Remember that green-movement mantra, ‘reduce, re-use, recycle’? Now, innovative US-based recycling firm TerraCycle has launched a globally available platform for companies employing reuseable packaging.
The Loop™ platform, currently being rolled out across the US and the world, will enable consumers to have their double-layer-insulated-stainless-steel-enclosed Haagen-Daaz ice-cream (and more) and maintain their eco-cred, too.
The Loop system will be available in Australia via Woolworths, which plans to launch the online platform in mid-2020, loaded with reuseably-packaged products.
“It begins with an online platform so users learn as much as they can,” TerraCycle CEO Tom Szaky told Food&Beverage magazine in April 2020. “When the Woolies platform launches, customers will be able to access 200 Loop products on their website in home care, personal care, packaged food and beverages – where there are big waste issues.
“Once the consumer selects the items they want, you pay a one-time, refundable deposit for the tote bag, then Woolworths will deliver the products. And here’s the cool part – you’ll get a return bag and you put all your returned Loop products back in the bag…no cleaning, no sorting. During the next delivery, Woolies will pick it up for you from your home. Those bags of reusable garbage end up back at a Loop centre that we’re setting up, and will partner with DHL and Ecolab. We store them, clean them and send them back to the manufacturers to be refilled.”
“The brands pay for it, but the idea is that they save money on not having to buy packaging.”
Read the full Food&Beverage article.
Sources: A new way of thinking about food waste I Food&Beverage News; Woolworths and TerraCycle to bring revolutionary ‘Loop’ platform to Australia to tackle plastic waste I Woolworths News; Green Tips podcast: Trash Talk (episode 13) I US radio station 101.9 KINK.FM