Beyond "paper or plastic?"

First, it was the choice between paper or plastic. In a retail setting, the single-use bag spends an average of 12 glorious minutes in use before being discarded. What a life. 

Then came a wave (a small ripple, really) of reusable totes brought from home or purchased at checkout. (Or, in my case, stubbornly and often precariously carrying an aggressive number of loose groceries in my arms if I’ve forgotten one of my reusables). But the rate of consumers bringing their own bags is low, and the number of theoretically reusable bags being used just once is high. 

That could change, thanks to a consortium of major retailers including Walmart, Target and CVS, and led by the Center for the Circular Economy at Closed Loop Partners, all with an ambitious plan to identify, pilot and scale alternatives to the single-use plastic bag. 

Last week, the consortium announced the winners of the Beyond the Bag innovation challenge, which sought solutions that could fit into existing retail operations, meet consumer needs and track the bag throughout its life. Selected from a group of 450 entries from around the world, the nine winners do more than simply redesign the bag itself. Instead, they focus holistically on the systems needed to make reuse work at scale, or make single-use as sustainable as possible. 

The winners fall into three categories: 

1. Reuse and refill solutions that design out the inconvenience of bringing your own bag to a store. Instead, these companies offer in-store and e-commerce rental or sharing. One winner is GOATOTE, which allows consumers to check out clean, reusable bags through a smartphone app anywhere a kiosk is found, and return them within 30 days. 
2. Enabling technologies that provide the tracking capability and digital infrastructure to enable reuse systems or improve customer engagement. For example, Fill it Forward incentivizes reuse by offering consumers the ability to track environmental impact and earn rewards. Consumers attach a tag to the bags they already own and use the Fill it Forward app to track reuse and receive benefits. 
3. Innovative materials that opt for bio-based, recyclable and lower-impact materials compared to the conventional single-use plastic bag. A winner in this category is PlasticFri, which manufactures a compostable bag made from agricultural waste and non-edible plants. 

I invite you to read about the other six winning companies and the next phase of the initiative in my colleague Deonna Anderson’s story here. 

Weekly Roundup

A collection of circular stories worth reading, by Circular Economy Analyst Suz Okie

• Addressing overconsumption head on, members of the European Parliament are calling for legally binding targets to reduce resource use and bring the EU’s consumption footprint within planetary boundaries by 2050 (via European Environmental Bureau).  
• The U.S. is “behind the curve” on circular economy policies. Experts are looking hopefully to the Biden administration for a “quantum leap forward” in materials management, for everything from EV batteries to food waste (via Waste Dive). 
• We all know its graphic, oft-lamented assembly manuals. Get ready for its disassembly manuals. IKEA is pivoting from disposable to reusable, repairable, resellable furniture, with new disassembly instructions in tow (via Fast Company). 
• Have a well worn luxury item in need of a facelift? Product life extension is just a click away through a new online repair atelier (via Harper’s Bazaar).
• Magnetic filters, living vacuums, static nets and plant-based mesh are among the newest innovations tackling pervasive, omnipresent microplastics. Another important solution? Designing out plastics in the first place (via The Guardian). 
• Speaking of designing out — deodorant aisle icons from Old Spice to Tom’s of Maine are shifting to plastic-free packaging with paper tubes and reusable containers (via Environment + Energy Leader and Cosmetics Design).
• Several startups are also taking on the “design out” mantle in the world of e-commerce. Reusable shippers and streamlined deliveries may be the future of this exploding industry (via Washington Post). 
• It’s been said before, but it bears repeating: circular principles are essential to climate commitments. A new paper explores how circular policies can help the EU hit neutrality by 2050 (via Circular).