Sadly, holiday waste is only going to get worse this year

The beginning of October means that the holiday season is just around the corner. And, with the holidays, that means an increase in shopping which ultimately leads to more returns, or in other words more holiday waste.

We live in a world where ordering more rather than less is the norm so if something doesn’t work, we ship it right back. And we’ve become accustomed to this approach. 

Last year, returns reached a record high after the 2021 holiday season. 

• Ecommerce made up 20.9% of total U.S. retail sales in 2021
  • This is up 11% compared to 2020
• UPS shared that 21% of adults made a return before Christmas day in 2021
• 60% of people prefer to make a return by carrier rather than in person

Holiday returns are inevitable. 

Will 2022’s holiday waste look the same?

Unfortunately, yes. 

We are still on an upward trend of holiday waste when it comes to returns rather than a downward trend. 

Looking back at 2021 again:

• An estimated 8.75 million packages are returned the first week of January
• 17.8% of merchandise sold is estimated and expected to be returned both online and in-person.
• Returns have increased for 8 consecutive years

Returns are going to continue in ecommerce which is why creating a circular economy becomes that much more important. 

"The returns problem is only going to continue increasing this year and in the coming years," Optoro director of sustainability Meagan Knowlton said in January of this year (2021). "And luckily, quite a number of retailers and brands in the market are recognizing it as a problem, but also as an opportunity."

Who/what/where suffers the most with returns?

We like to look at this in two ways:

1. Your bottom-line
2. The environment

Your bottom-line

Naturally, your bottom-line is the first thing that comes to mind when thinking about returns around the holidays. 

When more than 15% of merchandise sold is expected to be returned, it impacts your entire supply chain:

• Operational efficiency is impacted
  • Warehouse storage becomes a priority
  • Products are returned to sit in a warehouse
  • Additional employees and management may be needed
• Operational costs increase
  • Return labels are needed
  • Additional shipping materials may be needed
  • Increased transportation costs from stores to warehouses arise
  • And, cleaning and repairs join the party…

According to a recent study, in 2021 it cost $33 for retailers to process a $50 return item, a 59% increase over the previous year. 

Refunds are really just the start of a retailer’s costs…

The environment

Sustainability goals are inevitable for retailers today. 

Returns create a challenge when it comes to your sustainability goals as most become holiday waste and in most cases, additional paper, labels, boxes, bags, etc. may be needed to get your returns back to your warehouse or business by carrier rather than in person. 

Even returns in person may use some of these additional items as well as they get transported from your storefront to your warehouse anyway…

According to a 2018 report, returns account for five billion pounds of waste sent to landfills and 15 million tons of carbon emissions every year in the United States.

Cue “reusable packaging”

You’ve heard the phrase “reduce, reuse and recycle” time and time again. 

The United States designed its current recycling program over 50 years ago to take on cardboard consumption from retailers. While effective in its day, recycling centers and the planet can’t keep up with the ecommerce influx causing waste and recycling programs.

It just means that we’re focusing too heavily on the latter rather than the former: reducing and reusing.

Reusable packaging takes recycled waste and turns it into something we can use over and over again. And with reusable packaging, there typically comes increased visibility into your supply chain as technology is a forefront of this operation if partnering with the right company.

Retailers can use reusable packaging to:

• Enhance and reach their sustainability goals in reducing:
  • CO2 emissions
  • Water use
  • Land use
  • Oil and plastic use
• Increase visibility into your supply chain through sensors that track location, temperature management and consumer behavior 
• Increase your triple bottom-line overtime

With holiday shopping and holiday returns just around the corner…

Are you ready to move to a reuse model for your shipping and packaging needs?

Get started with a LimeLoop Reuse Specialist. We’ll discuss your logistics and supply chain needs along with your sustainability goals to strategize what works best for your business. 

Get started today.

Fashion's role in collective circularity

You can learn a lot about a society by way of its fashion.

What, then, do these photos say? And how did we get here?

One could highlight cotton’s role in the Industrial Revolution. The same would point out fashion’s role in industrializing countries, driving economic growth and development and leading to the mass expansion of the fashion industry.

However, society, now, sits at a crossroads as “the production of polyester textiles alone emits about 706 million tons of greenhouse gases a year, and hundreds of gallons of water go into making a cotton garment.” Digging into fast fashion’s history reveals precisely how we’ve arrived right here.

Connecting the dots isn’t difficult. The current supply chain, the linear “take-make-dispose” system, depends on outsourced labor and manufacturing because it’s cheaper and less regulated, and it allows for mass production, meeting consumer demand yet destroying the planet.

Fashion’s role in collective circularity, is then, two-fold. Both brands and consumers must take responsibility.

An Appetite for Fast-Fashion

It isn’t entirely our fault for wanting those trendy pair of jeans or that cute fall sweater. Fashion is a form of expressing our truth, our stories, but it’s also an industry – an industry which lives and breathes consumer demand. It’s capitalizing on our self-expressions, our anxieties, and our desires. And we allow this.

As Michael Solomon, a consumer behavior expert, told Vox, “It’s not just about clothing, it’s about a disposable society.” Fast fashion is a breeding ground for waste. Consumers don’t see what happens behind the clothing they purchase from stores, such as H&M and Zara. Fast fashion is fast because its meant to be disposed of as the seasons, trends, and demands change.

Consequently, the dress, or suit, you purchased for a special occasion, or those ‘never-again’ heels or slip-ons end up in the back of your closet. Until you rediscover them. Then what? You could try to return them, but chances are they’ll be landfilled. You could certainly donate them, but where you donate matters, too, because 84 percent of donated clothing, yep, landfilled. 

The solution, then, in eliminating fashion waste from landfills and creating a circular system, must come from both fashion’s brands and consumers, collectively.

Sustainable Fashion Satiates

According to Green Strategy:

“More sustainable fashion can be defined as clothing, shoes and accessories that are manufactured, marketed and used in the most sustainable manner possible, taking into account both environmental and socio-economic aspects.”

They add:

“In practice, this implies continuous work to improve all stages of the product’s life cycle, from design, raw material production, manufacturing, transport, storage, marketing and final sale, to use, reuse, repair, remake and recycling of the product and its components.” 

Sure, there’s a lot to consider when transforming the fashion industry from fast to sustainable. But it is possible with collectivity. When brands and consumers work in tandem, a natural circular loop forms. Each role, though, does carry its own responsibilities in the grander scheme that is fashion’s role in collective circularity.

Brands’ Responsibility

Rental services, thrifting, resale and secondhand programs, which are increasing in popularity, drive circular fashion because consumers are encouraged to participate in the loop. 

Brands, then, are responsible, for not only transforming the system, by implementing sustainable policies and practices across their supply chains, but for encouraging further participation and education.

For example, thredUp, an e-commerce shop offering secondhand styles, provides sustainability stats on each piece of clothing. This contrasts the impact of secondhand fashion with that of fast fashion on the environment.

Thus, consumers shopping with thredUP can see the impact their decisions have on improving the climate, increasing awareness, education, and participation and creating an organic circular loop.

Consumer Responsibility

But let’s be honest, change is difficult. We’ve consumed fashion the same way for so long. Well, changing our purchasing habits doesn’t have to be expensive or extensive. And don’t let quantity confuse quality. Those ‘buy-one-get-one-free’ or ‘half-off’ deals are meant to drive you mad with desire. FOMO, or the fear of missing out, is still a real psychological problem; remember, fast fashion is an industry existing because of FOMO and a disposable culture.

