in New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and New York via the Loop store, starting in March. Some of the biggest ocean-plastic polluters (see the Greenpeace list here) are the same companies that have invested in Loop. We've asked for a change, and they're giving it to us. This container sure looks a lot prettier than a disposable plastic one. (Photo: Courtesy TerraCycle)  

A first-of-its-kind, global shopping platform, Loop™ aims to offer zero-waste packaging options for the world’s most popular consumer products. Just a week after the launch of the Alliance to End Plastic Waste — a cadre of global companies from the plastics, chemicals and CPG value chain that has banded together to advance solutions to environmental plastic waste — a coalition of the largest consumer product companies, along with international recycling leader TerraCycle, today unveiled a first-of-its-kind, global shopping system called Loop™. The initiative is designed to change the world’s reliance on single-use packaging and offer a convenient and enhanced circular solution to consumers, while securing meaningful environmental benefits.   Launched at the World Economic Forum’s Annual Meeting in Davos, Loop will enable consumers to responsibly consume a variety of products in customized, brand-specific, durable packaging that is collected, cleaned, refilled and reused. The content, if recoverable, will be either recycled or reused.   The idea for Loop was founded at the World Economic Forum by TerraCycle and consumer product companies Beiersdorf, BIC, The Body Shop, Burlap & Barrel Single Origin Spices, The Clorox Company, Coca-Cola European Partners, CoZie, Danone, Greenhouse, Grilliance, Jacobs Douwe Egberts, Mars Petcare, Mondelēz International, Nature’s Path, Nestle, People Against Dirty, PepsiCo, Preserve, Procter & Gamble(P&G), RB, Reinberger Nut Butter, Teva Deli, Thousand Fell and Unilever. Additional partners are leading food retailer Carrefour as the founding retailer, with leading UK retailer Tesco to pilot Loop in the UK later in the year; along with primary transportation company UPS and sustainable resource management company Suez.   This approach to shopping was made possible as a result of innovation investments made by the founding partners, and their commitment to developing more circular supply chains from package design to manufacturing through consumer use. The aim was to offer a zero-waste option for the world’s most popular consumer products while maintaining affordability, improving convenience and returning used disposable or durable items to a circular life cycle either through reuse or recycling.   The environmental benefits of Loop durable packaging vs. single-use packaging have been proven and verified in Life Cycle Assessments under usage pattern assumptions that will be further validated in pilots scheduled to launch in the first quarter of 2019 in France and the northeastern United States. Additional markets are expected to launch throughout 2019 and 2020. “As a response to the global challenge in managing waste and the opportunity to improve consumers’ experience, a group of committed global brands, retailers, infrastructure companies, along with the World Economic Forum have come together to create a new way to more responsibly consume products.” said TerraCycle CEO Tom Szaky. “Loop will not just eliminate the idea of packaging waste, but greatly improve the product experience and the convenience in how we shop. Through Loop, consumers can now responsibly consume products in specially-designed durable, reusable or fully recyclable packaging made from materials like alloys, glass and engineered plastics. When a consumer returns the packaging, it is refilled, or the content is reused or recycled through groundbreaking technology.”   How Loop works:

• Shop: Consumers will go to the Loop website or Loop partner retailer’s websites and shop for trusted brands now redesigned to be packaging waste-free.
• Receive: Consumers receive their durable products in Loop’s exclusively designed shipping tote that eliminates the need for single-use shipping materials such as cardboard boxes.
• Enjoy: Consumers experience elegance and convenience all while eliminating the idea of throw-away packaging waste.
• Loop picks up: There is no need to clean and dispose of the package; as consumers finish their products, they place the empty package into one of their Loop totes, which Loop will pick up directly from their home.
• Loop cleans: Loop’s team of scientists has developed custom cleaning technologies so that each product packaging may be safely reused.
• Loop refills, recycles or reuses: Loop promptly replenishes products as needed and returns the refilled shipping totes to the consumer. If there is recoverable product, it will be reused or recycled.

