February 8, 2025

The single-use plastic retail bag is a highly visible symbol of our incumbent linear, take-make-waste system: these bags are used for an average of 12 minutes before they end up in landfills and waterways. for hundreds of years. Moving this entrenched product into a circular system requires a concerted effort — one powered by unprecedented industry collaboration. This is where Closed Loop Partners’ Consortium to Reinvent the Retail Bag comes in — working with some of the biggest players in the retail industry, and facilitating some of the most forward-thinking innovators, to start moving the needle.

In 2020, the Consortium launched the Beyond the Bag Challenge, a critical part of the broader Beyond the Bag Initiative, to identify long-term solutions that reshape how to get home from on an in-store purchase, from curbside pick-up and home delivery. More than 450 innovators from around the world submitted their ideas on how to reinvent the retail bag. In February 2021, the Consortium announced the nine winners of the Beyond the Bag Challenge: 99Bridges; ChicoBag; Domtar; EON; Fill it up ahead; GOAT; PlasticFri; Return; and Sway.

As seen in the range of solutions chosen as winners of the challenge, different methods must be deployed to create a circular system for retail. All solutions have a role to play in replacing single-use plastic bags, whether through new reusable solutions, enabling technologies, or by designing with alternative materials. Since the end of the Beyond the Bag Challenge, significant steps have been taken to develop a circular system for the retail bag, and the winning innovations have helped pave the way. Let’s look at the progress made over a year, driven by five key trends:

1. Many retailers are looking to test and pilot reusable bag solutions

The Beyond the Bag Challenge is accelerating too in his mission to bring back the face of retail. Since being selected as a winner of the Beyond the Bag Challenge, the reusable bag company has not only started new pilots in New Jersey with several partners in the Consortium to Reinvent the Retail Bag, but also plans to launch more pilots in 2022 and 2023 with additional dealers, and expanded its solution to the Canadian market. Recently, GOATOTE was nominated as one of the Most Innovative Companies to Use in the Consumer Packaged Goods category for The Reusies, the first award show celebrating pioneers in the reuse space.

Man using a GOATOTE kiosk for a reusable bag

with Fill it Forward, which is one of the winners of the Beyond the Bag Challenge represents an opportunity to learn and test their technology in a retail environment, helping to increase the impact of reuse through charitable giving. The insights led to the development of the Fill it Forward Web App, which allows customers to unlock a charitable contribution with each reuse without downloading an app, and integrates the Fill it Forward code directly to reusable grocery bags. Earlier this year, the company partnered with Target and ran a second pilot using the Fill it Forward Bag Tag and the accompanying Web App experience. The company is also in discussions with other retail partners of the Consortium, and is working to be ready for spring with the Fill It Forward Reusable Grocery Bag, which helps shoppers track their impact and give to local charities every time. which they will use again.

Come back helping switch the use of over 20 million single-use bags and boxes to their reusable packaging and shipping systems. The company expanded its relationships with new clients, such as Zalando, while cementing long-term contracts with existing clients including Rent the Runway, Happy Returns and The Rounds. Return continues to advance their growth plan centered on distribution center-to-store logistics, as well as grocery delivery – two high-volume, focused applications that can be more easily aligned in reusable packaging integration. In line with its growth, the company continues to expand its team, including hiring Jeff Schwartz, former head of logistics partnerships at Feather, as its first director of operations.

Across the value chain, innovators, retailers and other stakeholders are adopting new solutions and exploring various innovations that will enable a zero-waste future for retail.

