<
https://reasonstobecheerful.world/plastic-free-shopping-zero-waste-kroger/>
"Two years ago, efforts to kick the country’s plastic addiction were on fire.
Municipalities around the country were implementing plastic bag taxes, while
mainstream shoppers embraced reusable grocery bags and flocked to the bulk
aisles for foods like beans and nuts.
However, all that came to a halt when stopping the spread of Covid-19 became
the country’s top priority. Almost overnight, grocery stores closed their
bulk-shopping sections, coffee shops stopped filling reusable coffee mugs and
individually wrapped everything took center stage.
Now, signs are emerging that the fight against plastic is getting back on
track. One of the most notable of those signs came from Kroger last month, when
the nation’s largest grocery chain announced it was expanding an online trial
with Loop, an online platform for refillable packaging, to 25 Fred Meyer store
locations in Portland, Oregon.
Kroger plans to offer a separate Loop aisle in these stores. The products,
which will include a mix of items in food and other categories, can be bought
in glass containers or aluminum boxes. When they’re empty, customers return the
containers to the store to be cleaned and used again. Originally scheduled for
this fall, the launch has been postponed to early 2022 because of supply chain
challenges, but a spokesperson said they will continue to work with their brand
partners to consider items that can be added to expand the program over time.
The partnership is a heartening sign after a tough year, said Tom Szaky, CEO
and founder of TerraCycle, the company behind the Loop initiative. “Overall, I
was very worried that the pandemic would shift the conversation away from
waste,” Szaky told Civil Eats. “It didn’t slow down. In fact, the environmental
movement’s only gotten stronger.” While consumer reuse models — reusable
grocery bags, refillable coffee mugs — “got punched in the face,” he said, it
was mainly because retailers stopped allowing them for safety reasons.
And while Loop’s growth was slowed by the pandemic, it was for the same factors
that upended many companies’ plans — not because interest was drying out, said
Szaky. The demand is still there, he adds, and he’s bullish on the idea that
mainstream grocery stores are going to need to find a way to meet it."
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