  “At P&G, we are building on 180 years of innovation and world-class consumer insight to enable responsible consumption at scale,” said Virginie Helias, VP and Chief Sustainability Officer at P&G, also part of the Alliance to End Plastic Waste. “Through leading brands such as Pantene, Tide and Cascade, we have developed new, durable and refillable packaging that is delivered in a waste-free and hassle-free way as part of the LOOP platform.”   Along with the P&G brands Helias mentioned as being included in the service, Crest, Ariel and Febreze are also available in durable, refillable packaging; and toothbrush heads by Oral-B, and razors and blades by Venus andGillette will be recycled by the service. And Pampers and Always will be test-collecting used hygiene products from consumer homes for further recycling, using groundbreaking, proprietary technology developed by Fater — a P&G and Angelini Group Joint Venture — that turns used absorbent hygiene products into secondary raw materials for higher-value applications.   Roberta Barbieri, Sustainability VP at PepsiCo, commented: “Taking action to design our packaging to be recyclable and reusable is a critical goal of ourPerformance with Purpose agenda; and as we look to build a PepsiCo where plastics need never become waste, we are also exploring a number of ideas to reinvent the ways consumers can enjoy our products. Our participation in Loop builds on this commitment as well as providing the added convenience of e-commerce and home delivery.   “Initially we will be launching Quaker and Tropicana offerings in Paris, and have created vessels which we hope will excite our consumers, combining durability with high aesthetic design. As we work towards our sustainable packaging goals, we will continue to explore our own in-house innovations as well as participate in collaborative efforts to reduce waste.” Brands are responsible for designing their own packaging; TerraCycle consults on the packaging development process and tests all packaging for cleanability and durability prior to approval in the platform. The lifespan of each package will vary, as variables including aesthetics can cause a package to be taken out of circulation and recycled.   “We want to put an end to the current 'take-make-dispose' culture and are committed to taking big steps towards designing our products for reuse," said Alan Jope, CEO of Unilever. "We’re proud to be a founding partner of Loop, which will deliver our much-loved brands in packaging which is truly circular by design.” Loop already offers hundreds of products across its two dozen partners; as partners are added, this number will constantly increase.

24 Jan 2019 --- Recycling specialist TerraCycle has launched a first-of-its-kind reusable packaging home delivery service in partnership with a host of leading global brands. Taking place today in Davos at the World Economic Forum (WEF), the launch fuses e-commerce and sustainability in a way that a green-minded public has long been calling for. Consumers will be able to use durable, reusable or fully recyclable packaging made from materials such as alloys, glass and engineered plastics. Could this be a step closer to saying goodbye to single-use plastics? Innovation in the booming e-commerce market must, arguably, go further than recyclability. Within the online groceries market alone, growth is occurring at a double-digit rate in the past years. However, the levels of waste in e-commerce packaging remain high, which coupled with extended fuel usage for personal deliveries, makes it a market with sustainability issues. Within the booming industry, only 2 percent of companies use reusable or returnable packaging models, according to Jan Berbee, Partner in the reusable packaging for e-commerce startup, RePack, tells PackagingInsights. Global giant P&G will be introducing reusable and refillable packaging on some of its most popular products. The freshly launched Loop is a global packaging and shopping circular solution which aims to offer an improved environmental performance compared to current e-commerce solutions. The basic premise of the initiative is that consumers will order their product, receive it via shipping then after use it will be picked up at their homes. The products are then cleaned, refilled and either reused or recycled. Available products range from detergent and toothbrushes to ice-cream and peanut butter. The platform will launch in Paris and New York in the spring of 2019. Among the brands taking part are Procter & Gamble (P&G), Nestlé, PepsiCo, Unilever, Mars Petcare, The Clorox Company, The Body Shop, Coca-Cola European Partners, Mondelēz International, Danone, Jacobs Douwe Egberts, Lesieur, BIC, Beiersdorf, RB, People Against Dirty, Nature’s Path, Thousand Fell, Greenhouse, Grilliance, Burlap & Barrel Single Origin Spices, Reinberger Nut Butter, CoZie and Preserve. “As a response to the global challenge in managing waste and the opportunity to improve consumers’ experience, a group of committed global brands, retailers, infrastructure companies, along with the World Economic Forum, have come together to create a new way to more responsibly consume products,” says TerraCycle CEO Tom Szaky. “Loop will not just eliminate the idea of packaging waste, but greatly improve the product experience and the convenience in how we shop. Through Loop, consumers can now responsibly consume products in specially designed durable, reusable or fully recyclable packaging made from materials like alloys, glass and engineered plastics. When a consumer returns the packaging, it is refilled, or the content is reused or recycled through groundbreaking technology.” Personal care Global giant P&G will be introducing reusable and refillable packaging on some of its most popular products. An array of the company’s brands, including Pantene, Tide and Oral-B, will be participating.