2. New insights are refining bag designs to better meet market needs.

Since the Beyond the Bag Challenge, ChicoBag is working on the next iteration of the award-winning ChicoBag Original. Named ChicoBag Infinity, the new bag is a high-quality, commercially machine washable, durable and long-lasting closed-loop product made from 100 percent post-consumer recycled plastic bottles. At the end of life, this bag can be more easily reground and remanufactured into a new bag, through ChicoBag’s long-standing extended producer responsibility take-back program. ChicoBag Infinity comes in two sizes (large and small) to fit specific retailer needs.

with Domtar – a large American company that manufactures and sells wood fiber-based paper and pulp products – being one of the winners of the Beyond the Bag Challenge provides additional exposure and an opportunity to connect with sellers and owners of the brand. This enables a deeper understanding of product performance, operational and customer needs, unlocking insights to help design a commercial bag material made for superior performance at low weight. – ours. Domtar’s stretchable, bio-based, recyclable material made of 100 percent cellulose fiber is curbside recyclable with paper and compostable.

Right: Domtar's stretchable, bio-based, recyclable material;  Left: Domtar's retail bag

3. Certifications confirm the potential for material circularity

PlasticFri, which designs, develops and manufactures plant-based alternatives to conventional plastics, has achieved several major milestones since being selected as a winner of the Beyond the Bag Challenge. The company received eight additional certifications and successfully passed field testing conducted by the Compost Manufacturing Alliance (CMA), as well as compliance with ASTM D6400, conducted by Organic Waste Systems (OWS). It has signed several major customer contracts, including a distribution agreement with one of the largest packaging companies in the Nordics, and Sweden’s largest online pharmacy. PlasticFri has also raised an external round of funding and is raising its next round.

4. Innovators form partnerships, strengthening the circular retail bag ecosystem

99 Bridge — the company behind Mosaic, an operating system that powers the distribution and lifecycle tracking of reusable items — has partnered with fellow Beyond the Bag Challenge winners GOATOATE and ChicoBag . Both companies have adopted Mosaic as the platform to use their reusable bag systems. 99Bridges has also recently developed a new look for its Mosaic platform, as well as new apps such as Mosaic Control Center and Mosaic Logistics Management, to help partners better manage their availability. bag operations.

5. Capital is poured into new innovations, increasing market awareness

At the beginning of 2022, EON announced an initial close of a $10 million Series A, led by IMAGINARY. With support from investors like Natalie Massenet, co-founder and co-managing partner of IMAGINARY, and new clients like Mulberry, the company saw an increased interest in Digital ID that led EON to taking center stage in both events and in the media as a leader in smart, connected products. The founder and CEO of EON, Natasha Franck, became the center of The Business of Fashion Professional Summit and The Global Fashion Summit in 2022 to discuss the need for connected systems. These events happened because EON was also included in a full feature in Vogue Business and in an article for Fast Company covering the possibilities of Digital ID.

EON QR code inside the bag

Come back also closed a funding round in early 2022, raising $3.1 million from Brand Foundry Ventures with additional funding from XRC Labs and others. The company aims to use the funding to expand its presence, continuing its work with global brands such as Estée Lauder, New Balance, Rent the Runway, Walmart and others to develop its operations.

This month, Sway, which transforms seaweed alternatives into plastic, closed a $2.5 million Seed round, led by Valor Siren Ventures and joined by Conservation International Ventures, Alante Capital and other mission-aligned investors. This enabled the company to grow its team, with new employees throughout the product and business development. Sway also continues to be recognized for their innovation, having recently been selected as a finalist for the Tom Ford Plastic Innovation Prize. The company is preparing to pilot its packaging on fashion and home goods brands in the coming months.

What’s next for the retail bag?

The progress made by these new challenges that have been overcome so far points to a near future where a circular retail system is possible. Across the value chain, innovators, retailers and other stakeholders are adopting new solutions and exploring various innovations that will enable a zero-waste future for retail. Moving forward, the Consortium to Reinvent the Retail Bag continues to stay at the forefront of the work needed to advance a circular future for retail – accelerating innovation, partnering with retailers, opening up discussion with stakeholders in the value chain and share insights that help guide the wider. ecosystem towards a future where waste is eliminated. As innovation empowers customers to adopt new ways of bringing things home, we look forward to continued industry collaboration to help bring this change to scale.

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