SWITZERLAND – Global food, drinks and consumer goods companies have joined an online shopping concept called Loop that aims to change the world’s reliance on single-use packaging.
Unveiled by the international recycling leader TerraCycle, the new platform also looks to offer consumers a more convenient and circular solution that addresses the concerns around environmental pollution.
The concept was announced at the World Economic Forum’s annual meeting in Davos, Switzerland and lured the support of the world’s largest consumer goods and food and beverage companies who are committed to doing business sustainably.
The companies include Nestlé, PepsiCo, Unilever, Mars Petcare, Coca-Cola European Partners, Mondelēz International, Danone, Jacobs Douwe Egberts, Procter & Gamble, Carrefour, Tesco.
Zero-waste world packaging
Loop is designed to enable responsible consumption of 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 companies include Nestlé, PepsiCo, Unilever, Mars Petcare, Coca-Cola European Partners, Mondelēz International, Danone, Jacobs Douwe Egberts, Procter & Gamble, Carrefour, Tesco
The founding partners have agreed to promote development of more circular supply chains from package design and manufacturing to consumer use with an aim to offer a zero-waste option for consumer products.
It is geared towards achieving affordability, improve convenience and return used disposable or durable items to a circular life cycle either through recycling or reusing.
“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.
How it works
The products will be found readily available online where consumers can make orders, and the product put in a tote (made of rigid fabric).
When consumers are finished using the products, they put the empty containers in the tote and arrange for shipping through UPS.
The empty containers and bottles are then cleaned at TerraCycle and shipped to the various CPGs for refilling.
People order and consume, and the products come in containers that the manufacturer owns, not the consumer.
When the tote is returned, it will be washed and reused.
Only certain products will be available by the launch date, consisting of the most popular products from each of the brand partners.
P&G will have its Pantene and Tide products ready for the Loop platform and Nestlé will provide five or six flavors of Haagen Dazs ice cream.