• Pantene is introducing a unique bottle made with lightweight, durable aluminum for its shampoo and conditioner.
• Tide's purclean plant-based laundry detergent will be available in a new durable bottle made from stainless steel with a simple twist-cap and easy pour spout.
• Cascade has developed a new ultra-durable packaging for Cascade ActionPacs which enable consumers to skip the prewash.
• Ariel and Febreze are participating with durable, refillable packaging that is also available in stores, testing a new direct-to-consumer refill and reuse model.
• Oral-B will test circular solutions for both its electric rechargeable and manual toothbrushes.
• Oral-B CLIC, a new iconic design for manual toothbrushes features a durable handle equipped with a unique mechanism that allows consumers to only exchange the brush head. The Loop platform will recycle used brush heads for both manual and electrical brushes.
• Pampers and Always will test collecting used hygiene products from consumer homes for further recycling using ground-breaking proprietary technology developed by Fater, a P&G and Angelini Group Joint Venture. The technology turns used absorbent hygiene products into secondary raw materials for higher value applications.

“The time to act is now. We are passionate about harnessing the power of our global reach and the strength of our trusted global brands to scale-up more sustainable solutions. Transformative partnerships are key to achieve this mission as no one can succeed alone,” says Virginie Helias, P&G’s Vice President and Chief Sustainability Officer. Among the participating brands is also Nestlé’s Häagen-Dazs. Food and beverage Among the participating brands is also Nestlé’s Häagen-Dazs. With the launch of Loop, Häagen-Dazs is debuting a reusable stainless steel double-walled ice cream container, designed by Nestlé’s global research and development group in Bakersfield, US. The design and transportation will keep the ice cream fresh and cold from the moment the canisters are filled until they are delivered to consumers’ homes, the company report. The canister also ensures that when it is opened, the ice cream melts more quickly at the top than at the bottom of the container. Consumers shopping for Häagen-Dazs on Loop can select from non-dairy options (Chocolate Salted Fudge, Coconut Caramel and Mocha Chocolate Cookie) or from traditional favorites (Vanilla or Strawberry) during the New York City pilot of the program, scheduled to launch in the first half of 2019. At the moment of the launch, no information on the costs of the initiatives on the participating consumer have been shared. A key theme at the World Economic Forum is the adoption of a circular economy over a linear one. The Loop initiative is a clear example of how a rapidly growing market, which will undoubtedly continue to grow as the year continues, can adapt to sustainable calls. It no longer needs to be “business as usual.” By Laxmi Haigh

Dozens of major brands have partnered to launch this ambitious new packaging model in the U.S. and France. TerraCycle and Suez break down how it could change the waste equation in the coming decades. After years of quiet planning and rigorous testing, TerraCycle has unveiled what it believes will be a revolutionary change in packaging: Loop. Debuted at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland this week, the new shopping system is the first of its kind to offer hundreds of name brand products in reusable and refillable packaging. In addition, many products traditionally viewed as inefficient to process — pens, diapers, razor blades — will now be recycled for the first time in many areas. This builds on the New Jersey company's foundational business of finding value in what is considered unrecyclable — but on an entirely new level. Designed to be more attractive and functional than common versions, these new goods will be available on a pilot basis in the U.S. and France, starting this spring. With the convenience of delivery and pick-up service via online ordering — and eventually at retail stores — Loop is being billed as a rare opportunity to wean consumers off single-use disposability. "The thesis of Loop is we want to bring about the future of consumption, and the tenet of that would be the idea that waste doesn't exist," said TerraCycle CEO Tom Szaky in an interview with Waste Dive.  

 

A new consumer culture?

Procter & Gamble and Nestlé (both founding investors) — along with PepsiCo, Unilever, Mars Petcare, The Clorox Company, The Body Shop, Coca-Cola European Partners, Mondelēz International and Danone — are among the initial partners that have designed new packaging for Loop. Achieving this level of participation from the companies behind so many household brands was seen as essential for consumer buy-in. According to Szaky, a key component is elevating the experience of reusable shopping (beyond its current niche version of bringing mason jars and cloth bags to a local bulk store) through added convenience and an element of "luxury." Prices are expected to be comparable to current options aside from a refundable deposit, and many containers are made from glass, stainless steel or durable plastic. Some, such as a new Häagen-Dazs container, will even keep products frozen or fresh for longer. As envisioned, this system will start out as a delivery/pick-up service — something Szaky has previously described as akin to the old "milkman" model. UPS will deliver the products in reusable shipping bags, and once consumers are done, transport the bags to a regional cleaning facility, where containers will be sanitized and products recycled. This is said to be the first time feminine care products and diapers will be recycled in France, and the first time for razor blades in the U.S. "There are some big firsts baked into Loop, and that's really using a lot of TerraCycle's original competency. If it's reasonable to recover and reasonable to reuse, then it must be reused, is the rule," said Szaky. The pilot program is expected to launch this spring in the Paris metro area and the New York City area – including parts of New Jersey and Pennsylvania. French retailer Carrefour has signed on as a partner, and a U.S. retailer is in the works. While the initial list of participating companies have had to make upfront investments in new packaging design (though on a limited scale to start), the ability to meet both consumer demands and sustainability targets is seen as worth the price of admission. A spokesperson for the French unit of Coca-Cola European Partner (CCEP) told Waste Dive it sees a way to expand existing refillable glass bottle sales and "bring this unique experience directly to consumers at home in line with a no waste vision and our sustainability strategy." Loop is considered a clear fit for CCEP's "This Is Forward" plan — part of Coca-Cola's broader "World Without Waste" initiative  to ensure all packaging is recyclable and fully recovered by 2025. Other major partners — including Procter & Gamble, Nestlé, PepsiCo, Unilever and Mondelēz International — have set their own future sustainability targets or made financial commitments to recycling initiatives in recent years. While these pledges have often been met with skepticism from major environmental groups, it's possible this Loop announcement may be perceived differently. Szaky noted that eight of the 10 companies on a 2018 Greenpeace list of the most commonly found brands in ocean clean-ups are Loop partners — a potential signal of their willingness to take more ownership over plastic pollution. Greenpeace itself is also participating in the Davos launch event.  

