It’s a universal experience. You make a purchase…perhaps it’s a candy bar or aspirin at your local pharmacy, or your weekly groceries, or a new shirt…and you have to make a decision. How do you carry your purchase home? Do you take a single-use plastic bag, knowing that it could persist in the environment for hundreds of years? Is a paper bag the better choice? Did you remember your reusable tote bag?

This may seem like a small moment, but with 100 billion single-use plastic retail bags thrown away in the U.S. each year, you’re right to consider the outsize impact your decision can have. At the Center for the Circular Economy, we work with brands, retailers, recyclers, NGOs and others to elevate questions like these beyond a confusing individual choice and instead imagine the systems change needed for a future where waste is not an option.

Today marks the launch of the Consortium to Reinvent the Retail Bag, our collective call to reimagine how we get goods home. Too many plastic bags end up decorating trees, polluting oceans, or wasted in landfills, and it’s time we imagine something better. Given the scale of this challenge, cross-industry collaboration is critical. Closed Loop Partners and its Center for the Circular Economy launched the Consortium alongside Founding Partners CVS Health, Target and Walmart, and joined by Kroger and Walgreens, and environmental organizations Conservation International and Ocean Conservancy to bring competitors together to solve a shared challenge. And to increase the impact and scale of our work together the Consortium is inviting more retailers to join the effort.

Too many plastic bags end up decorating trees, polluting oceans, or wasted in landfills, and it’s time we imagine something better.

Solving a complex global waste issue requires collaboration among diverse stakeholders to achieve a shared vision. Collectively, organizations can send a unified signal to the market and world at large, demonstrating their commitment to change and incentivizing the value chain, from manufacturers to recyclers, to adopt more sustainable practices that secure a waste-free future for the products and packaging we all use every day.

It’s not the first time Closed Loop Partners has convened unexpected and unprecedented partnerships to solve a shared challenge. In 2018 we launched the NextGen Consortium with the goal of redesigning the hot and cold fiber to-go cup with leading competitors Starbucks and McDonald’s. A year and a half later, following 480 innovative cup designs and the selection of 12 winners, four sustainable cup solutions were piloted in local cafes in the San Francisco Bay Area earlier this year. The findings from those pilots alongside extensive material and performance testing inform our next steps for the implementation of reusable, recyclable, and compostable cup solutions, and the infrastructure investments needed to support them. Our next journey brings together the world’s largest retailers who have a shared vision of reinventing the retail bag, with customer convenience, accessibility, inclusiveness, innovative design, and positive environmental outcomes all key priorities.

The Consortium to Reinvent the Retail Bag’s Beyond the Bag Initiative will take a holistic approach to implementing new systems that serve the function of today’s single-use plastic retail bag. Our goal is to identify, test and scale new solutions, while bolstering the recovery infrastructure necessary to retain the value of their materials. Reimagining the retail bag is only one step; the entire lifecycle of any new product must be considered. That’s why the Consortium will work to improve infrastructure for the reuse or recovery of alternative designs and require that new solutions bring material value to our recovery systems.

The old question at check-out of “paper or plastic” has been replaced by some additional options, but whether a bag is made out of paper or plastic or cotton all of these materials bring some tradeoffs. The traditional single-use plastic retail bag, with an average use time of 12 minutes, is derived from unsustainable fossil fuels. While these bags can technically be recycled, few actually make it to a recycling facility. And, if they do, they typically aren’t a high enough value product to make the economics of the recycling system work. Alternatively, paper bags, sometimes viewed as the more sustainable solution, are made from a more readily renewable resource but can drive deforestation and some studies have found they are more energy-intensive to manufacture. Other materials, whether bioplastics, fabric totes or something else all come with their own set of baggage and carbon footprint. The fact is: there is no convenient, sustainable, widespread solution available to all today.

Learn more about the complexities of the current bag landscape in our report, A New Way Home.

Read report

To identify new, innovative and inclusive solutions to the retail bag, the Consortium is launching, in partnership with OpenIDEO, the Beyond the Bag Challenge, inviting innovators, suppliers, designers and problem-solvers from around the world to share their ideas for sustainable solutions. Do you have an idea that can scale? Submit your idea here after applications open on August 3rd. Materials derived from novel sources, innovative reuse solutions, and solutions that eliminate the need for a bag altogether are all welcome.

We are excited to embark on this three-year partnership with leading retailers to find a new way to get goods home. Today is always the best day to begin to reimagine a better future; the Beyond the Bag Initiative is looking for innovative solutions that align the interests of people, the planet and business. We invite you to join us on our journey.

July 21, New York – The Center for the Circular Economy at Closed Loop Partners and leading retailers CVS Health, Target and Walmart aim 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. 

Current alternatives to the plastic retail bag have yet to garner industry-wide support or widespread use by the public and many still have significant environmental impacts. To accelerate innovation for much-needed solutions, Closed Loop Partners – with Founding Partners CVS Health, Target and Walmart, and joined by Kroger and Walgreens – is forming the Consortium to Reinvent the Retail Bag. Collectively, Consortium Partners have committed more than $15 million to launch the Beyond the Bag Initiative. 

Today, global risks from climate change, the global pandemic and mounting plastic waste have revealed the vulnerabilities of our current system. The Beyond the Bag Initiative convenes some of the largest and most influential retailers in the United States to think outside the box and drive long-term, transformational thinking to address a complex global waste challenge. This historic three-year Consortium welcomes additional retailers to join in to help create a less wasteful future.