Thrifting, secondhand and resale programs, can offer the same shopping experiences as fast fashion without the waste and anxiety. And of course, there are stigmas associated with thrifting or secondhand clothing, but they’re simply that – misunderstandings. Education is free. 

So, decide today to be proactive in your choices. Fast fashion’s messages can only tell so much of the story before it must change to fit a new narrative. We’re writing said narrative right now. Sustainable fashion just became the main character.

Fashion’s Role in Collective Circularity

Fashion, better yet the fashion industry, plays an integral role in collective circularity because it defines our culture. Textiles drove economic growth, lending to prosperity and development; however, we must course correct the current path, for our stories currently tell of a wasteful society. Our legacies left behind are that of a society confused about what we deserve.

But when all hope seems lost, brands such as For Days, a “closed-loop clothing company” come through with a circular message and system which may be holistically applied to the industry. For Days not only offers a SWAP program where consumers may return any piece of clothing they desire for whatever reason, but For Days operates sustainably, from upcycling returned clothing where applicable to shipping with reusable packaging. 

Brands such as these – For Days, thredUP, DePop, and Rent the Runway – pioneer collective circularity by engaging with the sustainability conversation while encouraging consumers to do the same. Brands and consumers can, collectively, change the narrative from wasteful to waste-free by way of the fashion industry.

Let’s make our style sustainable, and our story circular. If not for us, then for future generations.

The 5Rs of reverse logistics

It’s said that 79 percent of customers view free returns as important, which makes sense when we think about reverse logistics as a driver of Customer Lifetime Value (LTV). Return policies give your customers confidence in you and your products because, well, sometimes things just don’t work out. 

It isn’t just because we face unprecedented challenges in logistics and supply chain that we need to revise our reverse logistics strategies, policies, or processes. These challenges only highlight what is an ever-growing problem – return waste. Reverse logistics, more specifically sustainable reverse logistics, is then more important than ever as customer demand for sustainability rises, along with Earth’s temperature. 

But what about the cost to you? And what do we do with all these returns? Where in the reverse logistics process can change occur for successful and profitable waste mitigation? 

Here’s our list of the 5 Rs of Reverse Logistics. Let’s explore each one.

1. Returns

This one’s seemingly obvious. For without returns, we wouldn’t need reverse logistics. Right? But let’s first consider the items returned and their life cycles. Apparel (88%) and shoes (44%) are the top returned items, and the most expensive to process. They’re expensive because without the right information or technology, retailers must take these returned items at face value.

Sure, customers can inform retailers about the item as much as possible. But with fraud being ever prevalent, who’s to say what’s what with that return? And if an item just didn’t fit, then why landfill it at all? Challenge number one in today’s reverse logistics systems: visibility. And not only visibility into the overall process – who has what and where? – but visibility into the item being returned. Period. 

Return waste begins at the product and ends with the packaging, but we’ll get into that in a bit. Retailers landfill returns because it’s cheaper and makes sense when considering they can’t possibly know what they don’t know. But customers and sustainable reverse logistics demand better. As we’re about to see, there are options around a return’s life cycle.

2. Reselling

Okay, we’ve established visibility as a tremendous challenge in mitigating and, eventually, eliminating return waste. However, in the meantime, there are returns which can be resold, aiding your triple-bottom line. But how can we resell items we know nothing about? With the right combination of technology, it’s possible to know what’s what about any return – apparel, shoes, or otherwise. 

EON, a tech company, integrates IoT into clothing, creating a “digital passport,” which provides insight into the full lifecycle of a piece of clothing. Imagine knowing information like how a piece of clothing was made, how it should be repaired or cleaned, and its past locations? Technology as such makes reselling returns that much easier and more cost effective when all retailers need to do is scan a QR code. 

When we think outside the box, we see beyond the visibility challenge. While a QR code can inform a retailer about the item, reusable packaging can inform a retailer about the package’s origin through its reverse journey. Gaining insight into a package’s journey and  gaining insight into the item being returned allows for more opportunity in reselling as retailers will know everything they need to be better able to safely reshelve a returned item. 

3. Repairs

“Got something that needs fixing?

Start your repair here or bring it in to a Patagonia-owned store.” 

Outdoor clothing giant, Patagonia, worked repairs right into their returns policy. They even provide their customers with DIY repair tutorials and articles to expedite the process because repairs aren’t necessarily the quickest route when attempting to clean up reverse logistics. Patagonia estimates clothing, gear, wetsuit, and wader repair turn around time at or about 10-12 weeks. That’s including determining whether an item is worthy of repair or not. And if not? Customers will wait for their item to be sent back, or for a credit if their item is beyond repair.

This makes sense when we think about determining end-of-life in sustainable reverse logistics. Most, if not all of Patagonia’s outerwear and gear is designed for longevity. While repairs help mitigate waste, the process is often labor and time intensive, which may cost retailers more upfront if they don’t have the system in place to process repairs. But with the right technology, any return policy can incorporate repairs.

The IoT enabled sensors in our reusable packaging, for example, help with resource allocation given the predictive analytics provided by the data collected on each package. With real-time tracking, retailers can better inform their customers of when they should expect their item back, but also inform labor decisions in hiring and recruiting employees for repairs, specifically, if a brand starts to see more and more repairs initiated at point of return. It isn’t a short-term solution, for data needs time to accumulate, but long-term, retailers could reinvigorate their workforce after enough circulations of their fleet of reusable packages. 

4. Reuse

We mentioned earlier that return waste begins with the product and ends with the packaging. Here’s why.

Single-use not only feeds the logistical and supply chain challenges, but it also adds to the waste we’re trying to mitigate. Now consider each time a customer sends an item back. We’re doubling, if not tripling, the single-use packaging, depending on a retailer’s reverse logistics process. Not to mention, we’re not learning anything about the product – where it is or has been, who’s handled it, how long did the customer wait to return it? We seek answers, not more questions. 

However, if retailers implemented sustainable shipping with reusable packaging, customers could send their returns in the same package their order came in, and retailers could use those same reusables to redistribute processed, salvageable returns. Reusable packaging with IoT and clothing with IoT? We know, we’re excited, too. Because what all this IoT means is that retailers, fulfillment centers, carriers, last-mile delivery services, customers, and those involved in reverse logistics can work collectively, simultaneously, and efficiently to clean up the waste and overcome supply chain challenges.

5. Recycling

Last, but not least, in our list of the 5 Rs of reverse logistics: recycling. There may be times when returned items are seemingly unsalvageable – perhaps they were damaged in transit or a retailer has worked recycling into their reverse logistics. Either way, recycled clothing, for example, may be used to make more. Evrnu, a textile innovations company, uses “NuCycl Technologies” to tap into the untapped natural resource that is discarded textiles.

With their technologies, Evrnu turns waste into a resource, adding value to the circularity of sustainable fashion. If more retailers knew the material makeup of returned clothing by using IoT enabled “digital passports,” and they understood the surrounding area given IoT enabled reusable packaging, retailers could make smarter, sustainable decisions in recycling processes that are environmentally friendly and profitable. 

What we came up with..

