Giant Food Bringing Loop to D.C. Metro Area

Retailer will offer food and household products in durable reusable packaging

7/26/2022

TerraCycle's Loop platform will enable customers of Giant Food to buy Loop-ready products and then bring the empty containers to Loop Return Points at the retailer's stores.

Giant Food is set to become the latest retail partner to bring Terracycle’s circular reuse platform, Loop, to customers. This fall, customers in the Washington, D.C.-metro area will be able to buy everyday products in durable reusable containers found at Loop branded displays in participating Giant stores.

“Giant is committed to taking sustainable actions that reduce plastic waste from our landfills and improve our environment,” said Diane Couchman, VP category management, nonperishables at Giant Food. “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.”

Using the platform, customers can buy Loop-ready products and then bring the empty containers to a Loop Return Point at Giant. From there, the containers go to Loop to be sanitized, and are then returned to brands to be refilled and brought to the store for future purchase.

“Loop’s goal has always been to grow, scale and be accessible to consumers around the world,” noted Tom Szaky, founder and CEO of Trenton, N.J.-based 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.”

To ensure that all of the reusable containers used in the Loop process maintain advanced cleaning and sanitization, Loop consults with cleaning and hygiene solutions and services provider Ecolab Inc. for on-site design and equipment, as well as the chemistry of the cleaning processes.

Among other U.S. grocers, Loop rolled out at Kroger-owned Fred Meyer stores in the Portland, Ore., metro area in February 2022.

Based in Landover, Md., Giant Food operates 164 supermarkets in Virginia, Maryland, Delaware and the District of Columbia, with approximately 20,000 associates. Included within the 164 stores are 152 full-service pharmacies, 83 full-service PNC Banks and 26 Starbucks locations. Parent company Ahold Delhaize USA is No. 10 on The PG 100, Progressive Grocer’s 2022 list of the top food and consumables retailers in North America. Cincinnati-based Kroger is No. 4 on The PG 100.