Closed Loop Partners releases Playbook on single-use bag reduction for businesses

16 Mar 2023 --- Closed Loop Partners’ Center for the Circular Economy and its Consortium to Reinvent the Retail Bag have released a Playbook to provide single-use bag reduction strategies that can be implemented by any retailer – from small local stores to large national brands.

The Playbook highlights effective solutions to reduce the number of bags retailers need and encourages the use of reusable bags customers already have at home. There are 25 strategies across four categories catering to retailers at different stages of their business.

Closed Loop Partners, alongside retail consultancy McMillanDoolittle, sourced the solutions from 17 retailers within and outside the Beyond the Bag Consortium. The insights from the Playbook are based on research, interviews, surveys and learnings from 17 of the world’s leading retailers across communications, employee training, bag and fixture design and customer incentives.

“Closed Loop Partners developed the Playbook in partnership with the Beyond the Bag Consortium to share accessible single-use bag reduction solutions that can be implemented by any retailer, generating both positive environmental outcomes and cost savings,” Kate Daly, managing director of the Center for the Circular Economy at Closed Loop Partners, tells PackagingInsights.

Closed Loop Partners to test its methods to reduce single-use plastic bags in areas across the US. How to reduce single-use bagsThe guide lays out how to best prompt customers to bring their own bags, where to place reusable bags in a store, items retailers can skip bagging, which customer incentives can be deployed and other strategies. 

“Reusable bags are an important tool to drive single-use bag reduction and help address the single-use plastic bag waste crisis. For reusable bag solutions to reduce waste, they must stay in circulation and the Playbook includes several solutions that encourage customers to use their reusable bags more often,” continues Daly. 

Closed Loop Partners says that a 1% bag reduction significantly impacts our global waste footprint. In the US, 1% equates to one billion fewer bags used and discarded. It continues that beyond meeting sustainability goals, using fewer single-use bags can reduce costs, address challenges in stocking bags and build brand reputation and loyalty.

“This tool is for retailers looking for quick wins and those seeking innovative, new approaches. We hope these insights inspire retailers looking to reduce their plastic footprint and deploy bag reduction solutions.”

The Consortium to Reinvent the Retail Bag has conducted more than 6,000 iterative tests, surveys and pilots across markets to help accelerate learnings and the development of sustainable bag solutions.

“As the retail bag space evolves, continued research and experimentation will be critical to assess the operational viability and environmental impact of new solutions in different contexts,” Daly adds.

“The Beyond the Bag Consortium will continue to identify and scale innovative new design solutions that serve the function of the current retail bag, providing customers with convenient, accessible and environmentally-sound solutions. Success will mean advancing a more sustainable and waste-free future for the retail bag, driving progress and momentum across the retail industry.”

This year, the consortium will go back into the market on a larger scale, testing different complementary strategies to reduce single-use bags.

Tests across the US Closed Loop partners aim to help businesses big and small to prompt their customers to use and bring reusable bags. 
In Spring 2023, the consortium partners will test multiple strategies from the Playbook simultaneously in Arizona and Colorado, US. The partners will launch signage, marketing and customer prompts across stores.

The consortium is inviting retailers from mom-and-pop shops to large brands to join and test the prompts, signage and marketing materials to have the broadest reach with customers and to create an “ecosystem-wide” impact.

“The goal of these tests is to support a broader cultural shift toward customers bringing their reusable bags from home,” asserts Daly.

The consortium will test a “returnable bag service” model where customers will “borrow” a bag onsite in New Jersey, US, where the state has legislation banning single-use bags in certain stores.

The customer can reuse the bag before returning it at the same or different retailer’s store to be washed, redistributed and reused by additional customers. This offers a solution for customers forgetting to bring their reusable bags.

“Every retailer who deploys these solutions reduces plastic waste, helps customers build the habit of bringing their own bags and helps drive a cultural shift toward a more circular future for retail,” Daly concludes.

By Sabine Waldeck