July 29, 2025, New York, NY – In a continued push to reduce single-use bag waste, the Consortium to Reinvent the Retail Bag—an industry collaboration managed by Closed Loop Partners’ Center for the Circular Economy—has launched the largest retail campaign of its kind in California, inviting customers to “Break Up With Single-Use Bags.” Supporting the initiative are Target, CVS Health and The Kroger Co. through its local banners Ralphs and Food 4 Less.

Now rolling out in nearly 1,000 stores across Southern California, the campaign significantly expands the Consortium’s reach and marks a milestone for bag reduction and reuse, engaging and inviting more than 10 million customers to reduce single-use bag waste and build a more circular future for their communities and the retail industry.

The campaign launches at a pivotal time, as major retailers recognize the need to support customer behavior change to meet waste reduction goals. California was the selected market for the campaign in anticipation of a significant policy shift: beginning in January 2026, the state will ban all single-use and thicker plastic bags, offering paper as the only single-use bag option. This transition presents a key opportunity for impact, based on evidence that well-designed policies, paired with effective consumer engagement, can drive meaningful reductions in single-use bag waste.

“Break Up With Single-Use Bags” is an ongoing, open campaign, inviting customers and retailers to participate in vital work to shape the future of retail, one that does not create single-use bag waste. The campaign encourages people to let go of familiar––yet operationally and environmentally challenging––habits of disposable bag use, and transition toward more resource-efficient low-waste choices.

“This campaign reflects a growing movement of retailers and communities working together, guided by data and a shared vision, to shift the retail experience toward one that eliminates waste altogether by reducing our reliance on disposable bags,” said Kate Daly, Managing Partner and Head of the Center for the Circular Economy at Closed Loop Partners.

The campaign includes a major rollout across Orange County, San Diego County and the Inland Empire, with a suite of customer engagement strategies, including in-store signage, checkout prompts, parking lot signage and out-of-store marketing, all designed to engage shoppers at key decision points. The campaign’s tactics and design were informed by data and insights from the Center for the Circular Economy’s previous in-market community-wide activations, including the 2024 Petaluma Reusable Cup Project in California and the 2023 Bring Your Own Bag pilot in Denver, Colorado, and Tucson, Arizona.

The in-market tests in Denver and Tucson deployed similar strategies and resulted in statistically significant reductions in single-use bag consumption. In Denver, where bag legislation is already in place, single-use bag transactions decreased by 11.7 percent. Across both markets, the pilot was estimated to have reduced single-use bag use by approximately 9.5 million bags annually. This upcoming in-market activation in California builds on proven tactics, with an expanded scope and extended timeline—running for over a year to generate deeper insights into long-term behavior change and systems-level outcomes.

“At Target, we’re proud to offer products and services that provide our guests with more sustainable options,” said Agata Ramallo Garcia, vice president, head of enterprise sustainability at Target. “We’re thrilled to support efforts like the Beyond the Bag Initiative that offer guests convenient solutions that reduce environmental impact and make a meaningful impact for the communities we serve.”

“The health of our environment is directly connected to the well-being of the people and communities we serve,” said Jenny McColloch, VP of Sustainability and Community Impact at CVS Health. “This connection drives our commitment to creating a more sustainable future across everything we do at CVS Health. This latest initiative aims to collaboratively address waste in our neighborhoods, stores and everyday decisions, creating a positive impact for individuals and the planet.”

“At our Ralphs and Food 4 Less stores, we’re helping customers take small but meaningful steps toward reducing waste,” said Salvador Ramirez, Corporate Affairs Manager at Ralphs and Food 4 Less. “‘Break Up With Single-Use Bags’ is about more than just bags––it’s about building habits that align with the values of our shoppers and the goals of our Zero Hunger | Zero Waste plan.”

The Consortium to Reinvent the Retail Bag brings retailers and communities together to create lasting impact and learnings that can be scaled to new markets, and is inviting more retailers and community partners to join the movement. Other participating retailers include Consortium Supporting Partner Dollar Tree and independent local retailers. All retailers in the participating communities are welcome to access the free signage toolkit, activate customer prompts and take part in reshaping retail norms around waste.

Visit www.closedlooppartners.com/beyond-the-bag/bub to download campaign materials and join the “Break Up with Single-Use Bags” movement.

About the Center for the Circular Economy at Closed Loop Partners

Closed Loop Partners is at the forefront of building the circular economy. The firm is comprised of three key businesses that create a platform for systems change. Closed Loop Capital Management is the firm’s investment group, managing venture capital, private equity and catalytic capital & private credit investment strategies on behalf of global corporations, financial institutions and family offices. Closed Loop Builders is the firm’s operating group, incubating, building and scaling circular economy infrastructure and services.

The Center for the Circular Economy is the firm’s innovation center. The Center executes research and analytics, unites brands and retailers to tackle complex material challenges and implements systemic change that advances the circular economy. The Center’s expertise spans circularity across the full lifecycle of materials, connecting upstream innovation to downstream recovery infrastructure and end markets.

Learn more about the Center’s work at https://www.closedlooppartners.com/the-center/

About the Consortium to Reinvent the Retail Bag

The Consortium to Reinvent the Retail Bag, managed by Closed Loop Partners’ Center for the Circular Economy, is a multi-year industry collaboration across retail sectors that identifies, tests and implements viable design solutions and models that more sustainably serve the purpose of the current retail bag. The Consortium’s Beyond the Bag Initiative drives forward a circular future for retail by reducing single-use bag waste through education, incentives, nudges and policy. Target, CVS Health and The Kroger Co. are Strategic Leads of the Consortium, with Dollar Tree, Meijer and Walmart as Supporting Partners. Learn more at www.beyondthebaginitiative.com.

