Imagining a Waste-free Future

The Beyond the Bag Initiative

Launched by the Consortium to Reinvent the Retail Bag, this 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 Foundational Goals

Reduce

To reduce the use of virgin materials from natural resources and greenhouse gases emitted from the production and recovery of bag solutions

Identify & Scale

To identify and scale innovative new design solutions to create a system that serves the function of the current retail bag

Divert

To increase the percentage of retail bags diverted from landfills

Inspire

To inspire and engage people to imagine new possibilities for the retail bag system

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?”