Giant Food to offer reusable packaging option

Giant Food will provide durable, reusable containers at select stores in the Washington, D.C. metro area starting in fall 2022.

The regional mid-Atlantic grocery chain is partnering with TerraCycle to offer the company’s Loop circular reuse packaging solution. Customers at participating Giant stores can purchase their Loop-ready products in refillable, reusable containers found in branded displays.

After a customer uses the products, they can return the empty packaging to the Loop return point located at each participating store. Loop will then pick up the empty containers to be sanitized, then returned to brands to be refilled and returned to the store for future purchase.

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

Kroger makes Loop available at Fred Meyer

Giant is following in the footsteps of The Kroger Co., which began offering a selection of products in reusable packaging rather than in single-use plastic in certain Fred Meyer locations.

America’s largest grocery retailer is partnering with Loop to provide an assortment of more than 20 products from leading consumer brands packaged in reusable containers at 25 Fred Meyer stores it owns in the Portland metro area. After using the containers, customers return them to their local participating Fred Meyer store to go through a similar sanitization and return process as followed by Giant.

The new Loop assortment at Kroger includes a combination of food and household products from a range of brands, including Arbor Teas, Cascade, Clorox, Gerber, Nature's Heart, Nature's Path, Pantene, Seventh Generation, and Stubb's, as well as Kroger's own Simple Truth brand. More brands are expected to be added to the Kroger Loop product portfolio in the coming months.

"Giant is committed to taking sustainable actions that reduce plastic waste from our landfills and improve our environment,” said Diane Couchman, VP category management, non-perishables 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.”

 “Loop’s goal has always been to grow, scale and be accessible to consumers around the world,” said 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.”

 Giant Food is headquartered in Landover, Md., and operates 164 supermarkets in Virginia, Maryland, Delaware, and the District of Columbia.  Included within the 164 stores are 152 full-service pharmacies, 92 full-service PNC Banks and 26 Starbucks locations.