MORE PARTNER QUOTES

“At Dollar Tree, we’re committed to delivering everyday value while helping our customers reduce waste for a healthier planet. The Break Up with Single-Use Bags campaign is a natural fit for us—it’s about making small changes that are both easy and affordable for customers to act on every time they shop, while also being good for our communities.” – Jennifer Silberman, Chief Sustainability and Corporate Affairs Officer, Dollar Tree

“The Break Up with Single-Use Bags campaign reflects the kind of collaborative, community-powered solution that will have lasting influence. We are pleased to partner with Closed Loop Partners and the Beyond the Bag initiative to connect diverse regional stakeholders, enabling the significant breadth and reach of this program. By engaging individuals, businesses, and local jurisdictions, this campaign empowers sustainable behavior change across Southern California—meeting people where they are, providing a practical climate solution, and making a measurable impact on the waste challenges we face regionally and beyond.” – Jessica Toth, Executive Director, Solana Center for Environmental Innovation, a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization located in San Diego

“Reducing single-use waste is key to a sustainable California. As we move toward a statewide transition away from plastic bags, the “Break Up with Single-Use Bags” campaign arrives at the perfect time, showcasing how businesses, communities, and individuals can work together to support meaningful, lasting change.” – Sen. Catherine Blakespear | California Senate District 38

“We must take steps to reduce our plastic waste. Switching to reusable bags is a small change that can make a big difference. We can all do our part to protect our planet, save marine life, and clean up our communities.” – Rep. Mike Levin | California U.S. Representative, 49th District

Reuse is not easy.  

Transitioning everyday goods from disposable to reusable — products and packaging that are returned, collected, washed, refilled then redistributed — is complex. For decades, the retail industry has relied on a system where hundreds of thousands of product categories have been optimized to stay fresh and stable through supply chains, deliver a great consumer experience, and be conveniently disposed of anywhere after years of use. Moving away from this is no small feat. At a small scale, the cost of washing and collecting containers alone currently can be prohibitive. That’s before the price of the reusable container itself is factored in, divided by the number of times it’s actually reused.  

Reuse is possible.  

Closed Loop Partners’ Center for the Circular Economy spent the last seven years building multi-brand, multi-sector collaborations that are solving complex reuse challenges that many brands can’t tackle on their own. In Petaluma, California, the Center launched the nation’s first citywide reusable cup program, and saw consumers adopting and maintaining new reuse behaviors almost overnight. Return rates increased week by week, while costs went down. Similarly, our reuse pilots in retail stores throughout Denver and Tucson drove a significant shift in consumer behavior by rallying public and private sectors behind a commitment to move beyond single-use bags and make reduction and reuse a daily norm. 

Reuse is coming to retail, and to entire cities. 

Today, there’s renewed momentum — and urgency — driving the growth of reuse. New policy mandates, on top of consumer and climate pressures, are pushing brands and retailers to refocus on solutions that reduce waste. The first reuse target of SB-54, the California law that mandates packaging reduction and reuse, is effective in just 18 months. It’s no longer a question of whether brands need to build capability in reuse but how and when.  

That’s why the Center for the Circular Economy is launching the Reuse Cities Initiative, the largest ever citywide reuse program in the U.S. Starting in California in 2026, the initiative builds upon the Center’s reuse work in cities across the U.S., including Denver, Tucson and Petaluma and is designed to address the two biggest barriers to scale: 

1. Cost — how to reduce the cost of reuse to make it viable for brands, retailers and consumers; 
2. Consumer behavior — how to offer consumers great options that help them build the daily habits needed to return and participate consistently. 

Reuse can scale.  

The Center has established an in-market implementation approach that works. In collaboration with brands, operators, municipalities and innovators, over the last seven years, we’ve already built the blueprint to shift consumer behavior and reduce system costs—now we’re applying these lessons at scale: 

• Collaboration: Citywide activation and cross-sector alignment helps drive measurable behavior change; 

• Supply Chain Redesign: Partnerships between brands, innovators and operators unlock shared infrastructure and logistics improvements; 

• Consistent Messaging: Unified consumer messaging across partners helps reinforce trust and drive loyalty; 

• Packaging Engineering: End-to-end testing to reach environmental breakeven points faster; 

• Operational Alignment: Seamlessly integrating reuse into retail and foodservice environments without disrupting operations increases retailer adoption. 

As an extension of the NextGen Consortium’s successful in-market reuse programming, the Center is bringing this proven framework to life through a long-term city launch in California. The timing couldn’t be better: this initiative will lay the groundwork for compliance with SB-54 by building critical reuse infrastructure, including a high-volume, tech-enabled washing facility. This facility will support higher throughput, lower costs, and more standardized operations — bringing reuse closer to cost parity with single-use packaging.  

The Reuse Cities Initiative will focus on reusable packaging across multiple retail categories, initially building off of the NextGen Consortium’s in-market food service packaging reuse programming,  and anchored on high-volume venues like stadiums, schools, possibly an airport, where we can deliver better unit economics and higher return rates.    

Retailers play a key role. 

Retailers and consumer brands from all sectors can play a big role in the Reuse Cities initiative. The initiative is setting up new regional reuse infrastructure that is initially set up to service the foodservice brands in the NextGen Consortium, but can expand to serve other packaging categories.  

Leveraging the infrastructure (washing, reverse logistics, tracking systems, community education program) from the Reuse Cities Initiatives, brands and retailers will have an accessible entry point to reuse. Just as the beverage industry laid the foundation for current recycling systems, the foodservice sector is pioneering this next wave of at-scale reuse in retail and beyond.   

To learn more about how your team can engage with the 2026 citywide launch, get in touch with us at [email protected]. 

July 15, 2025, New York, NY — The Consortium to Reinvent the Retail Bag, managed by Closed Loop Partners’ Center for the Circular Economy, released a new in-depth analysis of single-use bag legislation in the U.S., setting a new standard in environmental policy research. The comprehensive policy white paper, “Legislation in Action: Measuring the Impact of U.S. Single-Use Bag Policies on Waste Reduction,” evaluates the efficacy and impact of various legislative mechanisms, including a comparison of bag fees and outright bans across diverse communities, revealing how different strategies influence bag waste reduction and consumer behavior.