These 5 Rs of reverse logistics do not have to be the proverbial thorns in every retailer’s side because the application of technology and reuse creates a seamless reverse logistics process. Keeping customer LTV in mind, a retailer even just shipping with reusable packaging gains more insight into their reverse logistics, and overall supply chain, than those who ship with single-use. Put simply, a closed loop system will keep customers coming back. 

What you save (up to 60%) in packaging, your customers are further saving in time and effort. Returns become hassle free. Additionally, they become sustainable as retailers gain cumulative data-driven insights into the packages and the items being returned. And with the coupling of reuse and “digital passports,” there’s no reason for retailers to continue landfilling resellable, repairable, or recyclable returns.

Designing for an Ecommerce economy

We now live in a digital culture.

And it has fundamentally shifted the shopping and packaging experience from the corner store (1900’s) to the store and the door (1990’s).  Key examples include companies that have embraced the change – Warby Parker (once Lenscrafters), Third Love (once Victoria Secret, now For Love and Lemons ), Everlane (once Gap), and Casper (once Serta). Companies are using digital to create a brand, and a brand experience, rather than push products. For example, Casper, which doesn’t promote itself as merely a mattress company, but rather a digital-first brand focused around the concept of sleep. Jonathan Ringan noted, in Fast Company:

“Casper sees itself less as a simple mattress company and more as a lifestyle-driven enterprise that looks at sleep as a unique, optimizable category comparable to exercise or cooking or travel.”

With increased clickable convenience, online shopping continued to gain momentum. According to a 2016 Pew Research Center study, by desktop or mobile, 79 percent of Americans made purchases online – compared with 22 percent in 2000. In addition, 15 percent of adult shoppers made an online purchase once per week and 28 percent made multiple monthly online purchases. In 2017, 5 billion items worldwide shipped with Amazon Prime (63 percent of Amazon customers).

Further still, momentum propelled ecommerce forward as the pandemic kept people inside and shifted retail away from brick and mortar, seeing a 25% spike in March 2020 alone. The digital age transformed the supply chain over the years, but the future of ecommerce is here. Therefore, designing for an ecommerce economy, for a circular economy, requires retail and ecommerce retailers to think outside the current systems still designed for the corner store, from point of order to delivery. If not, we’ll see a widening post-purchase gap, rising unsustainable costs to people and the planet, and a continuing shift in global relations and processes.

Post Purchase Gap

First, it is important to look at the experiential economy or specifically in this case, the post-purchase gap and how it relates to future generations. Millennials crave a new experience both in store and at the door. Gen Z, at 60 million strong in the United States, demand it. “Compared to any generation that has come before, they are less trusting of brands. Authenticity and transparency are two ideals that they value highly,” says Emerson Spartz, CEO of the digital media company Dose.

Today, when a customer makes a purchase online, there’s an “experience gap” from the time the customer checks out to when the product arrives. This is the new experiential moment for digital shoppers. According to Amit Sharma at HBR,

“Providing a positive experience at this time of anticipation is a tremendous opportunity for retailers to deepen their relationships with customers and build loyalty for their brands. Surprisingly, only 16% of companies are focused on customer retention, even though it costs at least five times more to acquire a new customer than to keep an existing one.”

More than ever, customers want personalized shopping experiences from point of order to delivery and beyond. And with customer LTV becoming more and more important as the ecommerce momentum continues to push the boundaries of what’s possible, retailers find themselves paying higher and higher costs while the gap between consumer and retailer continues to widen. When is enough, enough?

UNSUSTAINABLE COSTS

Ecommerce customers, today, receive their products in a cardboard box, most likely in an OCC (old corrugated cardboard). The continued growth of online shopping and retail closings (70 million sq ft to close in 2018) have created a massive transition in the OCC (old corrugated containers) recovery market.

“There is a shift taking place and it’s more from the consumers. It’s a question of where that packaging material is going to end up and is it going to be as easy for us to capture,?” said Ben Harvey of Massachusetts hauler.

The United States designed its current recycling program over 50 years ago to take on cardboard consumption from retailers. While effective in its day, recycling centers and the planet can’t keep up with the ecommerce influx. And, the world is changing more in 10 years now than it used to change in 100 years, including rates and ways each generation consumes.

To keep up with the rapid change, innovative recycling companies are revamping their current systems. For example, Recology, a San Francisco serviced recycling center, is investing over $11 million dollars to add new processing equipment and supporting citywide taxes (15%) to account for the massive shift in receiving recycling from consumers versus retailers. While Recology is revamping to create temporary solutions, we must consider if the rest of the country can keep up with the rising cost and the impact to the environment we live in.

Today, humans are currently consuming nature 1.7 times faster than ecosystems can regenerate. The average American consumes its weight in trash each month and 165 billion packages and envelopes are shipped each year. Sixty-five billion parcel packages are shipped worldwide. 178 million parcel packages are shipped daily. This is a daily consumption of 1.2 million trees, 242 million gallons of water, and 5 million gallons of oil.

With the future of retail, we must consider the triple-bottom line – people, planet, and profit – as we build out more sustainable systems and collectively work to reduce and reuse what’s in circulation already, rather than just recycle.

SHIFT IN GLOBAL RELATIONS

To top it off, a recent shift in global policy will continue to impact the current supply chain systems in place. For example, the U.S. exports about one-third of its recycling, and nearly half goes to China. For decades, China has used recyclables from around the world to supply its manufacturing boom. But last year, it declared that this “foreign waste” includes too many other non recyclable materials that are “dirty,” even “hazardous.” In a filing with the World Trade Organization the country listed 24 kinds of solid wastes it would ban “to protect China’s environmental interests and people’s health.”

With e-commerce on the rise, the question becomes, do we revamp outdated systems or design a new one to solve for the growing costs to people and the planet? At LimeLoop we are designing a new one for the digital culture. Specifically, we are reimagining the packaging experience. First, by replacing recycled packaging with reusable packaging. Second, with sensored packaging to complete the brand experience loop. Packages that are received and sent back and reused, over and over again. With insights in where your package is and its state at all times, too boot. In return, is a high integrity system and experience for an environmentally sound world for many generations to come.

Sustainable reverse logistics

Reverse logistics. Chances are you’ve heard this term before. But, sustainable reverse logistics? Stop right there. We know reverse logistics involves providing easy ecommerce return policies for your customers. But where does the sustainability piece come in? 

Returned items end up landfilled due to the lack of insight needed when determining what to do with them. However, sustainable shipping with reusable packaging provides retailers said insight into the returned package’s status. Thence, sustainable reverse logistics combines data with customer service and inventory management to create a seamless, closed loop system, which mitigates waste and costs.

Two out of every three people will return a holiday gift, according to Forbes.

Refund policies are important. However, it’s no secret that retailers face unprecedented supply chain challenges, making returns more expensive and unpredictable. Not only are retailers faced with the challenges of a lacking reverse logistics system – including increased fraud and increased time and damage costs – but they’re also working in overdrive to meet their customers’ needs the best they can with what is left of our supply chain.

Right. That’s why we stopped you. Let’s break this down.

When we add sustainability, we’re now concerned about the end-of-life of these returned items. The probability of those returned items being landfilled doesn’t have to be as high as it is. Hitendra Chaturvedi, a supply chain management professor of practice at Arizona State University, tells NPR, “That is what consumers don’t realize — the life of a return is a very, very sad path.” Of course, this is dependent upon a retailer’s policy and the item, or items, being returned; however, retailers are still feeling the weight of the challenges as they reinvent said return policies, such as what Business Insider refers to as “just-keep-it” refunds.

