Guide advises retailers looking to leave behind plastic bags

Closed Loop Partners’ Center for the Circular Economy, New York City, and the Consortium to Reinvent the Retail Bag have released a guide for retailers adopting reusable bag service models.

The report, “Beyond the Plastic Bag,” shares insights and analysis gathered from collaborative reusable bag pilots conducted in select CVS Health, Target and Walmart stores throughout Northern California in 2021 as part of the Consortium to Reinvent the Retail Bag’s Beyond the Bag pilot studies.

Walmart Executive Vice President and Chief Sustainability Officer for Walmart Kathleen McLaughlin calls the effort an “unprecedented platform for connectivity” among the participants in the study.

“The pilots created the space for collective experimentation and provided data-driven insights on the ease, convenience and perceived benefits of the models tested,” she says. “This kind of on-the-ground diligence from pilots is critical to inform what could be next for reuse and where it could fit in a circular economy.”

Approximately 100 billion single-use plastic bags, which are typically made with low-density polyethylene (LDPE) or linear-LDPE film, are used each year in the U.S., most of which end up in landfills. Reuse models can help address single-use plastic packaging waste along with other complementary waste mitigation strategies. As retailers work to respond to the challenge and address the growing number of plastic bag regulations across the U.S., the report provides key findings on what drives an optimal shopper experience and uptake of reuse models.

The following study findings are important to keep in mind when considering the public:

• effective storytelling is foundational for building awareness;
• convenience is imperative when it comes to adoption and sign-up for programs;
• customers are looking for a clear and easy reason to help them reuse; and
• accessible drop-off points and quick confirmation of return help build trust in the reuse system.

Behind the scenes, retailers need to consider that:

• partnering with the right stakeholders matters;
• impact must be measured at every stage; and
• further scaling reuse systems will help catalyze efficiencies.

“Successfully implementing reuse models on the ground and accelerating their growth takes unprecedented collaboration. Since 2018, the Center for the Circular Economy has been convening competitors to address complex material challenges and advance circular solutions, including reuse,” Managing Director of the Center for the Circular Economy at Closed Loop Partners Kate Daly says. “This collaboration with the nation’s largest retailers to test and pilot reusable bag solutions across multiple stores is a critical step toward reducing single-use plastic bag waste. Iterative testing and data-driven decision-making of reuse systems can help avoid unintended consequences like insufficient recapture of reusable packaging or the one-to-one replacement of single-use plastics with ‘reusables.’ We hope that this report on the Beyond the Bag initiative serves as inspiration for forward-thinking organizations looking to bring reuse to the next level.

Beyond the Bag Challenge

The Beyond the Bag Challenge was designed as a competition to identify the most promising sustainable alternatives to plastic bag use. The consortium received about 450 submissions in the challenge and has named the following winners in no particular order:

• ChicoBag, Chico, California, which eliminates a common pain point for consumers: remembering reusable bags. Their service enables customers to borrow bags on-site as part of the sharing economy;
• GOATOTE, Woodbury, Minnesota, which features a  kiosk system that allows consumers to access clean, reusable bags anywhere a kiosk is found; 
• Returnity, Brooklyn, New York, which designs and manufactures reusable shipping bags and boxes for products already on the market and provides the e-commerce and delivery packaging system that powers how these bags and boxes are used; 
• Eon, New York City, created the CircularID Protocol which facilitates data exchange across the circular economy, creating a transparent tracking system to understand how bags are being utilized across the value chain;
• Fill it Forward, Guelph, Ontario, which created a tag and app that connects to the reusable bag consumers already own, allowing them to track environmental impact, earn rewards, and help give nutritious food to people in need;
• SmartC, Charlotte, a solution co-created by 99Bridges and Envision Charlotte, incentivizes shoppers with rewards in a fun, engaging way every time they reuse their shopping bags;
• Domtar, Fort Mill, South Carolina, which is developing a new bio-based, recyclable material of 100 percent cellulose fiber with stretchable and more durable properties;
• PlasticFri, Stockholm, which transforms agricultural waste, non-edible plants and other renewable resources into bio-based products, has created a starch-based compostable bag for consumers; and
• Sway, Berkeley, California, which creates replacements for traditional plastic derived from seaweed. Their bags are bio-based, compostable and designed to be carbon-negative.

Over the next year, the Consortium to Reinvent the Retail Bag will continue conducting research and in-market testing of designs and innovative bag solutions that can reduce single-use plastic bag waste. This work aims to inform the viability of solutions in different contexts, as well as the full potential of solutions to replace plastic bags as the dominant method of getting goods home.