Unilever, Nestle, P&G, PepsiCo, and many others join with TerraCycle to launch Loop, a service enabling household collection of empty packaging for refill or recycle
A group of the world's largest consumer product firms have clubbed together with recycling specilaist TerraCycle to unveil a new global service designed to enable household collection of empty or used product packaging for refilling, reuse, or recycling.
Named 'Loop', the first of its kind circular economy system is aimed at providing households with a convenient way to reduce reliance on single use plastics in the home, TerraCycle said.
Under the system, the recycling firm envisages people will be able to buy and use a range of products in customised, brand-specific packaging that can then be collected, cleaned, refilled, and reused. Any remaining content in the used packaging, if recoverable, would also be recycled or reused, Terracycle explained.
The system was announced today at the World Economic Forum in Davos and is backed by a coalition of consumer product giants and brands, including Procter & Gamble, Nestle, PepsiCo, Unilever, Mars Petcare, The Body Shop, Coca-Cola European Partners, and Mondelēz International.
As part of the initiative, Unilever today unveiled plans for new reusable packaging across nine of its brands that will be trialled using the Loop service. The brands taking part in the initial trial include Hellman's, REN Clean Skincare, Love Beauty, Planet, and Seventh Generation, and will trial new reusable packaging made from aluminium and glass.
Other international firms to have joined the initiative include The Clorox Company, 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.
TerraCycle CEO Tom Szaky hailed the number of global companies that had "come together to create a new way to more responsibly consumer products".
"Loop will not just eliminate the idea of packaging waste, but greatly improve the product experience and the convenience in how we shop," he said. "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."
The Loop system follows in a similar vein to various post-back packaging recycling partnerships TerraCycle has struck with specific brands over the past year, including Walkers crisps, Mars pet food, and Colgate toothbrushes and toothpaste.
It said the new Loop initiative had been made possible as a result of "innovation investments" made by founding partner companies, as part of their drive to offer a zero waste option for some of the world's most recognisable products that was both affordable and convenient for consumers.
Laurent Freixe, Nestlé CEO for the Americas, said the firm was "proud to be a founding investor and partner of Loop".
"Loop provides a much-needed innovation platform, challenging companies to take a fresh look at our value chains and integrate reusable product packaging as part of our efforts to waste-reduction," he said "It's a critical part of our commitment to work with consumers to protect our planet for future generations."
Additional partners for Loop include retailer Tesco, which will pilot the system in the UK later this year, as well as logistics giant UPS, waste and resources firm Suez, and French multinational food retailer Carrefour.
TerraCycle claims the environmental benefits of Loop durable packaging in comparison to single-use packaging have been proven and verified through Life Cycle Assessments.
Further pilot projects are scheduled to take place in France and the north east of the US in the spring. Loop is then expected to launch in additional global markets throughout 2019 and 2020.
Sander Defruyt, who leads the New Plastics Economy initiative at the Ellen MacArthur Foundation, also welcomed the announcement. "New approaches that recognise the vital role of reuse and avoid the need for single-use plastic, like Loop, are a crucial step in the shift to a circular economy, where plastic never becomes waste or pollution," he said.
The news came as a new report was launched today by the Ellen MacArthur Foundation in Davos which highlights the enormous environmental damage currently being caused by global food production.
Synthetic fertilisers, pesticides and mismanaged manure are exacerbating air pollution, as well as contaminating soils and water, it argues. Moreover, food production is also responsible for a quarter of the world's greenhouse gas emissions, it said.
The report argues that cities - where 80 per cent of the world's food is expected to be consumed by 2050 - could have a key role to play in transforming the global food industry into a more circular economy. That transformation would see food grown locally in a way that regenerates natural resources, waste eliminated through better redistribution and by-product use, and healthy food produced without the need for harmful practices, the report contends.
Tackling waste and boosting recycling and re-use has emerged as one of the major themes at this year's Davos Summit, after the WEF's annual risk report again saw environmental issues dominate the list of top risks faced by the global economy. Meanwhile, a report from the Circular Economy group of businesses revealed just nine per cent of the raw materials extracted globally each year are currently re-used or recycled.