Amidst increasing bag policy implementation across U.S. states, the white paper also reveals never-before-seen primary research into New Jersey’s pioneering legislation, the Get Past Plastic Act, which eliminated both single-use plastic and paper bags in grocery and big box stores. The rigorous analysis offers elected officials, regulators, community leaders and community stakeholders an objective summary of legislation’s impacts and potential unintended consequences on a community, enabling officials to effectively tailor legislation to their constituents and desired outcomes.

A key finding of the Consortium’s analysis on single-use bag legislation notes that while policy can be one of the most effective tools to reduce single-use bag waste, consumers must also be supported in adopting waste-free behavior. The Consortium’s 2023 in-market activations in Denver and Tucson, which tested consumer-facing bag reduction solutions in 375 stores across 160 different retailers, resulted in a 4.8% decrease in single-use bags across the two markets and an 11.7% reduction in Denver, where there was legislation. Overall, the city-wide activations resulted in up to 9.5 million single-use bags reduced annually across the two markets.

Building on these in-market findings and its in-depth policy analysis, the Consortium will launch a new consumer campaign this summer, encouraging consumers to bring their own reusable bags or choose not to take a single-use bag at all. Details of the campaign will be released in the next month.

“Policy is a major driver of the transition to the circular economy. While there is no single solution to reduce single-use bag waste, our rigorous analysis of legislation and in-depth understanding of consumer norm setting can provide communities with the tactical resources they need for a waste-free future,” said Kate Daly, Managing Partner and Head of the Center for the Circular Economy at Closed Loop Partners. “We look forward to sharing more insights on policy and the circular economy and activating in-market work alongside our partners to turn waste reduction practices into everyday habits.”

The Consortium to Reinvent the Retail Bag invites retailers, policymakers and community leaders to learn more about the efficacy of legislation through our detailed policy white paper. To access the full policy report, please visit closedlooppartners.com/beyond-the-bag/legislation/

About the Center for the Circular Economy at Closed Loop Partners

Closed Loop Partners is at the forefront of building the circular economy. The firm is comprised of three key businesses that create a platform for systems change. Closed Loop Capital Management is the firm’s investment group, managing venture capital, private equity and catalytic capital & private credit investment strategies on behalf of global corporations, financial institutions and family offices. Closed Loop Builders is the firm’s operating group, incubating, building and scaling circular economy infrastructure and services.

The Center for the Circular Economy is the firm’s innovation center. The Center executes research and analytics, unites organizations to tackle complex material challenges and implements systemic change that advances the circular economy. The Center’s expertise spans circularity across the full lifecycle of materials, connecting upstream innovation to downstream recovery infrastructure and end markets.

Learn more about the Center’s work at https://www.closedlooppartners.com/the-center/

About the Consortium to Reinvent the Retail Bag

The Consortium to Reinvent the Retail Bag, managed by Closed Loop Partners’ Center for the Circular Economy, is a multi-year industry collaboration across retail sectors that identifies, tests and implements viable design solutions and models that more sustainably serve the purpose of the current retail bag. The Consortium’s Beyond the Bag Initiative drives forward a circular future for retail by reducing single-use bag waste through education, incentives, nudges and policy. Target, CVS Health and The Kroger Co. are Strategic Leads of the Consortium, with Dollar Tree, Meijer and Walmart as Supporting Partners. Learn more at www.beyondthebaginitiative.com.

October 23, 2024, New York, NY — Today, the Consortium to Reinvent the Retail Bag, an industry collaboration managed by Closed Loop Partners’ Center for the Circular Economy, announced a renewed collaboration with many of the world’s leading retailers, expanding its groundbreaking work to eliminate single-use bag waste.

Retailers Target, CVS Health, The Kroger Co., Dollar Tree, Family Dollar, Meijer and Walmart are renewing their long-standing commitment in the Consortium, focusing on implementing more sustainable and convenient solutions to eliminate single-use retail bag waste. Building on four years of collaborative work and extensive in-market tests and research, this strengthened commitment will allow the Consortium to continue scaling proven bag waste reduction strategies.

Highlighting the successes of the last four years and charting a path forward for potential impact, the Consortium is also releasing a new report, Sparking a National Culture Shift to Reduce Plastic Bag Waste. The report shares findings from the Consortium’s largest in-market reusable bag tests in 2023, which spanned 160 retailers and 375+ stores of all sizes across Denver, Colorado and Tucson, Arizona. Through the tests, retail stores encouraged consumers to develop the habit of bringing their bag or opting to go without one, resulting in nearly 5% fewer single-use plastic bag transactions. This equated to the potential elimination of up to 9.5 million bags annually across the two test geographies, demonstrating the impact of supporting customers at different stages of their journey to reuse a bag or go without one.

Read the full report

The findings from the Consortium’s 2023 in-market tests serve as a blueprint for the Consortium’s upcoming work to scale bag waste reduction strategies. By acting together to advance solutions that support customers and avoid waste, the Consortium aims to achieve positive environmental impact and minimize unintended consequences.

“100 billion single-use plastic bags are used in the U.S. every year. From the Consortium to Reinvent the Retail Bag’s work over the last four years, we know that retailer collaboration and customer engagement are critical to making single-use bag waste a thing of the past. The Consortium is proud to bring retail industry leaders together in a renewed commitment to making circular strategies a reality on the ground. As we expand from ideation to implementation of solutions that support customers and reduce single-use bag waste, we aim to drive a cultural change toward reduction and reuse,” says Kate Daly, Managing Director and Head of the Center for the Circular Economy at Closed Loop Partners.

The Consortium’s continued collaboration signals the collective commitment of many retail industry leaders to implement tested solutions that move the needle toward zero waste goals and the importance of working together to achieve these. As policy around bags gains momentum in the U.S. and new solutions are needed to address the single-use bag waste crisis, the Consortium will share legislative best practices gathered from its holistic assessment and continue identifying, testing and implementing new innovative solutions.

“We are proud of the shared progress achieved with the Consortium and across the retail industry over the past four years, meeting shoppers where they are with accessible, adoptable alternatives to single-use plastic bags,” said Agata Ramallo Garcia, vice president, head of enterprise sustainability at Target. “The partnerships we continue to forge through the Consortium demonstrate the power and need for collaboration in order to innovate and scale solutions that will meaningfully reduce single-use plastic bag waste.”

