Giant Food gets under way with Loop reusable packaging

Giant Food has begun selling an assortment of products with Loop reusable packaging at stores in the Washington, D.C., area.

Customers at 10 Giant supermarkets can shop a selection of more than 20 products from leading consumer brands — such Kraft-Heinz, Nature’s Path and Stubb’s BBQ Sauce — that come in reusable containers instead of single-use packaging, the Ahold Delhaize USA grocery chain said yesterday.

Products leveraging the Loop circular reuse platform, developed by waste management firm TerraCycle, come in refillable glass or metal containers and are placed in branded displays at the participating Giant stores. After shoppers use the products, they return the empty packaging to Loop Return Point collection bins located at the store. Loop then retrieves the containers for cleaning, refilling and reuse in future purchases.

Giants displays Loop products from Kraft-Heinz, Nature’s Path, Stubb’s and other brands on

Giant stores in Chantilly, Alexandria, Herndon, Sterling, Clifton, Arlington and Fairfax, Va. and in D.C. are participating in the Loop program. The Landover, Md.-based grocer had announced plans in late July to roll out Loop-packaged products this fall.

“Giant is proud to be the first grocery retailer on the East Coast to launch a partnership with Loop, a global leader in eliminating waste, and offer our customers a program that allows them to shop for products while helping our environment,” Diane Couchman, vice president of category management for non-perishables at Giant Food, said in a statement. “We look forward to expanding our Loop item offerings and launching in more Giant locations in the near future.”

Related:Fred Meyer launches Loop reusable product containers at 25 stores

Shoppers who buy Loop products pay a small packaging deposit but get a full refund when returning the containers. For advanced cleaning and sanitization of the containers, Loop consults with Ecolab, a global provider of cleaning and hygiene solutions and services, for on-site design and equipment and the chemistry of the cleaning processes.

“Loop’s goal has always been to make reusable packaging as convenient for consumers as disposable packaging,” according to Tom Szaky, founder and CEO of Trenton, N.J.-based Loop and parent company TerraCycle. “With Giant as the newest retailer bringing Loop to consumers, we are giving them what they’ve been asking for since Loop was introduced in 2019 — the ability to forgo single-use packaging and purchase the products they use every day in durable, reusable containers.”

Giant had announced plans over the summer to roll out the Loop program to stores starting this fall.

Giant operates 164 supermarkets in Virginia, Maryland, Delaware and the District of Columbia.

Earlier this year, The Kroger Co. rolled out products with Loop reusable packaging to 25 Fred Meyer stores in metropolitan Portland, Ore. The product assortment at the time spanned more than 20 food and household items — including such brands as Arbor Teas, Cascade, Clorox, Gerber, Nature’s Heart, Nature’s Path, Pantene, Seventh Generation, Stubb’s and Kroger’s Simple Truth private label — packaged in Loop containers.

Related:Kroger, Walgreens to test Loop reusable packaging

Kroger and drugstore chain Walgreens announced in May 2019 that they would be the first U.S. retailers to employ the Loop system. Other Loop partners include retailers Loblaw Cos., Ulta Beauty, Metro AG, Charlie Banana and Lyreco and CPG brands/manufacturers Cascade, Clorox, Coca-Cola, Crest, Danone, Evian, Fanta, Finish, Gillette, Glad, Haagen-Dazs, Herbal Essences, Kikkoman, Kraft Heinz, Mars Wrigley, Nivea, Nutella, Oral-B, Pampers, Pantene Perrier, Purina,  S. Pellegrino, Sprite, Tide and Tropicana, among others.