ALEXANDRIA, Va.—Walmart has launched a pilot program with Loop, allowing Walmart+ customers to purchase refillable, reusable containers, reports Packaging World. The program is available to customers in the Bentonville and Rogers, Arkansas, areas through Walmart+ InHome, so customers can have their Loop packages delivered to their home, as well as returned from their home.
Developed by circular reuse platform TerraCycle, Loop recovers and sanitizes reusable packaging for recirculation with new products. The Loop products available for Walmart+ customers include brands such as Gillette, Clorox, Cascade, Kraft Heinz, Seventh Generation, and Love Beauty and Planet. More brands will be added in the coming months.
“Identifying models that can make shopping easy, convenient, affordable and sustainable is a core part of how we pursue our commitment to becoming a regenerative business at Walmart. By leaning into reuse with Loop and so many of our brand partners, we see a unique opportunity to help our customers eliminate packaging and single-use plastic from many of their regular purchases,” Corey Bender, vice president, merchandising for household essentials, Walmart U.S., said in a statement.
Once Walmart+ customers have used the product in the Loop containers, they set the emptied containers in a designated spot inside or outside their home for a Walmart associate to retrieve them. The containers are then sent to Loop to be sanitized, then returned to participating brands to be refilled and returned to the store for future purchase.
"Loop was designed from the ground-up to reinvent the way we consume by learning from historic circular and sustainable models, while honoring the convenience afforded by our single-use consumption of today,” said Tom Szaky, founder and CEO of Loop and TerraCycle. “Walmart and Loop have come together to create a simple and convenient way to enjoy a wide range of products, customized in brand-specific reusable packaging, with the convenience of in-home delivery.”
In April, Kroger expanded the amount of reusable packaging offerings through its partnership with Loop. The grocer now offers reusable packaging for its private-label brands, as well as other major food and household brands. Subscribers pay a deposit ranging from 15 cents for a glass beverage bottle to $10 for a stainless-steel container of disinfecting wipes. Loop products are placed in a designated section, and customers can return their packaging to the same area when the contents are used.
Kroger and Loop announced their partnership earlier this year via a program at the grocer’s Fred Meyer stores in metro Portland, Oregon. The program launched in 25 stores offering more than 20 products.
Convenience retailers are turning to sustainable packaging to keep food and drinks fresh and warm. Learn more in the NACS Magazine article “Package Deal,” published in the January 2022 issue.
More than half of all convenience store customers (54%) say they’d like to see more recycling at their local c-store, according to NACS data. NACS offers a toolkit in partnership with the Can Manufacturers Institute on the value of can and bottle recycling, which offers tips and suggestions for improving current practices, how to effectively communicate the goals of the program with staff and customers, as well as a checklist to help retailers reduce contamination in their recycling bins.