Circular grocery platform Loop launches in Paris as more brands jump aboard

17 May 2019 --- PepsiCo will offer Parisian consumers two of their brands, Tropicana Orange Juice and Quaker Cruesli Chocolat Noir, in reusable containers, as part of a market trial of TerraCycle’s new shopping platform, Loop. The circular platform launched earlier this week in Paris, meaning that consumers in the Paris metro area can visit the Loop online store and take part in the system that hopes to reimagine production and consumption models.

According to Bruno Thevenin, General Manager for PepsiCo France, the Loop system is really about testing a possible model for reinventing packaging, which is a key area of focus for PepsiCo as it looks to reduce, reuse and rethink our plastic packaging.

“Loop is exciting because it overcomes some of the challenges of reusable containers, making them more convenient and conducive to modern living,” says Thevenin.

“During the trial, we hope to gain valuable insights into how consumers adopt Loop and to understand what is needed to make this a long-term and mainstream solution that could help reduce packaging waste and make a meaningful change in how people interact with our products,” he adds.

Other brands taking part in the France launch are household names such as BIC, Carrefour, Coca-Cola, Danone, Mars, Mondelēz International, Shell, The Body Shop, Unilever and Wildesk. The platform is also open to private label and smaller brands, such as Jacques Fabre, La Biscuiterie de Provence, Les Petits Bidons and Lesieur.

Once consumers have placed their grocery order online, it is delivered direct to their doorstep and when they are finished with the product, the reusable containers are collected, professionally cleaned and can be redelivered.

The Loop platform has chosen to partner with existing e-commerce platforms and retailers to speed up the time it takes to get to scale and implement a sustainable shift in how we shop.

“Through Loop, we are trying to provide an option for every brand and retailer by partnering with retailers and existing e-commerce platforms. That is how we will get to scale. We are not here to reinvent the distribution model. This part will be integrated into the retail environment – in France with Carrefour and in the UK with Tesco,” Laure Cucuron, TerraCycle General Manager, tells PackagingInsights. 

We need to rethink production, consumption and distribution models. We need to stop thinking disposable – think durable instead, she notes.

A shifting consumer landscape
The landscape of consumerism is changing, and Loop is a first-of-its-kind model that could both drive and prosper from the changing scene. “It’s a revolution in the B2C area of experience and use,” she says.

Consumer demands are becoming increasingly green. In the UK, half of the population feel guilty about the amount of plastic they use and even more, 82 percent, are actively seeking to reduce the amount they throw away, according to a recent YouGov Custom survey. Reusable models that tout a more zero-waste profile may well excel in the current environment. 

As Cucuron describes, Loop is a “revolution in the B2C area of experience and use.”

More deliveries, more CO2 emissions: The lesser of evils?
Loop’s reusability model decreases the industry’s dependency on single-use plastics, but concerns have arisen that the deliver-return-deliver system will lead to increased carbon emissions.

Packaging expert, Ariane Van Mancius, believes that rising CO2 emissions pose a greater environmental issue than packaging.

“Packaging is not the top sustainability problem in retail and the cost and energy from logistics might rise [as a result of the Loop initiative]. Packaging is not even in the top four environmental concerns, according to a recent report. It is number five, behind animal protein, food waste, food miles and ready-made food,” Van Mancius tells PackagingInsights.

However, Cucuron emphasizes that Loop will be plugged onto existing logistics routes rather than having its own vehicles in order to minimize emissions. The transport issue is a common query due to its visibility, she explains, further noting that the company has run several life-cycle assessments (LCA) to gain a full picture of the sustainability of the platform.

These assessments have shown that if a product within Loop can withstand five uses, the sustainability output would be the same as a standard e-commerce platform, where products are at best recycled, and at worst, end up in landfill. Loop’s packages are designed to withstand 100 uses, denoting a further minimized footprint.

The real environmental kicker comes from producing the packaging itself. 

TerraCycle’s closed-loop solution has now launched in Paris and will begin in London and New York shortly, with future launches planned for Germany and parts of the US.

Edited by Laxmi Haigh