Several of the world’s biggest consumer goods companies are to trial a new scheme of refillable and returnable containers for some of its leading brands in place of their current plastic packaging, which could significantly reduce waste.

Under the Loop scheme, customers can make online orders for goods, such as shampoo, washing powder and mouthwash, that normally come in single-use plastic packaging. They will be delivered instead in durable, refillable containers that can be collected from the doorstep and cleaned for reuse.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Clorox’s stainless steel wipe container designed for use with Loop Photograph: Dara Rackley/AP

Procter & Gamble, Unilever, PepsiCo, Coca-Cola, Nestlé and Danone are among the big names signing up to run a pilot scheme.

“This is hassle-free and convenient for the consumer,” said Virginie Helias, vice president of global sustainability for Procter & Gamble. “You can receive your order within 24 hours and you can return your bottle when empty.”

The Loop scheme is run by the recycling company TerraCycle. Key to the scheme is online ordering, which means people do not need to bring their old containers to shops to have them refilled, and fits well with people’s increasing tendency to shop online.

Much of the plastic packaging currently used either cannot be recycled or has little value when recycled. By cutting out the need for single-use containers, Helias hopes to make “significant” reductions in plastic waste, but until the pilot schemes are evaluated it is difficult to estimate the savings, or the costs.

New York and Paris will see the first pilot schemes later this year, but if they are successful after a 12-month trial the scheme will be rolled out widely.

However, schemes like this are likely to be limited in their ability to cut waste, according to Mirjam Kopp, plastics project leader at Greenpeace. “Many of the businesses behind the initiative are expanding production of single-use plastic and looking to grow in markets that simply cannot take more plastic,” she argued. “[The impact of the scheme] depends on whether these companies are actually ready to change their business models.”

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The “waste-free shopping platform” will be launched on Thursday at the World Economic Forum in Davos, where Greenpeace will publicly debate the issue of plastic waste with Procter & Gamble chief executive David Taylor.

Taylor is also chair of the recently forged Alliance to End Plastic Waste, under which companies will invest $1bn (£778m) over five years in ways to stop plastic ending up in the oceans, where it has a disastrous effect on marine life.