“The status quo has been shaken, presenting a unique opportunity to build back better and reimagine a more resilient and sustainable way of doing business,” says Kate Daly, Managing Director of the Center for the Circular Economy at Closed Loop Partners. “During challenging times, unexpected and unprecedented collaboration is required and we’re excited to work with leading retailers like CVS Health, Target, Walmart and others – along with the entire industry – to take effective action.”

Studies show that over 100 billion single-use plastic retail bags are used in the U.S. every year, and less than 10 percent of these are recycled*. Every year, plastic retail bags are among the top 10 items found on beaches and waterways worldwide**. That’s why this initiative aims to take a holistic view of the challenge and solutions, aligning consumer convenience and product innovation with the equally important infrastructure for recovery or reuse of any alternatives developed. 

Innovative design solutions to serve the function of today’s retail bag will be solicited from around the world through the Consortium’s global Innovation Challenge, with an initial focus on implementation in the United States. Launched in partnership with global design firm IDEO, the Challenge invites innovators, suppliers, designers and problem-solvers to submit their ideas for game-changing sustainable bag solutions. Closed Loop Partners will launch a Circular Accelerator, develop potential piloting opportunities and aim to make infrastructure investments in support of the development of market-ready solutions.

“We know how important it is to bring our customers along on our sustainability journey, keeping in mind that most are looking for convenience with minimal environmental impact,” says Eileen Howard Boone, SVP, Corporate Social Responsibility & Philanthropy and Chief Sustainability Officer, CVS Health. “This collaboration with Target, Walmart and other like-minded retailers and innovators allows for collective reach that can be truly impactful.”   

“We believe in serving our guests and communities with actions that reduce our footprint on the planet,” says Amanda Nusz, Vice President of Corporate Responsibility, Target. “We’re proud to partner with Closed Loop Partners and other leading retailers to take on a challenge facing the entire industry. We welcome others to join us in this collective effort as we aim to design a better solution.”

“By coming together to tackle the problem, we aim to accelerate the pace of innovation and the commercialization of sustainable solutions,” says Kathleen McLaughlin, Executive Vice President and Chief Sustainability Officer for Walmart. “Through efforts like the Innovation Challenge and the Circular Accelerator, we hope the Beyond the Bag Initiative will surface affordable, practical solutions that meet the needs of customers and reduce plastic waste.”

Call to action: Join the effort. Founding Partners of the Consortium – CVS Health, Target and Walmart – are calling on other retail leaders, from general merchandise to grocery, apparel, pharmacy, home goods and beyond, to get involved. The Kroger Co. joins the initiative as the Grocery Sector Lead Partner. “Our commitment to phase out single-use plastic bags across our enterprise and support innovative solutions on our path to Zero Hunger | Zero Waste aligns perfectly with Closed Loop Partners’ goal to reinvent the retail shopping bag,” says Keith Dailey, Kroger’s Group Vice President of Corporate Affairs. “We encourage other retailers to join us in this commitment and bid farewell to the single-use plastic bag for good.” Walgreens joins the initiative as a Supporting Partner, with Alain Turenne, Walgreens Corporate Social Responsibility vice president noting, “This consortium reflects Walgreens enduring commitment to advancing innovative ideas to address critical sustainability issues and our mission to champion the health and wellbeing of every community in America.”

Conservation International and Ocean Conservancy join as Environmental Advisory Partners to provide critical perspective on environmental impacts and solutions throughout the initiative.  “Putting an end to the plastic retail bag would be a game changer for the health of our planet, and it is essential that any alternative can be easily adopted by a wide range of retailers,” says Bambi Semroc, Vice President of Sustainable Markets and Strategy, Conservation International. “Conservation International will put our experience in working collaboratively across industry sectors to help identify truly sustainable options that are better for the planet, people and retailers.” Janis Searles Jones, CEO of Ocean Conservancy, says, “Ocean Conservancy has long believed that we need to engage with partners across all sectors to tackle the global ocean plastics crisis; the stakes are simply too high to go at it alone. The plastic retail bag is among the most insidious types of waste we see in our ocean, and we are thrilled to share our decades of expertise on this issue with leaders and innovators to help change the paradigm.” 

IDEO joins the Consortium as an Innovation Partner, with Chris Krohn, Portfolio Lead at the company, noting, “Redesigning the single-use plastic retail bag so that alternatives consider the social, environmental and material impact at every stage of the value chain is critical. The collaborative nature of the Beyond the Bag Initiative enables us to collectively accelerate the transition to a more circular and regenerative future.”

* Waste Management Journal & EPA ** Ocean Conservancy 

About the Center for the Circular Economy at Closed Loop Partners

The Center for the Circular Economy at Closed Loop Partners convenes competitors to solve material challenges and advance the circular economy. Its first initiative, the NextGen Consortium, united leading food and beverage companies to identify and commercialize a widely recyclable, compostable and/or reusable cup. Twelve winning cup solutions were selected and the Consortium is supporting the testing and piloting of these new solutions to accelerate their path to scale. Now, in partnership with leading retailers in the United States, the focus is on the single-use plastic retail bag, a challenge and opportunity that is top-of-mind for communities and consumers concerned about the impact of single-use plastics on our environment. Learn more about the Center’s work here.

Consortium Partners