“Reducing single-use bag impacts is a positive step for both the environment and our health,” said Jenny McColloch, vice president of sustainability and community impact at CVS Health. “We are excited to move forward with the next phase of work with the Consortium and come together to drive innovation across our sectors, especially as packaging policies continue to evolve and consumer experiences vary from retailer to retailer.”

“We believe that learning and working collaboratively is the best way to reduce the number of single-use plastic bags in the U.S.,” said Lisa Zwack, Head of Sustainability at The Kroger Co. “By assembling a number of major retailers in the initial phase of this work, the Consortium laid a foundation for innovation and systems change. We look forward to extending this collective effort to create more circular, waste-free systems that support our customers and our stores.”

With deepened collaboration and reach across the retail industry, the Consortium is poised to scale bag waste reduction and reuse strategies that enable behavior change and support a broader cultural shift to eliminate single-use bag waste.

Retailers of all sizes are invited to join the Consortium’s multi-year collaboration to engage their customers and communities, advance their sustainability goals and co-create a waste-free retail future.

Interested in learning more about the Consortium to Reinvent the Retail Bag? Learn more here.

Interested in reading the Consortium’s latest report? Visit here.

About the Center for the Circular Economy at Closed Loop Partners

The Center for the Circular Economy is the innovation arm of Closed Loop Partners, a firm at the forefront of building the circular economy. The Center executes research and analytics, unites organizations to tackle complex material challenges and implements systemic change that advances the circular economy. The Center for the Circular Economy’s expertise spans circularity across the full lifecycle of materials, connecting upstream innovation to downstream recovery infrastructure and end markets. Learn more about the Center for the Circular Economy at closedlooppartners.com/the-center/

About the Consortium to Reinvent the Retail Bag

The Beyond the Bag Initiative, launched by the Consortium to Reinvent the Retail Bag, aims to identify, pilot and implement viable design solutions and models that more sustainably serve the purpose of the current retail bag. Closed Loop Partners’ Center for the Circular Economy manages the Consortium, with Target, CVS Health and The Kroger Co. as Strategic Leads, and Dollar Tree, Family Dollar, Meijer and Walmart as Supporting Partners. Learn more about the Consortium here.

Earlier this year, seven winners of the highly anticipated 2023 Reusies were announced on stage at GreenBiz’s Circularity23 Conference in Seattle. The winners encompassed corporate and community initiatives, and B2B and B2C reuse innovations across food & beverage, consumer packaged goods and fashion & apparel. Together, they provided a window into the best and brightest developments in the reuse space. Indeed, hundreds of start-ups and large corporates are working on making reuse an everyday reality for consumers, with applications as far-ranging as closed system solutions for corporate campuses and events, to software companies supporting reuse-as-a-service, and refill applications in retail or in commercial, industrial and event spaces. The potential for reuse to reduce waste has catalyzed much innovation and brought conversations to a fever pitch. 

Reuse is now at a critical stage of development. A plethora of innovation has expanded the realm of possibilities, but what will it take to get to the point of industry-scale disruption? Making reuse a far-reaching and everyday reality––where reusable items are consistently and efficiently reused to make a significant difference and reduce environmental impact––requires continued testing, collaboration across the value chain, investment and supportive policy.

At Closed Loop Partners, reuse systems are an integral part of our vision of a transition away from the take-make-waste economy and toward a circular economy. When products that have historically been single-use are able to be used two, five, ten or one hundred times, and the proper recovery infrastructure is in place for their eventual end-of-life, that can make a meaningful difference on reducing valuable materials sent to landfill––and on the embodied carbon, water and materials required to produce the item in the first place. 

But to get to this next horizon, a number of factors must be considered to ensure that reuse does not result in unintended consequences and instead serves a truly circular economy: 

1. Closed or semi-closed reuse systems are a key starting point, especially at early stages of adoption. On-premise reuse unlocks higher return rates which can make reuse systems profitable––or at least breakeven. In open systems, as consumers use and dispose products away from point of adoption, more complex collection networks and communication strategies are needed to drive returns. For this reason, closed systems can operate with lower upfront capital expenditures and lower recurring operating expenditures until the time at which consumer behavior has shifted to be more amenable to open systems (see #3!). 

2. Reuse is a hardware-first business, and requires capital and collaborations to build localized infrastructure––including collection, sorting and washing. There continues to be a shortage of washing infrastructure needed for reuse solutions, and traditional waste management players are not currently set up for the type of collection and sorting needed for reusable products that are intended to stay in circulation for more than one use. Many software-only solutions still require partnerships with washers and logistics providers. There is an opportunity for founders, corporates and municipal governments to build out these partnerships to enable reuse and share in the funding that will be required to build this new infrastructure.
 

3. Broad consumer adoption starts with meeting customers where they are today. There are still many customers that have yet to be onboarded into the reuse culture. As we’ve seen in our work through the Beyond the Bag Consortium and the NextGen Consortium, we need to design solutions with current behaviors in mind and support customers as they build new habits. Advancing reuse won’t happen overnight; cross-industry and cross-company collaboration, a range of solutions, clear messaging and consistent regulatory frameworks are required to effectively support consumers in adopting reuse within their communities, as the industry addresses complex waste challenges. Importantly, in-market testing plays a key role in unlocking what works effectively in the market and meets customer needs. Today’s market is complex, with diverse customer demographics and shopping habits, different operations across retailers, a range of reuse packaging materials and more that need to be considered.  

We see experimentation as a critical precedent to scale. Reuse is no simple feat, and testing market fit and operation alignment is an important step to expand reuse responsibly and mitigate unintended consequences that can happen without a measured examination of new systems. But isolated, small-scale experiments will not get us there. Closed Loop Partners runs multi-brand reuse tests through its Center for the Circular Economy to identify tactics that are proven and ready to scale, as well as models that require further tweaking and iteration to deliver the expected environmental and financial outcomes. While we work to scale proven solutions, we continue to de-risk systems that need refinement. Our in-field deployments intentionally mimic large-scale, cross-brand implementation, but in a controlled manner. The insights and data gleaned from these tests are key stepping stones to new rounds of implementation and scale. Most recently, the Beyond the Bag Consortium’s largest multi-brand reusable bag pilots tested a range of reuse solutions to understand what it will take to effectively drive reduction of single-use plastic bags. Next year, the NextGen Consortium will go back into market to test the viability of reusable cup systems across multiple brands. These tests unlock important insights on what it will take to build a culture of reuse and will serve as the foundation for identifying scalable initiatives. 