Do “Just-keep-it” refunds aid in sustainable shipping?

It costs $33, or 66% of a $50 item, to process a return, on average. These costs were up 59% in 2021 from 2020, according to a report done by CBRE and Optoro. And Business Insider says what takes one shipment to fulfill a customer’s order, takes three separate shipments for it to be returned. Remember, retailers have little insight into the “forward” logistics of a customer’s order – tracking numbers and generalized locations. Forget having to track the logistics of three different journeys.

As Kim Friddle, who runs a business processing both new and returned items for Amazon sellers tells Business Insider, “If it’s going back into inventory, that thing gets shipped three times before it gets back on Amazon shelves, and every time that costs money.” With little visibility, retailers grapple with finding value in processing returns they know little about.

By refunding customers, but not taking the items back, retailers risk losing $4.4 million, while the end-of-life remains. In the end, it becomes the customer’s responsibility to do with the item what they will. Do they hang onto it in hopes of regifting it? Or do they donate it? With the pandemic keeping people inside, there’s little desire to hold onto unwanted gifts. So, as the pressure to do something about the unwanted item increases, customers may lean on default disposal – throwing it away.

Leveling-up reverse logistics with reusable packaging for sustainable shipping.

Retailers in apparel are faced with an additional challenge in creating ecommerce experiences for their customers that mirror brick and mortar experiences in hopes of reducing the need for as many returns. Further still, the “buy now, choose later,” or “bracketing,” ecommerce experience – where customers buy multiple of the same item to then return the unwanted options for the desired one – create greater challenges when multiple returns eat away at labor and cost.

To level-up, we must close the loop, if you will. And we do that with reusable packaging and IoT. Each LimeLoop reusable package, being that it’s reusable, houses a simple BLE sensor which collects data from the point of order through to the return of the package. Yes, you guessed it. AND of any items for return.

Each sensor collects and tracks the real-time location, open rate, temperature, and environmental impact of each package. Meaning, if a retailer circulates 1000 packages throughout their supply chain, they have 1000+ data points translating into predictive analytics which inform retailers of not only products’ statuses but of their journeys to and from customers, fulfillment centers and in-between carriers.

Championing reuse for sustainable shipping & reverse logistics.

Sustainable reverse logistics is concerned with more than just customer LTV. Returns can carry more value if we invest in smarter systems. With more data, retailers make informed decisions about better navigating the end-of-life for products certainly worth giving a second chance. 

Landfills are the disposal default because exuberant costs in money, time, and labor devalue the potential of reverse logistics. Shipping with reusable packaging provides the necessary insight into determining an item’s end-of-life options without taking value, but rather adding it. With this data – housed on LimeLoop’s digital platform – retailers can more efficiently determine whether a returned item is damaged, repairable, reusable, resellable, or donatable. 

Retailers, then, have real-time, two-way conversations about their products by way of the data. And thus, begin to nurture a stronger and smarter system built to withstand supply chain challenges. Think of the possibilities! Say a customer in Philadelphia wants to order an item you just ran out of. It’s going to take a couple months to replenish the inventory in that particular fulfillment center. However, your fulfillment center in Detroit just received a return of that exact item. What’s stopping you from having that new order in Philadelphia fulfilled with the returned item in Detroit, especially if you know all there is to know about where it’s been and who’s handled it? 

Nothing.

A.K.A – customer delight not customer disappointment.

The Reusies: the award ceremony for reuse

On September 30th, Upstream and Closed Loop Partners held their first-ever national reuse awards ceremony complete with an invigorating panel discussion, inspiring award winners, and a VIP after-party.

Host, Danni Washington, TV personality and science communicator, was joined by panelists:

Bridget Croke, Managing Director at Closed Loop Partners;

Matt Prindiville, CEO and Chief Solutioneer at Upstream; 

Benjamin Von Wong, Artist and Activist, and;

Elizabeth Segran, Senior Staff Writer for Fast Company

The Reusies began as just an idea thought of by a solution-forward NGO.

A.k.a – the team behind the event’s fruition. And like most great ideas, it resolved a collective need. The sustainability industry needed a way to recognize its “reuse heroes,” especially those making moves in activism, reuse, and community. With the work yet to be done in sustainability at the forefront of everyone’s mind, Upstream saw the significant progress made and wanted to showcase it. Pulling resources and people together, Upstream sparked the beginning of what’s possible with an award ceremony for reuse.

We, here at LimeLoop, believe it’s important to highlight this progress, as well; even seemingly small victories are worth celebrating, and the history behind society’s climate-forward evolution is worth mentioning. Prindiville touches upon this when he says:

“When I was a kid, there was only one bin; it was the trash bin. And then we got the recycling bin a little while later. And we got the composting bin. And in the future we’re going to have the reuse bin.” 

We, too, believe in that future. It is possible. In time, and so long as we, as in all of us, including you, too, continue to explore and persevere in sustainability. LimeLoop sees events, such as The Reusies, as reasons to remain engaged in changing the policy, the product, and the culture to move us closer towards that reuse bin.

As Prindiville pointed out in the panel discussion (segments of which may be found on YouTube), policy is a key factor in driving change. During WWII, convenience wasn’t prioritized. Supporting the war was, which demanded collective effort and bred a collective purpose. After the war, however, people were left asking, “what do we do now?” It was then, society adopted and promoted disposability. Disposable products, such as dinnerware, became mainstream as post-war life unfurled.

But we’ve spread ourselves too thin. Now it’s time to face the consequences – once again, we’re left asking, “what do we do now?” But it isn’t all doom and gloom. Croke said in the panel discussion:

“What we realize is that actually because of that challenge we’re creating one of the biggest investment opportunities, I think, of our lifetime, to completely transform the way supply chains work.

The challenge Croke alludes to is the “visibility around the issue of plastics and material and marine debris taking over what we see in the media everyday.” There’s an urgency around these issues, and brands are responding.

Croke believes the revenue opportunities in transforming packaging from a “cost center” for brands to, rather, an elevation of customer experiences adds value to sustainability, reuse, and circularity.

Segran adds, “I think one of the most interesting things about this whole mess we find ourselves in is that I don’t think we really enjoy throw-away culture that much.”And we’d say, she’s right. Where’s the enjoyment in breaking down cardboard boxes each week for recycling? Where’s the enjoyment in drinking coffee from a paper cup or eating dinner from a plastic take-out container? Quite frankly we deserve better. And we can provide better. 

“At the end of the day, I think, this kind of social change happens as a result of seeing others who believe in the same things that you do,” says Von Wong.

Cultural consumer behavior changes when we engage with the change rather than react to it.

Von Wong, who uses his art as awareness and education to engage with people at different stages in their reuse or sustainability journey, points out that we all need to ask ourselves, perhaps not what we do now, but what kind of world we want to live in.

Collectively, as these panelists and the award winners have demonstrated, we have the power to change the world. LimeLoop believes one way to do so is to ship with reusable packaging, which indeed changes the way supply chains work and the way customers experience ecommerce.

