The ‘Bring Your Own Bag’ pilot is a first-of-its-kind programme launched by the Consortium to Reinvent the Retail Bag, managed by Closed Loop Partners

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‘Bring Your Own Bag’ pilot is launched by the Consortium to Reinvent the Retail Bag. (Credit: Closed Loop Partners)

Closed Loop Partners has announced that new national retailers and local mom-and-pop shops across Denver, Colorado and Tucson, Arizona joined the ‘Bring Your Own Bag’ pilot.

The pilot is a first-of-its-kind programme launched by the Consortium to Reinvent the Retail Bag, managed by Closed Loop Partners.

The list of the new national brands includes Target; Consortium partners CVS Health; 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.

The retailers will test bag reduction solutions along with local mom-and-pop shops to assess whether collective retailer action can support a broader cultural shift.

The pilot will aim to make customers bring their own reusable bags whenever they shop.

It also intends to support customers to remember bags and to reimagine where they could bring bags, beyond the grocery store.

Closed Loop Partners said that the participating retailers will test the same bag reduction strategies found in the Consortium’s Playbook in over 150 stores in Denver, Tucson and the surrounding metro areas.

The Consortium’s Playbook has signage, marketing and customer prompts about reusable bags.

The Consortium to Reinvent the Retail Bag’s efforts over the previous three years served as the foundation for the Bring Your Own Bag Pilot, which will run from 1 May to 30 July 2023.

Based on the pilot’s results, the consortium will consider scaling up these inexpensive, simple-to-implement initiatives to encourage a change in national reuse culture.

Closed Loop Partners Center for the Circular Economy head Kate Daly said: “The most sustainable bag is often the one we already own. Retailers coming together to support customers in bringing their own reusable bags whenever and wherever they shop is a key step to reducing single-use plastic waste.

“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.”