With all these developments, we believe we’ll get there. There are tremendous tailwinds supporting the development of reuse and a multitude of communities, innovators and corporations committed to seeing the shift through. To do so, the next five years are critical to pivot from bespoke solutions to shared frameworks, from ad hoc consumer engagement to a consistent drumbeat, and from in market tests to truly scaled solutions. We are excited to be working to advance the transition from innovation to scaled solutions that can replace single-use. Join us! 

This article represents perspectives from across Closed Loop Partners, including the Center for the Circular Economy and Closed Loop Capital Management. Special thanks to Kate Daly, Carol Lobel, Danielle Joseph, Aly Bryan and Anne-Marie Kaluz for sharing their thoughts for this piece. 

Don’t be that person stashing plastic bags until your drawer begins to overflow. In addition to going bagless for quick shopping trips, here are 5 tips for remembering to bring your own bag, so YOU can reduce the need for single-use-plastic bags:

1. Make it visible. Write “bring bags” at the top of your grocery list and leave bags in a basket near your front door or hanging on the doorknob, so you don’t forget them as you are leaving the house.
2. Make it available. Always keep a few bags in your car for spontaneous shopping trips.
3. Make it essential. Place an important item in the bag, like your phone, keys or wallet, so you won’t forget it.

4. Make it personal. Purchase reusable bags you actually like, so you’ll be more inclined to carry them with you.

Why is this so important? Every year, 100 billion single-use plastic bags are used annually in the U.S., and its estimated fewer than 10% of them are recycled.

While the convenience of the single-use plastic retail bag can’t be disputed, the negative impact — considering its short use (12 minutes, on average) and long estimated lifespan — has created an untenable situation that is contributing to a mounting global waste crisis. Plastics can now be found in the deepest depth of the ocean, the top of Mount Everest, and on both polar ice caps.

Reducing the number of single-use plastic bags retailers use across their stores can make a tremendous difference. Even a 1% bag reduction would have a substantial impact on our global waste footprint – equivalent to 1 billion fewer bags used and discarded across the U.S.

If you’re already regularly using reusable bags, you are not alone! Learn more about our pilots in Denver and Tucson where 150+ retailers are working together to help all of us reinforce the habit of bringing our bags. Additionally, check out our new playbook full of solutions retailers can implement today to get teams and customers on board with reducing single-use plastic bags and encourage shoppers to reuse their own bags.

While there’s a lot retailers can do; remember, we’re all in this together and YOU can make a difference by reducing the need for single-use plastic bags.

This May, Dollar Tree, Inc. announced its participation in the Consortium to Reinvent the Retail Bag as a Supporting Partner, alongside other leading retailers committed to reducing single-use plastic bag waste. The Consortium, managed by Closed Loop Partners, convenes leading retailers aiming to identify, test and implement viable design models to create a system that serves the function of the current retail bag, providing customers with convenient, accessible and environmentally-sound solutions. Dollar Tree and Family Dollar’s commitment to the Consortium supports their mission to make sure shoppers have the things they need in their everyday lives, and to create an experience that is uniquely convenient and affordable––while also helping reduce waste in the process.

By advancing and testing innovative solutions to reinvent the retail bag and reduce single-use plastic waste with the Consortium, Dollar Tree and Family Dollar are helping more communities gain access to less wasteful ways to bring goods home. The Fortune 200 company continues to make steps to reduce its environmental footprint, and this partnership in the Consortium is another key step toward its goals.

As a Consortium partner, Dollar Tree, Inc. will participate in the Consortium’s ‘Bring Your Own Bag’ Pilot in select cities to encourage customers to shop with reusable bags more frequently. The program also includes test strategies, such as signage, marketing and customer prompts to reinforce shopper behavior and ultimately reduce dependence on single-use plastic bags.

“At Dollar Tree and Family Dollar, we are working to ensure we play a responsible role in the communities we serve, as we bring more value and convenience to our customers,” says Jennifer Silberman, Chief Sustainability Officer of Dollar Tree. “A key part of this is ensuring that we are reducing our waste and environmental impact across our stores. We look forward to our partnership with the Beyond the Bag Consortium, as we work together to identify more sustainable and accessible solutions that serve the function of the current retail bag and reduce plastic waste.”

“Dollar Tree and Family Dollar’s participation as a Supporting Partner in the Beyond the Bag Consortium is another key milestone for expanding our collective impact,” said Kate Daly, Head of the Center for the Circular Economy at Closed Loop Partners. “Collaboration across sectors is a critical part of this effort. Their partnership not only further moves the needle across the retail industry, but will also increase access to less wasteful solutions to bring goods home in more communities across the United States.”

May 1, 2023 – National retailers and local mom-and-pop shops across Denver, CO and Tucson, AZ join forces in the new ‘Bring Your Own Bag’ Pilot, a first-of-its-kind initiative launched by the Consortium to Reinvent the Retail Bag, managed by Closed Loop Partners. Many national brands in the U.S., including Consortium partners CVS Health; Target; DICK’S Sporting Goods; Dollar General; The Kroger Co., through local King Soopers & Fry’s stores; TJX, through local T.J. Maxx, Marshalls and HomeGoods stores; and Ulta Beauty, will simultaneously test bag reduction solutions alongside local mom-and-pop shops to determine whether collective retailer action can drive a broader cultural shift, where bringing your own reusable bag becomes the norm wherever customers shop.