Named Honorable Mention for The Most Innovative Reuse Company, our passion for sustainability and circularity was reignited. LimeLoop is proud and grateful to have mixed and mingled with some of the VIPs – Very Important Protectors – of our sustainable future.

Vanessa Tiongson, Upstream’s Marketing and Communications Director, sums it up best when asked about next steps:

“These solutions are happening now. This isn’t a crazy fever dream. It’s going to take each and every one of us, whether you’re a big or small influencer or just one person with a couple friends; it’s up to us to talk and spread the word – to inspire each other’s experiences. We’ve just scratched the surface.”

Reusable packaging for holiday shipping

Photo by Gabriel Garcia Marengo on Unsplash

“Good luck getting your holiday gifts delivered on time this year. You’ll need it,” writes Chris Isadore in an October 2020 CNN Business article. He adds, “Demand for shipping has reached levels they didn’t expect to deliver until several years from now.” The they he’s referring to are the carriers delivering the sea of packages ordered online in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic. There’s no denying the system bog as carriers and delivery drivers around the country struggled to keep up with e-commerce demand, impacting businesses and consumers alike.

What, then, is in store for 2021?

Well, Isadore’s words may reign true. Starting October 1, a slowdown of all first-class USPS deliveries, originally proposed by Postmaster General Louis DeJoy back in June, will take effect, delaying first-class mail by up to 5 days sent from certain areas of the country.

And not only will brands need to ship those  gifts much earlier this year, but they’ll be paying more to ship them with USPS, as well. Kimberlee Speakman, for Forbes, outlines some of the important facts, including:

Under the proposal, customers can expect to pay from 25 cents more for packages up to 10 pounds, up to as much as $5 more for packages weighing between 21 and 70 pounds.

The additional fees would be added to packages shipped between Oct. 3 and Dec. 26

The USPS started charging more for packages sent by retailers and large shipping companies last year, adding surcharges ranging between 24 cents and $1.50 per package.

With e-commerce’s heavy traffic expected to continue, shipping orders and gifts is going to cost brands and consumers even more time and money this 2021 holiday season, without guarantee packages will arrive on time. This, of course, isn’t forgetting the predictable, single-use packaging waste to come.

There’s a better way – a smarter way.

The Webinar:

There’s a lot going on in the world, already, and with the rules changing, making shipping even more analog and expensive, it’s time we learn from the past – if even just the past year – and prepare for the future. 

It was David Biello, TED’s Science Curator who said:

“It’s not just saving the planet. In fact it’s not really saving the planet. It’s saving ourselves. You know, the planet has dealt with climate change many times before, and honestly the planet will be fine. Our civilization, if we don’t act now, and act quickly, will not be fine.”

And the best ways to save ourselves? Education and collective cooperation. Thus, in support of sustainability education, the theme of its August Giveback, and collective circularity, LimeLoop presents its first webinar: Reusable Packaging for Holiday Shipping in hopes of inspiring and easing holiday shipping experiences this season. 

Topics covered in this webinar:

1. Holiday Forecasts and Opportunities
2. How Reusable Packaging Works
3. Implementing Reusable Packaging

The webinar will take 20 to 25 minutes. So, whether you’re setting up the basics or shipping what may feel like your millionth package, join LimeLoop to review what you might know and to learn what you might not. 

August giveback: center for ecoliteracy

LimeLoop Gives Back

Gearing up for the start of school and hybrid work, also means inspiring new methods, mindsets, and systems as both schools and companies continue to adapt. Recently, the World Economic Forum (WEF) released a report concluding, “If the world reused just 10% of plastic packaging, as much as half of our annual plastic waste would be prevented from entering the ocean.” 

Sustainable living is how we adapt. And reusable packaging is a step to sustainability. Yet it isn’t just about the packaging – it’s about the education, too. For, if we are to reuse we must relearn. 

Thus, this August, LimeLoop is donating 10% of all proceeds to support the Center of Ecoliteracy in their efforts to “cultivate education for sustainable living,” and to encourage the post-pandemic transition into more sustainable perspectives.

The Center for Ecoliteracy

Founded in 1995, in Berkley, California by Fritijof Capra, author and systems thinker; Peter Buckley, business leader, farmer, and philanthropist; and executive director Zenobia Barlow, “a pioneer in creating models of schooling for sustainability,” the Center for Ecoliteracy, or the Center, as its referred to, began as “dedicated to education for sustainable living,” as it is now.

“Thoughtful words have the power to influence impactful action. The Center for Ecoliteracy started on a few words which have inspired millions to act on living sustainably, and we are thrilled to join them in this mission.” 

Ashley Etling, co-founder and CEO of LimeLoop

Through its many projects and initiatives, including:

“California Thursdays” – serves more than 334 million farm-to-table meals a year to a statewide network of school districts;

and

“California Food for California Kids®” –  supports “systems change by improving children’s health, education, and the state’s economy” – 

the Center for Ecoliteracy provides educational opportunities to students and professionals collectively looking to live more sustainably.

Interested in signing up for LimeLoop reusable packaging and supporting the Center for Ecoliteracy cause?

Profit & planet: reuse and reverse logistics at scale

When co-founders, CEO Ashley Etling and CTO Chantal Emmanuel, first started LimeLoop, they shared a frustration around single-use packaging and its effects on not only the environment but the economy, too. To combat single-use packaging waste, LimeLoop raised $100k, within its first month of its WeFunder campaign, in hopes of improving the supply chain.

“From a funding side, we’re definitely an early stage startup. But we have seen very early growth.” LimeLoop trialed its business model in partnership with Toad&CO, an outdoor retail apparel company based in Santa Barbara, to “test the logistics and the supply chain, and really understand the data infrastructure to add value to brands,” says Etling.  

Adding value to brands and consumers’ e-commerce experiences is exactly what Etling and Emmanuel pitch to host, Manuel Bleve, in this episode of Angel Notes.  

Profit & Planet

To understand the added value in LimeLoop’s Profit and Planet pitch, we must first identify Profit and Planet.

The Added Value – Brands

The feat of changing the current supply chain infrastructure, designed 150 years ago, from linear to circular is a daunting one. And while the nonprofit sector continues to make great strides in this area, the scale needed for any long term solution will require us to take the double bottom line into account. But how?

The Roadmap

Shipping is expensive, particularly in e-commerce, when considering the consumer experience. Returns drive up the costs of goods and communications between brands and consumers (and vice versa) are often lagged and inefficient. With LimeLoop, profit may result from the value added to a brand’s shipping and logistics. This, then, translates further to their relationships signaled by the brand’s environmental values and the connectivity offered from timely insights into the Shipper’s journey. 

A LimeLoop Shipper may be reused up to 200x, making it the perfect host for BLE (bluetooth low energy) sensors. Not only do brands save up to 40% in shipping costs by implementing reusable Shippers (Profit), while being able to quantify environmental savings (Planet), they also may begin to leverage reverse logistics.

Reverse Logistics & Returns

E-commerce returns rose to 70 percent, with 1.8 million returns initiated daily with UPS, in 2020. It costs a brand anywhere from $10 to $20 to process an item’s return. Not to mention the added waste –  5 billion tons of it. 

“A lot of integrating and changing the work systems of third-party logistics involved getting the shippers back as quickly as possible, so that you’re able to put those back into rotation quickly. And obviously, minimize the loss of the cost of goods,” explains Emmanuel to Bleve. 

