Would You Like a Reusable Box with That? NewsWire

NewsWire: 10/2/21

• More fast-food companies and grocery stores are testing out reusable packaging. Your next sandwich boxes, cups, and pantry items might be returnable. (Associated Press)
• NH: Next time you order a burger, you might have the option to get it in a reusable box. Reusable (i.e. returnable) packaging is coming to fast-food restaurants and grocery stores near you thanks to Loop, a two-year-old company that is planning a big expansion over the next year. In all, 191 stores and restaurants worldwide will be selling products in Loop packaging by Q1 2022, up from just a dozen stores in Paris at the end of 2020.
• Among the chains that have signed on are McDonald’s, Burger King, Tim Hortons, Kroger, and Walgreens. At restaurants, customers can choose to pay a deposit for a reusable container when ordering their item, and when they return it, they get their deposit refunded. Loop then collects and cleans the containers. Grocery stores will have separate section for Loop-packaged products from major brands like Nestle, Clorox, and Seventh Generation. So far, around 80% of those who have opted for this packaging have returned it within 60 days of purchase.
• Though Loop has had successful trials with CPGs at grocery stores, their expansion will mark the first time they’re trying this with fast food. They hope that with consumer interest in sustainability rising, this is the time for reusable packaging to go mainstream. The company, whose revenue comes from the fees it charges its corporate partners, is not yet making a profit but expects to within two years.
• But just how many shoppers will end up using Loop? This initiative seems like it's more for corporate branding than actually motivating customers to be less wasteful. Only very environmentally-minded customers are going to fork over an extra deposit or bother to search for products in a separate section of the supermarket. How many of these people are you going to get at McDonald's? Maybe Loop could consider partnering with Whole Foods or Sweetgreen instead.

Did you know?

• Avoid Controversy with…Religion? Americans are divided over whether certain politically charged symbols should be displayed on school property during the school day. According to the Survey Center on American Life, less than half support displaying a pride flag (47% support, 52% oppose) or a Black Lives Matter sign (44% support, 55% oppose). Opinions on this question fall predictably along partisan lines, with particularly strong opposition among Republicans to Black Lives Matter signage. If schools are looking to avoid controversy, they’ll be safer going with religious symbols. Most Americans would support public schools displaying a Christmas tree (81%), but also other symbols that are more explicitly religious, such as a Christian nativity scene (64%), a menorah for Hanukkah (64%), or a star and a crescent moon for Ramadan (53%). The majority of Americans also continue to support allowing daily prayer in school (56%), although this share has dropped by nearly 20 percentage points over the past two decades.