“Loop”, the joint initiative of Carrefour and TerraCycle, aims to improve recycling. Photo: Carrefour

France Develops Loop System for Reusable Packaging

In a cooperation across borders, French retailer Carrefour and disposal company TerraCycle, based in New Jersey, USA, have developed an innovative deposit system that is advertised as being simultaneously sustainable, customer-friendly and manufacturer-oriented.

Geared towards the Loop

The name is a synonym: By ordering products that use new types of reusable packaging, the Loop initiative aims to prevent waste and maintain the recycling loop. Customers can order products on the Internet that range from food and beverages to household cleaners and toiletries. These goods are then delivered in reusable glass or metal bottles.

The direct-to-customer model: Ariel and Febreze both participate in Loop with durable and refillable packaging. Photo: Business Wire

How does Loop work?

Decision: A customer orders one of the products that has been redesigned for the initiative via the Loop or a partner website.
Delivery: The goods are delivered to the specified address, packaged in the Loop Tote that has been developed exclusively for the initiative.
Collection: Customers can return empty bottles and totes either with their next delivery or without re-ordering products. Neither must be cleaned before they are collected.
Hygiene: The special cleaning technology developed exclusively for Loop guarantees safe re-use of all packaging.
Refills and returns: Loop immediately refills the bottles according to demand and sends the products to consumers in the shipping containers.

The products cost about the same as identical goods in single-use containers. However, depending on the product, an additional 25 cent refundable deposit is added at checkout.

Procter & Gamble participate in Loop with plant-based “Tide purclean” detergent in a new, particularly durable stainless steel bottle with an easy to open screw cap and pouring spout. Photo: Business Wire

Global use planned

The innovative e-commerce solution was first presented at the World Economic Forum in Davos in January 2019. Since then, more than 25 international consumer goods and trading partners have joined the initiative, among them Procter & Gamble (P&G), Nestlé and UPS. After a successful pilot phase in Paris with around 200 products from local organic foods to toothpaste by renowned international brands such as Unilever, the Loop initiative was launched in New York at the end of May. Here, food retailer Kroger Co. and the Walgreens pharmacy group cooperate with TerraCycle. The Tesco supermarket chain will follow suit during the market launch in London, which has been scheduled for the end of 2019. Further launches are planned in cities such as Toronto and Tokyo in 2020.