When a brand uses LimeLoop’s Shippers and logistical data, the return process is seamlessly incorporated into the reuse process. Customers need only to place their returns inside the Shipper, place a pre-paid, already printed shipping label inside the outer pocket, and wait for it to be picked up. Then, specific to a brand, data is continually collected as the package makes its way to its necessary destination. 

Data – the package’s temperature, open-rate, and location – are collected and shared on a web-based platform, allowing brands and consumers the experience of brick-and-mortar due to the end-to-end visibility LimeLoop provides. This aids in eliminating return waste from the very start, but of course that can’t always be the case.

The Added Value – Consumers

LimeLoop’s pitch of Profit and Planet applies to consumers both indirectly and directly. 

Indirectly, consumers shopping with brands using LimeLoop Shippers have access to similar data as enterprises and SMB brands would – their environmental savings of CO2, water, trees, and oil. Directly, consumers have access to tracking and customer service features; moreover is the access to knowledge of an alternative way, a sustainable way, to consume goods.

“The information that’s available today is just not sufficient for people to be able to plan their lives around it, and so we wanted to get more granular in that data about where the package is and then therefore, learn more about how to streamline the delivery process to make that easier,” explains Emmanuel.

LimeLoop’s technology allows consumers to seamlessly fit reuse into their lives by interconnecting them with the brands they shop with and by streamlining e-commerce so that it is as if stepping right into the store. Yet, there’s another reason for consumers to consider reuse. 

Reuse vs. Recycling 

In Maine, taxpayers are paying an estimated $16 million annually to manage packaging materials and, at best, only 36% of these materials are being recycled. 

In Minnesota, taxpayers are taxed 9.75% of their total recycling bill – a bill calculated and sent to residents to cover the collection, transfer, storage, or disposal costs of recyclable items. 

In Indiana, 37% of taxpayers’ dollars are used to cover municipal recycling programs, which are still forced to shut down due to the volume of recyclables and the decreased market value of said materials.

Thus, consumers are paying for their recycling – plastic, metal, glass, and cardboard – to be processed when the reality is that only 9% of plastic packaging is actually recycled, while only 68% of cardboard is recycled. There is legislation in place to shift the costs of recycling to businesses producing the waste rather than to the taxpayers attempting to live green. But the real problems remain: volume and decreased market value. Problems only reuse and circularity can solve.

Because there’s little demand for recycled products, but an uptake in e-commerce, the surplus of material lands in landfills along with the returned items and all the single-use packaging. Purchasing or renting Shippers from LimeLoop, or shopping with brands who use LimeLoop Shippers, decreases the amount of packaging needed to be recycled or disposed of for both brands and consumers through reuse of the Shipper for not only deliveries, but returns, too. 

WeFunder

In raising $100k on WeFunder, LimeLoop plans to illuminate the ways in which the system can become a seamless marriage of Profit and Planet. Integrating reuse into the lives of consumers and into the business models of brands provides a bridge between sustainability and convenience.

“To get to a billion dollar company, we only have to capture 0.05%. So it just shows when you look at it from that perspective how large the market is and how ripe it is for change,” Etling points out to Bleve. She adds, “To make this systemic change, multiple companies [will need] to be big players within this whole system.”

 LimeLoop is ready. Are you?

5 single-use to reusable swaps

Since the 1950s, about 8.3 billion tons of plastic has been produced. That’s equivalent to the weight of roughly a billion elephants or 47 million blue whales. 

Sadly, though, only about 9% of this plastic is recycled, 12% is burned, and the remaining 79% ends up in landfills or the environment.

Wait, what?

Plastic production, and consequently its pollution, is expected to double by 2025. The equivalent of a truckload of plastic enters the ocean every minute. Let’s not make that two. 

July is Plastic Free month and in spirit, LimeLoop is sharing its top five ways to supplement single-use plastics.

1. Reusable Water Bottles

Beverage companies alone produce over 500 billion single-use plastic bottles annually. Reusable water bottles eliminate the need for single-use plastic bottles when used at refill stations.

Often found in schools, offices, gyms, grocery stores and airports, water bottle refilling stations, such as ELKAY, not only provide students and commuters a space to refill their bottles, but they also track how many 20 oz plastic bottles are saved with each refill.

On an individual scale, 156 plastic bottles are saved per person annually by using reusable water bottles. In 2015, Jefferson Labs saved 84,000 plastic bottles from landing in landfills and the ocean by implementing refill stations throughout their campus. 

See here for the consumer approved reusable water bottles.

2. Grocery and Food Reusables

The food and beverage industry races against time to come up with sustainable and reusable options from take-out containers to cutlery, but they aren’t the only industry giants shifting methods.

Grocery store chains are actively working to eliminate their plastic produce and grocery bags.

Retail giant, Walmart, announced it was eliminating its plastic bags in Maine in response to new legislation. In Maine and beyond, consumers can use reusable produce and shopping bags to collectively reduce single-use consumption.

Options such as these reusable produce and grocery bags, make-and-take containers, and these reusable ziplock bags, make purchasing and storing food low-to-no waste.

3. Alternative Straws

An estimated 7.5 million plastic straws pollute US coastlines.  Who doesn’t remember the image of a sea turtle with a straw stuck in its nose? 

We’ll wait.

The plastic straw ban, though arguably imperfect, collectively changed how consumers reconsider their consumption options, creating a demand for alternatives to plastic straws. 

Reusable straws or compostable straws, such as bamboo, stainless steel, or paper, aid in eliminating plastic straw pollution. Often accompanying a reusable cup, reusable straws are effortless to wash or compost. 

4. Reusable Menstrual Cups and Cloth Diapers

In the US alone, about 12 billion pads and 7 billion tampons are thrown out. What if a woman only had to throw away 4 small menstrual cups over the course of her menstrual cycle instead of 8,000 to 17,000 tampons?

There’d be a 300 ton difference in waste. 

Reusable menstrual cups landed in the market first in the 1980s as latex rubber cups. By the beginning of the 21st century, though, silicone versions started becoming more and more popular.

Because menstrual cups can last up to 10 years, their reusability eliminates the need for tampons and pads completely. Insertion is similar to other menstrual products and cleaning is easy.

Additionally, in 2016, an estimated 20 billion disposable diapers were added to landfills throughout the country each year, creating about 3.5 million tons of waste.

Cloth diapers mitigated a half-ton of waste per child, but more can be done. Much like menstrual cups, cloth diapers are rewashable, lasting up to 10 to 20 months when cared for.

5. Shop and Invest in Sustainable Brands 

More and more brands are seeking alternative packaging and shipping methods to become more sustainable. 

LimeLoop partners, such as Toad & CO and UpChoose, offer sustainable and reusable products that ship in a LimeLoop Shipper. 

Further, consumers can purchase a LimeLoop shipper directly from LimeLoop – becoming a part of the solution. 

Check out more ways to go plastic free this July! 

And, join LimeLoop in the next stage of its ambitious growth strategy to tackle waste and frustration in the traditionally single-use e-commerce and retail experiences. 

There’s only one week left to invest in LimeLoop through its WeFunder campaign.

Tech and the fourth wave of environmentalism

Make Lasting Environmental Impact by Leveraging Technologies in New Ways.