While reusable bags are one of the most adopted reusable products today, research from the Consortium to Reinvent the Retail Bag shows a lack of consistency in use. This pilot aims to reinforce the behavior at scale––supporting customers to remember bags more frequently and to reimagine where they could bring said bags, beyond just the grocery store. Participating retailers will test the same bag reduction strategies found in the Consortium’s Playbook––including signage, marketing and customer prompts about reusable bags––in, near and outside over 150 stores in Denver, Tucson and the surrounding metro areas.

This pilot to reduce single-use plastic waste is taking place at a critical time. Today, it is estimated that 100 billion plastic bags are used annually in the U.S. and fewer than 10% are recycled. Resource limits, supply chain disruption and plastic pollution increase the urgency to move from a take-make-waste economic system and “disposable” culture to a more circular economy where materials are shared and reused. Reducing single-use bags across retailers can make a tremendous difference. Even a 1% bag reduction has a significant impact on our waste footprint––it is equivalent to 1 billion fewer bags used and discarded in the U.S. Empowering customers to bring their own bag plays a key role in single-use bag reduction.

The Bring Your Own Bag Pilot will run from May 1 to July 30, 2023 and is informed by the work of the Consortium to Reinvent the Retail Bag over the past three years, including hundreds of innovations evaluated, multiple solutions tested, and thousands of customers and retail staff surveyed. Based on pilot results, the Consortium will explore scaling these low-cost, easy to implement strategies, catalyzing a national cultural shift around reuse.

If you are interested in learning more about the pilot, or if you are a retailer interested in participating, please visit our website here.

“The most sustainable bag is often the one we already own. Retailers coming together to support customers in bringing their own reusable bag whenever and wherever they shop is a key step to reducing single-use plastic waste,” said Kate Daly, Head of the Center for the Circular Economy at Closed Loop Partners. “This pilot brings to life the Beyond the Bag Consortium’s collaborative, holistic approach to addressing an urgent plastic waste challenge, and we look forward to seeing the impact of this effort at scale.”

“As we expand these reusable bag solutions across CVS Pharmacy locations and learn about consumer behaviors, we continue to see the power in collective retail action,” said Sheryl Burke, SVP of Corporate Social Responsibility and Chief Sustainability Officer at CVS Health. “With everyone’s drive, dedication and collaboration, we will continue making a lasting impact on creating a healthier world today and for future generations.”

“We are hopeful these small local steps can lead to greater progress. If we are successful, this multi-city pilot program will provide a model that retailers can scale in other geographies, realizing near-term environmental impact and cost-savings,” said Denine Torr, Dollar General’s vice president of corporate social responsibility and philanthropy.

“We all need to work together to create healthier, thriving communities across the country. This pilot is another opportunity to engage our customers directly as we work to reduce waste,” said Denise Osterhues, Senior Director, Sustainability and Social Impact from The Kroger Co.

“When it comes to finding alternatives to single-use plastic bags, our team is committed to co-creating accessible solutions that bring everyone to the table,” said Amanda Nusz, senior vice president of corporate responsibility at Target. “We’re thrilled to participate in this pilot alongside our consortium partners to explore new ways of encouraging broader reusable bag use by our guests and communities.”

“We are pleased to participate in Closed Loop Partners’ innovative campaign, and to collaborate with so many other retailers in support of the reduction of the waste created by single-use bags. This campaign aligns with our ongoing corporate responsibility and sustainability efforts, and is anchored by our mission to deliver great value to our customers every day while pursuing initiatives that are environmentally responsible and smart for our business,” said Brenna Zimmer, Vice President, Sustainability at TJX.

“As the nation’s largest beauty retailer, we understand our role and responsibility to do what’s right for our guests and our world. The Ulta Beauty teams in these markets are excited to pilot these bag reduction strategies alongside our retail peers. Working together helps lay the foundation for a future where reuse is the norm and together, we can move the industry forward at scale,” said Kristin Wolf, Ulta Beauty’s Senior Vice President of Enterprise Strategy and Transformation.

“We are thrilled to see this innovative campaign running in our city, which will complement Denver’s existing fee on disposable bags. This approach will build awareness and gives customers more opportunities to build the habit of bringing their own bag,” said Grace Rink, Denver’s Chief Climate Officer. “Together we can reduce waste, prevent litter, and protect our rivers and streams.”

“I am grateful to all of the Tucson retailers who are participating in this pilot campaign,” said Tucson Mayor Regina Romero. “Tucsonans and businesses care deeply about our desert environment. Bringing your own reusable bag when shopping reduces the need for single-use plastic bags, helps us advance our goal of reaching Zero Waste by 2050, and keeps our city clean.”

About the Center for the Circular Economy at Closed Loop Partners

The Center for the Circular Economy at Closed Loop Partners unites competitors to tackle complex material challenges and to implement systemic change that advances the circular economy. Adept at navigating every step in the value chain, Closed Loop Partners brings together designers, manufacturers, recovery systems operators, trade organizations, municipalities, policymakers and NGOs to create scalable innovations that target big system problems.

The Center currently manages three consortia: the NextGen Consortium, to advance solutions that can help address single-use foodservice packaging waste; the Consortium to Reinvent the Retail Bag to identify, test and scale solutions that can help address single-use plastic bag waste; and the Composting Consortium, to pilot industry-wide solutions and build a roadmap for investment in technologies and infrastructure that enable the recovery of compostable food packaging and food scraps. Learn more about the Center’s work here.

About the Consortium to Reinvent the Retail Bag

The Beyond the Bag Initiative, launched by the Consortium to Reinvent the Retail Bag, aims to identify, pilot and implement viable design solutions and models that more sustainably serve the purpose of the current retail bag. Closed Loop Partners’ Center for the Circular Economy launched the initiative with Founding Partners CVS Health, Target and Walmart. The Kroger Co. joined as Grocery Sector Lead Partner, DICK’S Sporting Goods joined as Sports & Outdoors Sector Lead Partner, Dollar General as Value Sector Lead Partner, TJX as Apparel & Home Goods Sector Lead Partner, and Ulta Beauty as Beauty Sector Lead Partner. Ahold Delhaize USA companies, Albertsons Companies, H-E-B, Hy-Vee, Meijer, Wakefern Food Corp., and Walgreens are Supporting Partners, and Conservation International and Ocean Conservancy serve as Environmental Advisory Partners. Learn more about the Consortium here.