 

A world without "garbage"

Loop might be an easier fit for regulatory trends in European countries that encourage more recycling (though it will be exempt from extended producer responsibility rules), but it could prove a greater shock to the U.S. system if scaled successfully. The most directly affected parties will be packaging manufacturers — glass, for instance, might see more demand, while single-use plastic demand could decline. The potential decrease in tonnage for both waste and recycling collections also raises questions of what Loop will mean for the U.S. waste and recycling industry itself. "I'd say at the very beginning, if I was working over at Republic or Waste Management or even Waste Connections (Waste Connections owns a quarter of our Canadian company) I think they wouldn't even see this as a threat because it would seem super small compared to what is in the dumpster," said Szaky. "The real question is 10, 20, 30 years from now, if durable, reusable, repairable, that type of movement really hits scale — and I think Loop could be one of the vehicles that accomplish that — then you may see an effect on the loads, and unless you get involved in that, then you would see it competitively." Last year, Waste Connections CEO Ron Mittelstaedt told Waste Dive he believes "reuse is the pathway that will help diversion by non-generation" in future decades, although he didn't directly mention TerraCycle. No U.S. waste and recycling industry companies have invested in Loop to date. Suez, the France multinational that has a stake in TerraCycle's European operations, invested 4% in Loop. The company also partnered with Procter & Gamble and TerraCycle to launch a shampoo bottle made of ocean plastic at Davos in 2017. Jean-Marc Boursier, senior executive vice president of recycling and recovery at Suez's Northern Europe division, feels the concept fits into his company's view that increasing waste volumes can't be the primary corporate growth metric. According to Boursier, rising GDP, industrial activity and population growth should all be considered signs of a healthy economy — but that doesn't necessarily have to translate to more waste. "The question is, can we optimize waste production, and do we need to still dump everything into a very large landfill?" said Boursier, referring to the U.S. market. "Or, shall we consider waste as not only a nuisance, but as a product that we could transform into something more valuable?" Boursier declined to offer any direct advice on how U.S. service providers that still derive a significant portion of their revenue from landfills could adapt to such a model. Speaking about companies in general, he offered this outlook: "Either you enter — if you have an industrial company — into this world of circular economy with a negative view, where you believe that it is a constraint and it might have some increased costs at first glance. In which case you will be very reluctant to change the world — and we need to change our way if we are going to protect the planet," he said. "Or you take the lead and you try to differentiate yourself positively." Boursier sees Loop as a way for big brands to do that, adding that while it's too soon to know the full potential, "I believe it can change the world."  

 

Next steps

After the first two pilots launch this spring, Loop is expected to expand into the London area in late 2019 with retailer Tesco. Toronto, California and Tokyo — in conjunction with the 2020 Summer Olympics — are on tap for next year. According to Bloomberg, the company has invested an estimated $10 million in this concept. Asked how he sees this growing as part of TerraCycle's business, Szaky noted that the timeframe might be long, but the change will be apparent when the company's market share in a given area shifts away recycling disposable products to durable ones. Based on life-cycle assessments, consumers will need to reorder products upward of five times for the environmental effects to even out. Watching how many repeat participants Loop can attract, and at what scale, will be key to tracking its progress. In the meantime, Szaky is also still looking for acquisition opportunities in specialized waste streams — such as the 2018 purchase of light bulb recycler Air Cycle — and remains open to a scenario in which TerraCycle's core business of recycling challenging materials shrinks as Loop grows. When asked if the long-term plan was to still file for an IPO once the company approached $70 million in revenue, Szaky replied: "It absolutely is, and Loop just helps us get there faster."