The rate of technological advancements since the recent turn of the 21st century has been unlike anything we’ve seen before. According to Moore’s Law, technological abilities grow exponentially, with computer processing speeds doubling every 18 months. With so much growing potential, and its many forms becoming more and more ubiquitous in our lives, it’s no wonder that in looking for ways to tackle our current environmental challenges, we’ve been looking to innovative technologies to provide the solution.

In looking at our societies’ evolving approach to environmental challenges, major shifts have been marked by four distinct eras, or waves. We’ll examine our current, fourth wave and what it means for today’s business approaches.

The First 3 Waves

Marked by President Theodore Roosevelt’s land conservation initiatives, the first era took place in the 19th century. The second wave leveraged legislation to hold government and corporations responsible for their roles in contributing to wildlife pollution, seeing its height in the mid-20th century. Then in the late-20th century, we saw a shift in focus to market-based solutions to solve these problems. The common thread between these different approaches was that they leveraged what was available at the time to bring lasting changes.  It is no surprise then that our current wave is centered on the use of innovation, especially through technology, to apply those changes at scale.

The Fourth Wave

Not only does the fourth wave leverage available technology in new ways, it draws on a very important lesson that we’ve learned in our previous wave – business practices and sustainability practices are not only at odds with one another, but require one another to meet their individual goals.

“In any era, solving environmental problems means making use of the best available tools. In this era, those tools include innovations that can help drive transparency, responsibility, and least-cost action.” – Fred Krupp

The 7 Innovation Technologies

While infinite types of technologies will contribute to the fourth wave, the report focused on seven in particular:

Mobile Ubiquity

The last wave saw a shift from desktop programs to the cloud, as we continue to untether ourselves from conventional workstations, the fourth wave will continue to highlight the importance of developing solutions for mobile execution.

Automation Technologies

We’re seeing technology applied to more quickly and accurately perform repetitive tasks previously performed by humans. 

Data Analytics

We generate 2.5 quintillion bytes of data a day. Our ability to quickly analyze and create practices around what we learn will be a key feature of the fourth wave.

Blockchain

While often confused with bitcoin and cryptocurrency, blockchain as a technology is actually a really secure way of transferring and storing data. Making it a great tool for medical and financial data. Still convinced blockchain isn’t going to take off? Walmart just recently won a patent for a system that would house medical records on a blockchain for faster lookups.

Sharing Technology

Solving global problems will require adapting a global mindset. Open source practices and collaborative thinking will need to be part of the DNA of business practices.

Sensors

As sensors continue to become more affordable and use cases more adaptable, we’re seeing them leveraged in new ways to help detect, measure and visualize environments.

“When sensors, machine learning, IT, and data analytics are used to shape smart policy, rein in free riders, and reward corporate responsibility, the result will be positive change that helps people and nature prosper.” Fred Krupp

Innovations at Work

While we’ve just scratched the surface on the potential of some of these technologies, companies are already successfully implementing many of them. For example, orbiting 500 miles above the earth’s surface is the Sentinel-5 Precursor satellite. To help us better understand the sources of global warming causing greenhouse gases, it’s measuring hot spots of air pollution around the globe. Adding sensors to Google Street View cars enables them to map out occurrences of methane gas leaks in many major US cities.

Among retail companies, more focus is being put on using automation technologies to increase efficiencies and productivity. Everything from robots to stock shelves, to apps that allow shoppers to ring up their own groceries are being tested for eventual rollout. If in the Seattle area, you can already check out Amazon Go, their smart grocery store that employs computer vision, deep learning algorithms, and sensor fusions to allow shoppers to put the groceries they want into their bags, walk out the store without waiting in line and be charged via the app.

Levi Strauss & Co’s automation efforts are focused on the manufacturing side of the process. They’ve introduced Project F.L.X. (future-led execution), a “new model [that] replaces manual techniques and automates the jeans finishing process, allowing the company to reduce the number of chemical formulations used in finishing from thousands to a few dozen”.  Through the program, they’re able to not only cut down on thousands of chemical formulations but also reduce textile waste.

Executives and the Fourth Wave

A recent report by the Environmental Defense Fund took a deeper look at these seven innovative technologies, and how companies leverage them. They surveyed 500 top-level executives (VP, SVP, and C-suite) of retail, manufacturing, energy, technology and finance industries making over $500 million in revenue.  The goal was to examine the intersection of business strategy, technological innovation and corporate responsibility.

Some key takeaways:

• Over 70% of business leaders see greater alignment between business and environmental goals.
• Executives see sensors and data analytics as the most promising innovations.
• Almost half of executives cite government regulations as drivers to implement Fourth Wave technologies, while more than 40% cite pressure from customers and positive business results.
• The retail industry scored the highest for constantly trying to find new ways to reduce its environmental impact, 78% of retail executives say their business and environmental goals are more aligned than five years ago, 65% of respondents attributing that to an increase in Fourth Wave technological advancements.

A company’s adoption of environmental practices does not just help to maximize efficiencies, it’s an increasingly growing demand from customers and employees alike. Consumers are holding companies accountable for their impact, of the leaders surveyed, 80% felt that this would continue to increase. 84% of these same leaders said that having sustainability-based business practices helped them attract and retain talent.  This is a trend that’s sure to continue to increase as numerous studies show that purpose driven career choices are becoming the norm among younger generations.

What’s Next

Leveraging technological solutions to today’s environmental issues is not only a moral obligation but also a financial one to a growing number of companies. Long gone are the days when large corporations could argue that corporate responsibility is at odds with revenue goals and shareholder obligations. As EDF President Fred Krupp explains, “The Fourth Wave is not pro-tech for technology’s sake. It’s pro-tech because we see incredible opportunity for people around the world to use technology to scale environmental solutions as never before”.

Behind the green: a conversation between co-founders

Behind the Green: a Podcast Conversation Between the Founders of LimeLoop, CTO Chantal Emmanuel and CEO Ashley Etling.

Chantal: if you weren’t an entrepreneur, what would you be doing?

Ashley: Probably something in food and wine. And, I always said, too, that if I didn’t get into entrepreneurship, I’d probably still be in school, because one way or another you are constantly learning, and I think that’s something with food and wine as well. While they seem so simple, there’s endless opportunities for both. 

Chantal: For sure, I was trying to think of what my answer to this would be, and similarly I think that there is something about building and making and food that each lends itself to that that’s very similar to the building of a company too.

Ashley: Yeah I think that in those really long days I joke: “Why don’t I just make cheese?” And someone tells me, “you can’t just make cheese, Ashley. It would have to be the world renowned cheese…” So I think it’s the love for making and making at scale. 

Chantal: …But is there anything like that where you set out with a hypothesis, or you thought you understood something, and through this journey has completely kind of turned that around for you?

Ashley: I think anyone who says “no” to that would be completely off in what they are saying, in any journey that they go down, especially building a new company. As you get deeper into the problem, new problems arise, and so that’s why I love it so much, oddly. And especially when you are working in supply-chain logistics, there is so much that goes into it. As you get into it, you realize some new things. I think one thing we quickly realized, which we were kind of thinking we would run into, is consumer behavior change, that making this shift to actually bringing your boxes out to the recycling bin versus leaving it on your front door would be a large shift, but actually we found really quickly that people were so delighted by this shift and feeling a relief of guilt. 

