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Giant Food to carry products with Loop reusable containers

Items set to roll out to metro D.C. stores beginning in the fall

Russell Redman

July 29, 2022

3 Min Read
Giant Food new store-front.png
The Loop-packaged products will come in refillable glass or metal containers and be placed in branded displays at the participating Giant supermarkets.Giant Food

Giant Food plans to offer products with Loop reusable packaging at stores in the Washington, D.C., area starting this fall.

Products available via the Loop circular reuse platform, developed by waste management firm TerraCycle, come in refillable glass or metal containers and will be placed in branded displays at the participating Giant supermarkets, Trenton, N.J.-based Loop and parent company TerraCycle said this week. After customers use the products, they return the empty packaging to Loop Return Point collection bins located at the Giant store. Loop then retrieves the containers for cleaning, refilling and reuse in future purchases.

“Giant is committed to taking sustainable actions that reduce plastic waste from our landfills and improve our environment,” Diane Couchman, vice president of category management for non-perishables at Landover, Md.-based Giant Food, said in a statement. “We are excited to partner with Loop, a global leader in eliminating waste, to offer our customers a program that allows them to shop their favorite products and help our environment.”

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

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A Loop-packaged product display and Loop Return Point bin at Kroger's Fred Meyer in a deployment earlier this year.

Shoppers buying the Loop products are charged a small packaging deposit upon purchase but get a full refund once the container is returned. To ensure the reusable containers maintain advanced cleaning and sanitization, Loop said it consults with Ecolab, a leading global provider of cleaning and hygiene solutions and services, for on-site design and equipment and the chemistry of the cleaning processes.

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

Initially, products with Loop containers were sold only online via loopstore.com in the platform’s pilot phase, but availability is now shifting to physical retail stores. The transition to an in-store retail model began in Paris with Carrefour in December 2020, followed by Loop in-store launches with Japan’s Aeon in May 2021 and the United Kingdom’s Tesco in September 2021. Loop also has formed reusable packaging partnerships with McDonald’s in the U.K. and with restaurant chains Burger King and Tim Hortons in in the United States and Canada, respectively.

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:Ahold Delhaize USA, ExxonMobil target circular food 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. 

Loop noted that its the first platform to partner with consumer brands and retailers to offer shoppers a way to go from single use to reuse with their purchases.

“Loop’s goal has always been to grow, scale and be accessible to consumers around the world,” according to Tom Szaky, founder and CEO of TerraCycle and Loop. “With world-class retailers, like Giant, bringing Loop to their physical brick-and-mortar locations, we are giving consumers what they’ve been asking for since Loop was introduced in 2019 — the ability to purchase the products they use every day in durable, reusable containers, with the convenience of shopping at their local market.”

About the Author

Russell Redman

Senior Editor
Supermarket News

Russell Redman has served as senior editor at Supermarket News since April 2018, his second tour with the publication. In his current role, he handles daily news coverage for the SN website and contributes news and features for the print magazine, as well as participates in special projects, podcasts and webinars and attends industry events. Russ joined SN from Racher Press Inc.’s Chain Drug Review and Mass Market Retailers magazines, where he served as desk/online editor for more than nine years, covering the food/drug/mass retail sector. 

Russell Redman’s more than 30 years of experience in journalism span a range of editorial manager, editor, reporter/writer and digital roles at a variety of publications and websites covering a breadth of industries, including retailing, pharmacy/health care, IT, digital home, financial technology, financial services, real estate/commercial property, pro audio/video and film. He started his career in 1989 as a local news reporter and editor, covering community news and politics in Long Island, N.Y. His background also includes an earlier stint at Supermarket News as center store editor and then financial editor in the mid-1990s. Russ holds a B.A. in journalism (minor in political science) from Hofstra University, where he also earned a certificate in digital/social media marketing in November 2016.

Russell Redman’s experience:

Supermarket News - Informa
Senior Editor 
April 2018 - present

Chain Drug Review/Mass Market Retailers - Racher Press
Desk/Online Editor 
Sept. 2008 - March 2018

CRN magazine - CMP Media
Managing Editor
May 2000 - June 2007

Bank Systems & Technology - Miller Freeman
Executive Editor/Managing Editor
Dec. 1996 - May 2000

Supermarket News - Fairchild Publications
Financial Editor/Associate Editor
April 1995 - Dec. 1996 

Shopping Centers Today Magazine - ICSC 
Desk Editor/Assistant Editor
Dec. 1992 - April 1995

Testa Communications
Assistant Editor/Contributing Editor (Music & Sound Retailer, Post, Producer, Sound & Communications and DJ Times magazines)
Jan. 1991 - Dec. 1992 

American Banker/Bond Buyer
Copy Editor
Oct. 1990 - Jan. 1991 

This Week newspaper - Chanry Communications
Reporter/Editor
May 1989 - July 1990

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