Contact: [email protected]

April 19, 2023 – The Consortium to Reinvent the Retail Bag, managed by Closed Loop Partners, today announced its largest piloting initiative to date with two reusable bag pilots in three states, with multiple retailers including Consortium Founding Partners CVS Health and Target, as well as Sector Lead Partners DICK’S Sporting Goods, Dollar General, The Kroger Co., TJX and Ulta Beauty. Building on three years of insights, research and in-market tests, the Consortium is bringing its holistic approach to reduce single-use plastic bag waste to ambitious in-market interventions. The two complementary pilots will take place in over 150 stores, collectively engaging national retailers and local shops to test a range of solutions that aim to support customers in adopting reuse.

Bring Your Own Bag Pilot

The Consortium’s first pilot, the Bring Your Own Bag Pilot, will focus on testing the impact of collective action by retailers in driving broader cultural shifts, where bringing reusable bags becomes the norm wherever customers shop. Participating retailers include seven national brands––CVS Health, Target, DICK’S Sporting Goods, Dollar General, The Kroger Co., TJX and Ulta Beauty. The Consortium is also engaging retailers beyond the Consortium, from mom-and-pop shops to large brands, to reach even more local residents. All participating retailers will test the same solutions from the Consortium’s recently published Playbook––including signage, marketing and customer prompts about reusable bags––in stores across Denver, Colorado; Tucson, Arizona and the surrounding areas.

Returnable Bag Pilot

As a complement to the Bring Your Own Bag Pilot, the Consortium’s second pilot, the Returnable Bag Pilot, will test a new reusable bag solution to serve customers when they forget to bring their own reusable bags to stores. CVS Health and Target, two Founding Partners of the Consortium to Reinvent the Retail Bag, will collaboratively pilot a new ‘returnable bag’ service model across multiple stores, offering customers the opportunity to buy a bag at checkout, to be returned to any participating store to get their $1 deposit back. The bag will then be washed, redistributed and reused by other customers. This service model was built by the Consortium based on insights gathered over the last two years. The Returnable Bag Pilot will take place in New Jersey, where recent legislation banning single-use bags in certain stores underscores a need for reuse solutions that are environmentally sustainable and convenient for customers. Two winners of the Consortium’s Beyond the Bag Innovation Challenge, Returnity and 99Bridges, will provide operational services for the returnable bag system.

“We need to consider a range of needs, contexts and policy landscapes to create a less wasteful future for the retail bag. These two pilots are complementary by design, understanding that a diversity of solutions is needed to effect systems change and mitigate unintended consequences. We are bringing retailers together to advance reuse solutions collectively that support customers and reduce single-use plastic bag waste,” said Kate Daly, Managing Director and Head of the Center for the Circular Economy at Closed Loop Partners. “We look forward to piloting at this large scale, engaging multiple retailers both in and beyond the Consortium to generate greater industry engagement and ecosystem impact.”

“As we expand these reusable bag solutions across CVS Pharmacy locations and learn about consumer behaviors, we continue to see the power in collective retail action,” said Sheryl Burke, SVP of Corporate Social Responsibility and Chief Sustainability Officer at CVS Health. “With everyone’s drive, dedication and collaboration, we will continue making a lasting impact on creating a healthier world today and for future generations.”

“We’re proud to work with our guests, communities, and partners like the Consortium to Reinvent the Retail Bag toward co-creating an equitable, regenerative future together,” said Amanda Nusz, senior vice president of corporate responsibility at Target. “Through our collective efforts, these pilots will offer valuable insights for enhancing circular capabilities and providing accessible alternatives to the single-use plastic bag for all.”

The Returnable Bag Pilot will run from April to July 2023, while the Bring Your Own Bag Pilot will be active from May to July 2023. Together, the two pilots paint a potential future where complementary reuse approaches work in parallel to reduce single-use plastic bag waste, focusing on increasing the use of existing reusable bags in the market, as well as creating solutions for when customers forget their own reusable bag. By testing in different markets, these pilots can also inform the viability of solutions across various markets, and inform potential for scale.

These pilots are a key step in the Consortium to Reinvent the Retail Bag’s work since its launch in 2020 to reimagine the retail bag in stores and across emerging channels, such as buy-online-and-pickup-in-store and local delivery. This work builds on the Consortium’s progress in identifying innovative solutions, conducting customer research, analyzing policy and infrastructure needs and engaging diverse stakeholders. Moving forward, the Consortium will continue to conduct deep analysis, and share key insights with the broader industry to help accelerate systems change. Building a more sustainable future for the retail industry won’t happen overnight; advancing collaboration and activating the testing required to effectively meet customer needs can impact solutions as the industry addresses complex waste challenges.

If you are interested in learning more about the pilots, please visit our website here.

About the Center for the Circular Economy at Closed Loop Partners

The Center for the Circular Economy at Closed Loop Partners unites competitors to tackle complex material challenges and to implement systemic change that advances the circular economy. Adept at navigating every step in the value chain, Closed Loop Partners brings together designers, manufacturers, recovery systems operators, trade organizations, municipalities, policymakers and NGOs to create scalable innovations that target big system problems.

The Center currently manages three consortia: the NextGen Consortium, to advance solutions that can help address single-use foodservice packaging waste; the Consortium to Reinvent the Retail Bag to identify, test and scale solutions that can help address single-use plastic bag waste; and the Composting Consortium, to pilot industry-wide solutions and build a roadmap for investment in technologies and

infrastructure that enable the recovery of compostable food packaging and food scraps. Learn more about the Center’s work here.

