ABOUT THE BEYOND THE BAG INITIATIVE
Imagining a waste-free future for retail
Launched by the Consortium to Reinvent the Retail Bag, the Beyond the Bag initiative aims to reinvent the single-use plastic retail bag, with the goal of identifying, testing and implementing viable design solutions and models that more sustainably serve the purpose of the current retail bag.
Our Multi-Faceted Approach

Innovate
Identify, test and scale new designs and delivery solutions to get goods home.

Engage
Involve stakeholders from across the entire value chain, incorporating insights from customers to manufacturers to recycling facilities.

Educate
Collaborate with policymakers, industry associations, and NGOs, among others, to educate on best practices and incentivize optimal, waste-free systems.

Align
Connect the dots across the lifecycle of products; new designs must align and bring value to the recovery systems that handle them after-use.

Invest
Leverage brand influence to unlock catalytic capital and scale new designs, while also strengthening recovery systems to recapture valuable materials.
History of the Bag
For decades, the single-use plastic bag reigned as the dominant design solution for one of the most common human activities: getting a purchase home. But that popularity comes at a great cost; almost all plastic bags end up in a landfill, are incinerated, or leak into the environment as trash.
The early history of retail reveals a reality we’re trying to return to: when a purchase and a bag were not always a package deal; when the question wasn’t “Paper or plastic?” but rather “How would you like to get this home?”
Consortium Partners
The Consortium to Reinvent the Retail Bag has convened industry leaders to find scalable solutions.