It’s the milkman for the 21st century, with customers from Pittsburgh to Philadelphia already having signed up online this spring. Founder and CEO Tom Szaky, who spun Loop off from his Trenton recycling company, TerraCycle, believes this is the right moment for a new way of grocery shopping.

Several major manufacturers are onboard for the circular use pilot. The Clorox Company (NYSE: CLX) has added two of its popular products to the list of items available through the TerraCycle Loop circular sustainable shopping pilot program. First announced at the World Economic Forum in January, Loop enables consumers to purchase commonly-used products in customized, durable packaging that is delivered in a reusable shipping tote. The initiative aims to establish a new model that supports responsible consumption and ends society’s dependence on disposability. Once products are used, consumers place the packaging in a special tote for free pickup, then Loop hygienically cleans the packaging, replenishes the products and returns them to the consumer. TerraCycle partnered with UPS to design its reusable, easily-cleanable tote to handle both liquids and dry goods over multiple uses, Recycling Today reported. The pilot program is available in the mid-Atlantic region of New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Maryland and Washington, D.C. Clorox crisp lemon disinfecting wipes and Hidden Valley Original Ranch topping and dressing will be available through the program, and the company plans to add a Glad food protection product to the platform later this year. Other products available through the Loop program include Procter & Gamble brands including Tide detergent, Cascade dishwashing products, Pantene haircare items and Oral-B dental care. “We are building on more than 180 years of innovation and world-class consumer insight to enable responsible consumption at scale,” Carolyn Tastad, P&G’s(NYSE: PG) Group President - North America, said. “We’re proud to partner with TerraCycle as the first CPG company to be part of this program as we work to accelerate sustainable innovation and explore new circular solutions that consumers love.” Companies including Unilever, Nestlé, PepsiCo, Danone, Mars Petcare, Mondelēz International are also onboard, per CNN, for a total of about 300 products. The Kroger Co. (NYSE: KR) and Walgreens (NASDAQ: WBA) are founding retail partners with Loop, and consumers in the pilot region can shop for products through www.thekrogerco.com/loop orwww.walgreens.com/loop, and in the future, the retailers hope to enable consumers to purchase Loop products in stores in select locations.  

The Loop™ circular shopping system has officially launched its pilot program in the Mid-Atlantic region of New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Maryland, and Washington, D.C., and has announced Kroger Co and Walgreens, respectively the country’s largest grocery retailer and one of the largest pharmacy chains, as the founding retailers in the U.S. The news came at a media event held at the offices of The World Economic Forum in New York City May 21.

“Loop was designed from the ground up to reinvent the way we consume by leveraging the sustainable, circular milkman model of yesterday with the convenience of e-commerce,” Tom Szaky, founder and chief executive of Loop and TerraCycle, said in a news release.

That’s the goal of “Loop,” a durable packaging initiative run by New Jersey-based recycling company TerraCycle that debuted at the World Economic Forum earlier this year. This week, Loop began its U.S. trial, allowing consumers to use steel, glass and durable plastic reusable packaging for everyday items. Kroger Co. and Walgreens, along with such consumer brands as Procter & Gamble, Nestle, The Clorox Co. and Unilever, are taking part.

• Loop, the "circular shopping platform" developed by recycling company TerraCycle, launched its e-commerce site Wednesday and announced Kroger and Walgreens as its founding retail partners at a press conference in New York City Tuesday.

Loop, a first-of-its-kind circular shopping system created by TerraCycle in partnership with major retailers and brands, on May 21 officially launched its pilot program in the Mid-Atlantic region of New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Maryland and Washington, D.C. To celebrate the launch, TerraCycle and Loop’s retail and brand partners held a press conference and reception at the World Economic Forum in New York City.

Debuting next month, the "circular shopping platform" aims to make reuse as popular as recycling.       Loop will deliver Haagen-Dazs ice cream in a reusable stainless-steel container. (Photo courtesy of Loop) What if you combined Amazon Prime with a 1950s milkman and Target's democratic design? That pitch might make the judges on Shark Tank scratch their heads, but it's the exact premise of a grocery delivery service that will debut in the Northeast next month, with potentially revolutionary implications for sustainability and the environment. On May 21, Loop will launch a "circular shopping platform" at loopstore.com. It will stock hundreds of familiar branded products — including condiments, ice cream and personal-care items — in durable, reusable packaging instead of single-use bottles, boxes and cans. Customers subscribe to the service and place orders that arrive via UPS; after the products are used up, Loop circles back to pick up the empties at no charge, then cleans and sanitizes them for reuse. Replenishments are automatically delivered. It's the brainstorm of TerraCycle, a company founded in 2001 to recycle previously unrecyclable materials. The overarching concept is the circular economy: Instead of "make and dispose," the goal is "reuse and eliminate." Materials are used for as long as possible, then recycled or reused, with the goal of creating zero waste.