About the Consortium to Reinvent the Retail Bag

The Beyond the Bag Initiative, launched by the Consortium to Reinvent the Retail Bag, aims to identify, pilot and implement viable design solutions and models that more sustainably serve the purpose of the current retail bag. Closed Loop Partners’ Center for the Circular Economy launched the initiative with Founding Partners CVS Health, Target and Walmart. The Kroger Co. joined as Grocery Sector Lead Partner, DICK’S Sporting Goods joined as Sports & Outdoors Sector Lead Partner, Dollar General as Value Sector Lead Partner, TJX as Apparel & Home Goods Sector Lead Partner, and Ulta Beauty as Beauty Sector Lead Partner. Ahold Delhaize USA companies, Albertsons Companies, H-E-B, Hy-Vee, Meijer, Wakefern Food Corp., and Walgreens are Supporting Partners, and Conservation International and Ocean Conservancy serve as Environmental Advisory Partners. Learn more about the Consortium here.

NEW YORK, March 14, 2023 — Closed Loop Partners’ Center for the Circular Economy and its Consortium to Reinvent the Retail Bag released a new playbook to provide near-term single-use bag reduction wins that can be implemented by any retailer–– from small local stores to large national brands. The resource highlights effective solutions to reduce the number of bags needed by retailers and encourage the use of reusable bags customers already have at home. Key insights from the playbook are based on research, interviews, surveys and learnings from 17 of the world’s leading retailers across four key categories: communications, employee training, bag and fixture design, and customer incentives.

The playbook highlights 25 strategies across these four categories that cater to retailers who are at different stages of their journey. These strategies include detailed guidance on how best to prompt customers to bring their own bags, where to place reusable bags, items retailers can skip bagging, which customer incentives can be deployed and other strategies. The playbook insights are the product of a first-of-its-kind collaboration among Closed Loop Partners and many of the world’s leading retailers, including 14 retail partners in the Consortium to Reinvent the Retail Bag and three external retailers. Experts from Closed Loop Partners led the creation of the playbook, supported by retail consultancy, McMillanDoolittle, who performed quantitative and qualitative surveys and deep-dive interviews with retailers, supplemented with secondary research and analysis.

Reducing the number of single-use bags that retailers use across their stores can make a tremendous difference. Even a 1% bag reduction has a significant impact on our global waste footprint––in the U.S., that is equivalent to 1 billion fewer bags used and discarded. Beyond driving progress toward sustainability goals, using fewer single-use bags can also help retailers reduce costs, address challenges in stocking bags, engage employees, support customers, and build brand reputation and loyalty.

“Our new playbook walks retailers through strategies they can implement today to get teams and customers on board with reducing single-use bags in stores and encourage shoppers to reuse their own bags,” said Kate Daly, Managing Director of the Center for the Circular Economy at Closed Loop Partners. “This tool is for retailers who are looking for quick wins and those seeking innovative, new approaches. We hope these insights serve as an inspiration to retailers looking to reduce their plastic footprint and deploy bag reduction solutions.”

The Consortium to Reinvent the Retail Bag has been working to reimagine the retail bag in the store and across emerging channels like local delivery since its launch in 2020. The last three years have shown significant progress––growing from five retail partners to 15, and deploying more than 6,000 iterative tests, surveys and pilots across markets to help accelerate learnings and the development of sustainable bag solutions. This year, the Consortium will go back into market on a larger scale, testing different complementary strategies to reduce single-use bags. This work will build on the Consortium’s different workstreams––innovation, customer research, policy and infrastructure––and efforts to date. There is no silver bullet to addressing a global plastics waste challenge, and the diverse in-market efforts represent the multi-pronged holistic approach of the Consortium.

In Spring 2023, Consortium partners will test multiple strategies from the Playbook simultaneously in two cities in Arizona and Colorado, launching signage, marketing and customer prompts across stores. The goal of these tests is to enable a broader cultural shift towards customers bringing their own reusable bags from home. The Consortium is inviting other retailers––from mom-and-pop shops to large brands––to join and test the same prompts, signage and marketing materials in order to have the broadest reach with customers and to create ecosystem-wide impact.

Meanwhile, in New Jersey, where there is legislation banning single-use bags in certain stores, the Consortium will test a “returnable bag service” model in which customers are “borrowing” a bag onsite, reusing it before eventually returning it at the same or different retailer’s store to be washed, redistributed and reused by additional customers. This offers a solution for when customers forget to bring their own reusable bags.

Interested retailers can email [email protected] to inquire about joining the Consortium to Reinvent the Retail Bag to gain access to useful research, insights and continued in-market experimentation as well as potentially participate in pilots in Arizona and Colorado.

Learn more at http://beyondthebaginitiative.com/

About the Center for the Circular Economy at Closed Loop Partners

The Center for the Circular Economy at Closed Loop Partners unites competitors to tackle complex material challenges and to implement systemic change that advances the circular economy. Adept at navigating every step in the value chain, Closed Loop Partners brings together designers, manufacturers, recovery systems operators, trade organizations, municipalities, policymakers and NGOs to create scalable innovations that target big system problems. The Center’s first initiative, the NextGen Consortium, assembled leading food and beverage companies, including McDonald’s and Starbucks, to identify and commercialize a widely recyclable, compostable and/or reusable cup. 12 winning cup solutions were selected and the Consortium is supporting the testing of these new solutions as well as conducting select pilots to accelerate their path to scale. Learn more about the Center’s work here.

About the Consortium to Reinvent the Retail Bag

The Beyond the Bag Initiative, launched by the Consortium to Reinvent the Retail Bag, aims to identify, pilot and implement viable design solutions and models that more sustainably serve the purpose of the current retail bag. Closed Loop Partners’ Center for the Circular Economy launched the initiative with Founding Partners CVS Health, Target and Walmart. The Kroger Co. joined as Grocery Sector Lead Partner, DICK’S Sporting Goods joined as Sports & Outdoors Sector Lead Partner, Dollar General as Value Sector Lead Partner, TJX as Apparel & Home Goods Sector Lead Partner, and Ulta Beauty as Beauty Sector Lead Partner. Ahold Delhaize USA Brands, Albertsons Companies, H-E-B, Hy-Vee, Meijer, Wakefern Food Corp., and Walgreens are Supporting Partners, and Conservation International and Ocean Conservancy serve as Environmental Advisory Partners. Learn more about the Consortium here.

Contact: [email protected]