As we started working with warehouse management systems, [we found] a lot of software that a lot of 3PLs and DC centers use to actually fulfill orders were all designed for retail 150 years ago. Some were up to speed, some were not, some were in the middle. So being able to generate a third or a second label actually created more challenges than we ever thought would bring up into the system. So we continue to run into things like that, but the beautiful part of a problem solving team is that you constantly ask, can you solve that manually, [or] can you solve it with software, and I think that’s a continued fun of what we are working on.

Chantal: For sure, and you answered my next question which I feel like people ask me sometimes, “Why are you a logistics company? Aren’t you a packaging company?” And I think even when you brought the idea to me, I’m like “that sounds great, but why do you need a CTO for reusable packaging?” and I think you just hit the nail on the head that the packaging is really just one part of it, but I would love to hear you elaborate on the bigger system, on the bigger vision for that.

Ashley: Yeah, I mean I constantly talk to really, really inspiring, smart people within the industry and [when] you start to talk about that, we always look at this bigger vision where we all have this kind of coined word that has kind of become a buzz word which is ‘autonomous delivery,’ and these robots moving around almost back to The Jetsons. And, you know we’re not that far off, but we’re far enough off that 10 years of continuing to build up and do things the way we are will have that double bottom line impact on the environment and then also move into the profitability of a lot of these brands. So, we really looked at this ‘what’s the in-between’ until we get to that true autonomous delivery, and I think that’s where I continue to be excited that we are building up to this bigger vision where eventually we eliminate packaging, which is very exciting. 

Chantal: Cannot wait. Clearly there is still a pile. 

I think everyone assumes that we don’t order online and if anything it’s the opposite where we are feeling this pain and where we are looking for our own solution as well.

Ashley: Yeah, and I still get so excited when a LimeLoop shipper shows up at the front door [amid] a pile of cardboard boxes is just such, such a delight

Chantal: Oh, it stands out in the best way possible. What does it take to scale something like LimeLoop?

Ashley: The two big things I always say and have on my computer when I wake up in the morning is ‘simplify, simplify, simplify,’ which brings it back to focus of what we’re truly trying to solve, because it is a huge, huge problem and many layers that go underneath that, and then 100 nos equals one yes.

You’re going to continue to come across the people who actually don’t understand and don’t know where that’s going, but then the yeses are where the collaboration comes in and really starts to bring it to that scale. So by taking those core basics and building that solid foundation, that’s where we can start to see a scale. And then the other part is just the full collaboration of carriers and consumers and brands to really spearhead this, and that becomes this really incredible vision that we can’t wait for, when you go to UPS or FedEx, and you drop off the LimeLoop shipper, and you get to come in behind me and actually grab that shipper and use it for a package as well.

Chantal: I love that. Obviously, we have our big goals, but then the smaller goals I have in my own head are one of things like when a friend or family member calls me up and gets a package … and then a lot of the things we see posting online that has a lot of testing is that people are looking for this solution or are excited about the future of it. And those collaborations, as you mentioned, are another one where those folks are reaching out because they recognize that you start to see it all start melding together. 

But, The elephant in the room of this year that is Covid-19, you know obviously when we think about ecommerce, we think about packets, we can’t’ really think about that without thinking about Covid-19, so [I’m] curious about how you see that relationship and what has to happen next in response to it.

Ashley: I think what Covid-19 revealed in the supply-chain is that we’re not clear where all of our supply sits. And when we have something so critical as Covid and needing immediate help from PPP all the way to basic needs like toilet paper and food and water, when you’re unaware where that inventory is and where to move it, that’s where we really start to show that [smart reusable packaging] is a true critical need as we move forward, especially with ecommerce. So what we found very quickly, the road map we had developed was accelerated 3-5 years which is what we are seeing with most software companies that we’re now living in 2023 yet we have 2019 technology that’s built for that.

So it’s this rapid increase to develop and to push forward, so on one end it’s been incredible to be a part of it and to be that solution. On the other end, it’s just really pulling together as much as possible to work collaboratively to be able to move into 2023, and sometimes I think people feel it overnight.

Chantal: Exactly. That’s been one of the positives through this all, too – these big brands had to figure out how to work almost like a startup and change on the drop of a dime when the suppliers are calling from China that they can’t deliver, what does that mean for your next one. And so for us who have been living in that world from the very beginning, it’s very serendipitous that we are able to come in and provide that solution for other sustainability for these brands, which is amazing. 

For more and to listen to the full episode, find the LimeLoop podcast Behind the Green wherever you get your podcasts.

The need for a circular solution

With the rise of consumerism, and the continued expectation of convenience and fast delivery, online shopping undoubtedly embedded itself in our culture. In a letter to shareholders, Amazon CEO, Jeff Bezos revealed they have more than 100 million Prime subscribers. The digital economy has officially arrived. Inevitably, every new age brings with it a new set of challenges.

E-commerce’s rise simultaneously resulted in a momentous rise in packaging waste. At LimeLoop, instead of focusing on the existing packaging solutions – traditionally cardboard boxes and plastic poly mailers – we chose to re-imagine an entirely new shipping landscape and introduce a circular solution: smart reusable packaging.

Why, you ask, do we need to consider alternative shipping materials? After all, cardboard boxes and paper mailers are recyclable. As it turns out, recycling is a complex matter. What consumers understand as recyclable has led to a significant amount of non-recyclables making their way into single-stream containers. From plastic bags, organic matter to metal… you name it. Today, the average contamination rate sits at approximately 25%, which translates into 1 in every 4 non-recyclable item being placed in a recycling container.

For example, when foods or liquids contaminate good cardboard and paper, their value is lost and, are then, un-recyclable. Papers can only be recycled 5 to 7 times before the cellulose fibers become too short, as stated by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).  And with rising recycling costs  and as much as we like to think our packaging materials are being recycled, that is not entirely accurate.

The Circular Solution

Rather than emulating the current packaging and shipping ecosystem, we decided to shift our thinking towards envisioning a different kind of shipping landscape. We asked ourselves, what if we shipped items using something that is not a cardboard box? What would that look like? How would it move an item from point A to B? Beyond product, what else could this shipper hold? How would it interact with the user and the environment? And the list goes on.

In this stage of the brainstorming process, we don’t edit ourselves. No question is stupid, and no answer is correct (or wrong). The goal is to think outside of the (cardboard) box, literally, and examine the root of the problem. Essentially, we were looking to solve for packaging waste in a sustainable way, as opposed to designing a single product to replace the cardboard box. This means examining form, function, and material use for the entirety of the product lifecycle. The result: a full-circle shipping solution in the form of a reusable, trackable shipper that lasts up to 10 years.

How it Works

The LimeLoop shipper is made from recycled billboard vinyl and is designed to be reused over and over, in place of a cardboard box or mailer. Designed to be modular, the shipper can snap and contract as needed. When expanded, the shipper is large enough to hold up to 11 adult shirts comfortably. Waterproof, abrasion-proof, and trackable, the shipper is built to last up to 10 years. This extended lifecycle reduces carbon emissions, energy, and the consumption of valuable resources such as trees, water, and oil.

When you receive your order from participating brands, all you need to do is take your product out, flip the mailing label over, and put the shipper back in the mailbox instead of in the trash. The shipper is then mailed back to the brand so it can be used again for the next customer. As we like to say, it’s as easy as zip, flip + ship.