Loop can be thought of as the modern day milkman.
For those who are too young to appreciate the reference (and we all pretty much are), it’s all about reusing the vessels – or packaging – that comes along with common household goods and products.
With a goal to reduce harmful one-time use plastic containers, the new company has introduced a game-changing delivery system that helps the environment – and some of the world’s biggest brands are becoming partners. Self-proclaimed as the “reimagined milkman” (we didn’t just draw the comparison ourselves) the company emulated the historic model from the 50s and 60s era. “Not so long ago, the milkman delivered reusable bottles and later picked them up to be refilled,” reads its website. It aims embrace this past from a modern perspective, calling itself a circular shopping platform – perhaps the first of more to come.
Come spring, Loop customers in participating cities can order their go-to brands online and have them delivered to their home in durable, reusable containers. Once the container is empty, Loop will pick them up, sanitize them, and refill them. While product prices remain the same as traditional packaging found on store shelves, customers pay a deposit for the container, which is refunded when it’s returned either at the next delivery or in store, in addition to a shipping fee.
Touted as the first e-commerce subscription model that manages itself, instead of receiving a box each month, Loop automatically replenishes the products that are sent back so that they are available as you need them. Loop currently works with a variety partners that sell everything from toothpaste and shampoo, to mayonnaise, with names that include Crest, Oral-B, Pantene, Febreze, Seventh Generation, Axe, Tide, Dove, to name a few.
To keep the integrity and vision of each brand, Loop works with each partner to produce packaging that is consistent with their existing aesthetic and branding, and the containers are sleek and easy-on-the-eyes. For example, Axe’s sleek packaging looks like almost like wireless speaker, and the look of the Pantene containers may even be nicer than the traditional shampoo packaging, with fun graphics of sea turtles, starfish, and other oceanic life, with the wording, “I reuse, I love the ocean.”
Of course, the company emerges at a time of growing awareness and concern over the impacts of single-use plastics – like straws – on the environment, in particular, on oceanic life.
According to Financial Post, a major undisclosed Toronto retailer is slated to launch a test of reusable packaging via Loop this year, with online operations beginning at the end of 2019. In-store purchases are expected to begin six months later.
Though the identity of this mystery retailer is still under wraps (though we have our guesses), what we do know is that environmentally conscious consumers will be able to select hundreds of products in the reusable packaging. Some of the biggest brands on the planet, like Nestle, Unilever, and Proctor & Gamble. Smaller players, like Greenhouse Juice Co. will also join the list of Loop partners.
When all eyes are on retailers to big up their environmentally responsible game, we can expect more brands to jump on board; we have a feeling this is just the beginning for the innovative new company.
Featured Image: Instagram/@loopstore_us
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