If you missed the Woolworths - Loop Australia announcement in October 2019 or didn't understand what it meant, essentially LOOP is a delivery system that puts everyday food, cleaning and body care items into aesthetically attractive reusable packaging and once you have used the contents, you return the packaging to Woolworths. Use of the container service does require a deposit fee, but after that, pricing is pretty much the same as those in plastic packaging.
The concept is designed to reduce packaging for common items like detergents, foods and body soaps. I must confess to thinking the whole process is a bit clunky and wondering how it will survive, but all reports out of the USA and France indicate the LOOP are adding a product a day to the range and the service is rolling out across USA. In many ways, the system is a modern day version of the old milkman model.
It turns out that it's not just sustainable consumers who are joining the program. Many consumers don't particularly consider themselves to by sustainable consumers, but simply like the convenience, so there goes my clunky theory! And better still, the system allows mainstream consumers who appreciate the aesthetic to become more sustainable without doing anything other than buying what they love. That's a huge win.LOOP says that favourites are different by country, with beverages in glass bottles such as Evian and Tropicana among the top-selling products in France while In the USA, wipes, dishwasher detergent tabs, shampoo and ice cream are favs.
The idea was launched in January 2019 at the World Economic Forum, when Terracycle CEO, Tom Szaky sold the leaders of Nestle, Unilever, Danone and Proctor & Gamble to run pilots in New York and Paris.
Terracycle recycles hard-to-recycle items such as toothpaste tubes, coffee pods, contact lenses, beauty products and balloons through free recycling programs where anyone can send in their recycling from home by downloading free shipping labels or alternatively items can be taken to Terracycle partners like Biome in Brisbane, Australia. (Check the link for specific recyclables at the trader locations.)
The announcement is timely for Woolworths as Woolworths Group was named as the worst single use packaging offender in Australia in the most recent Break Free From Plastic audit, conducted across 848 cleanup events in 51 countries and six continents. In total, 72,541 volunteers combed through beaches, city streets, waterways and their neighborhoods picking up pieces of plastic. Coca Cola was named the worst globally.