Recycling is great, but it’s not a longterm solution to the eight million tons of plastic dumped into the ocean each year. What is? Not buying single-use containers in the first place.

Loop is a new initiative from recycling company TerraCycle that plans to replace single-use packaging with reusable containers for common mass-marketed goods. Billed as a “zero-waste platform,” Loop is working with large consumer product companies including Proctor & Gamble, PepsiCo, and Nestlé to deliver goods in stainless steel containers that can be used at least 100 times.

It’s a little like the 21st-century equivalent of getting bottles of milk delivered to your door. Launching first in New York City and Paris this year, Loop will run like any e-commerce operation, with products available for you to order on its website. Then UPS, which has partnered with Loop for the pilot, will deliver orders straight to your doorstep in a reusable tote.

Once you use the product—whether it’s deodorant, ice cream, or mouthwash, you drop the container back into the tote, and when it’s full, UPS will come and grab it again upon request and take it a facility for cleaning and sterilization before it’s refilled for the next customer.

The company says Loop products will cost more or less the same as traditional disposable items. Customers pay a deposit for the container, but they get it back upon returning the container to Loop. It’s a smart approach to zero-waste, which has traditionally run into logistical roadblocks that make it more work for people to embrace.

The thinking here is that people adopted disposability because of its convenience, so if zero-waste products were just as convenient, people would opt for that, too.

Via: Fast Company