"It's funny: Most of the things we buy, we don't really want to," says TerraCycle CEO Tom Szaky. "When you go to say Starbucks and you buy a cup of coffee, you buy the coffee, but the cup is also in the price, and you own the cup. But do you really want to own it in the end? If we change ownership — instead of having the consumer own the package, the manufacturer owns it — the manufacturer is motivated to move away from making a product as cheap as possible to making it as durable as possible." To kick off the service, Loop partnered with some of the world's biggest manufacturers of grocery items, including Proctor & Gamble, Nestlé and Unilever. Brands available at launch will include Pantene, Tide, Crest, Gillette, Pampers, Always, Dove, Seventh Generation and Hellmann's. The reusable containers are made from innovative polymers and metals that are stylish and functional: Häagen-Dazs ice cream arrives in a stainless steel, double-walled container that's warm to the touch but frozen inside; Axe deodorant comes in a container that looks designed by Apple. "The design level is a whole new departure from anything in disposable," says Szaky. "Durability enables reuse, but it also enables amazing materials that can be leveraged in beautiful designs." But what if consumers don't want to pay for that premium? "That's crucial. For scale, we need not just the big brands and big retailers, but affordable pricing," says Szaky. "The goal with all the products is to cost about the same as what you normally pay." A small deposit will be charged for the containers; it's fully refunded when they're returned. "We need Loop to be affordable for it to really change the world," says Szaky. "Even middle income and rich people don't want to pay a premium if they don't have to. This is about more than just the circular economy. It is the circular economy at its heart, but it's also about the future of how we consume."  

Because everything in the recycling and solid waste world is in disarray right now, it’s time for new thinking and action. There is something called “Loop,” which turns some old-fashioned thought into a new world of actionable solutions. Think of the milkman and “Charles Chips” of days gone by and the way products were delivered right to your door in mostly reusable containers. Then also hear the words of Tom Szaky, CEO of Terracycle, the company putting forward the concept of the “Loop”: “Loop is about the future of consumption and one of the tenets is that garbage shouldn’t exist.” This idea is based on delivering products to homes and businesses in reusable containers, with a goal of having all packaging be reusable or recyclable by design. Some companies on board with this thinking are huge ones: Proctor and Gamble, Pepsico, Nestle, Unilever, Mars, Clorox, Coca Cola, Nature’s Path, Danone and many others, here and abroad. With the encouragement of Terracycle, an example of reuse would be for Tide detergent to come in a durable stainless steel container with a sturdy twist cap. Haagen-Dazs ice cream could be packaged in reusable double-walled stainless steel tubs designed to be kept cold. Similar products such as shampoo, hand soaps, mouthwash, creams, etc. can be handled this way. UPS and other delivery services would deliver a box of these supplies and pick up the empties to and from your home, their facility or another delivery scenario point. Concurrently, the “zero-waste” movement strives to take our wasteful ways down to a bare minimum. This is no easy task, given the current levels. Roughly, each American generates about 5 pounds of trash per day, of which only about 30% is either recycled or composted. Much of this material goes to landfills, where it produces large amounts of methane gas, a small fraction of which is captured or burned off. We have a long way to go and need a multi-pronged attack.   Source reduction efforts on both the production and consumer sides are critical to making substantial progress without resorting to landfilling and burning. Some of the same large corporations that are talking about “buying into” the Loop process are also still manufacturing products in containers that are not recyclable in most areas. On the recycling side of things, since other countries are now restricting the amount of our waste that they will buy; we need to co-ordinate exactly what materials can be universally marketed. The issue of contamination within the recycling stream must be straightened out through education and, if necessary, code enforcement actions. As in many cases involving business trends, they need strong signals from both government and consumers to react positively for the environment with new or less packaging, or the refillable container idea. “Loop” is scheduled to be rolled out in test markets in the Eastern United States and in parts of Europe right about now. Check out progress by searching for “TerraCycle Loop” online. Also, the zero-waste movement has many iterations and suggestions online. The Galloway Township Office of Sustainability has more information on the current state of recycling, ways to “precycle,” tips on source reduction of trash as well as deeper, nontraditional recycling. The office can be reached at gtnj.org or at 609-652-3700, ext. 209.  

Loop,ꟷan initiative that links major consumer product brands, retailers and Terracycle,ꟷis generating a lot of excitement since its announcement in January at the Davos World Economic Forum. Loop, which will actually launch in May, is a shopping concept that will deliver common household food products in packaging that is made to be used multiple times. The system will be tested in Paris and New York as a first step, with London, Toronto and Tokyo expected to be added later in 2019.