Consumer backlash over plastic packages has retailers looking for solutions, but none are easy

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It’s two weeks before Christmas, and Toronto’s Eaton Centre is decked with a 108-foot artificial tree and elephantine reindeer speckled with lights. Shoppers amble by, toting purchases in clusters of bags – a holiday parade of packaging.

There are plastic bags from Hudson’s Bay, Best Buy, Uniqlo and Indigo; paper from Pink, Brandy Melville, Williams Sonoma, Zara, Lush Cosmetics and Banana Republic. Most are destined for the landfill. So, too, is much of the packaging that’s inside them.

In the midst of this plastic festival of consumerism, there are a few shoppers trying to cut back on the waste. But only a few. Nazrana Mahjabeen, 35, is holding a reusable bag from shoestore chain B2, which she has filled with presents for her family. “I’m trying,” she says. “It’s not enough.” Then she holds up a plastic H&M bag.

This twinge of guilt is familiar to many shoppers. After a year of climate strikes and multiple warnings about the urgent need for businesses to respond to climate change, surveys and retailers’ internal research suggest more consumers are thinking about sustainable shopping decisions – even if they aren’t doing much about it yet. It does not take a great cognitive leap for people to hear about an island of plastic in the sea – a floating Dorian Gray portrait for our consumer society – and to cast rueful glances at their own plastic grocery bags, Tim Hortons cups, shampoo bottles and takeout containers.

What we buy is not a small part of the problem: 47 per cent of total plastic waste in Canada comes from packaging, according to a study by Deloitte for the federal environment department. And there is little sign of progress. In a report last year, the International Energy Agency forecast that global oil demand for plastic production would surpass oil demand for road passenger transport by 2050.

Plastic is popular because it is lightweight, making it inexpensive and more fuel-efficient to ship, and cheap to produce. But its end-of-life footprint is abysmal. Over all, only 9 per cent of plastic in Canada is recycled after use, according to the Deloitte study, which estimated that 3,268 kilotonnes of plastics were discarded as waste in 2016. (That’s the equivalent, in weight, of about 24,000 empty Boeing 787 jets.) Because plastic is not as durable for recycling purposes as metal or glass, demand for recycled plastic is low, which contributes to waste. That problem has intensified since last year, when China said it would no longer buy recycling waste from other countries, including Canada.

Globally, only 14 per cent of all plastic packaging is collected for recycling, and even then, only 2 per cent of it ends up being repurposed as new packaging – while one-third of it ends up as litter somewhere in the environment, including the oceans, according to the Ellen MacArthur Foundation. This British-based charity promotes the development of a more “circular economy,” a term referring to a system that minimizes waste by reusing materials as much as possible and recycling them effectively, rather than a system that relies on using products once or twice before disposing of them. The term is gaining popularity as concerns about climate change mount.

51%

OF CANADIANS SAID

THEY’D BE MORE LIKELY TO

DO THEIR HOLIDAY SHOP

PING WITH RETAILERS THEY

SEE AS ENVIRONMENTALLY

CONSCIOUS

64%

SAID RETAILERS SHOULD

OFFER ZERO-PACKAGING

OPTIONS

17.3%

SAID THEY ARE WILLING TO

PAY MORE FOR FOOD THAT

IS SUSTAINABLE – AND

EVEN THEN, JUST 2.5 PER

CENT MORE*

SOURCES: ONLINE SURVEY OF 1,500 CANADIANS

CONDUCTED IN SEPTEMBER AND OCTOBER FOR

ACCENTURE; *DALHOUSIE REPORT, SYLVAIN

CHARLEBOIS; THE GLOBE AND MAIL

51%

OF CANADIANS SAID THEY’D BE

MORE LIKELY TO DO THEIR HOLIDAY

SHOPPING WITH RETAILERS THEY

SEE AS ENVIRONMENTALLY

CONSCIOUS

64%

SAID RETAILERS SHOULD OFFER

ZERO-PACKAGING OPTIONS

17.3%

SAID THEY ARE WILLING TO PAY

MORE FOR FOOD THAT IS SUS-

TAINABLE – AND EVEN THEN,

JUST 2.5 PER CENT MORE*

SOURCES: ONLINE SURVEY OF 1,500 CANADIANS

CONDUCTED IN SEPTEMBER AND OCTOBER FOR

ACCENTURE; *DALHOUSIE REPORT, SYLVAIN

CHARLEBOIS; THE GLOBE AND MAIL

51%

OF CANADIANS SAID THEY’D BE

MORE LIKELY TO DO THEIR HOLIDAY

SHOPPING WITH RETAILERS THEY

SEE AS ENVIRONMENTALLY

CONSCIOUS

64%

SAID RETAILERS SHOULD OFFER

ZERO-PACKAGING OPTIONS

17.3%

SAID THEY ARE WILLING TO PAY

MORE FOR FOOD THAT IS SUS-

TAINABLE – AND EVEN THEN,

JUST 2.5 PER CENT MORE*

SOURCES: ONLINE SURVEY OF 1,500 CANADIANS CONDUCTED IN SEPTEMBER

AND OCTOBER FOR ACCENTURE; *DALHOUSIE REPORT, SYLVAIN CHARLEBOIS;

THE GLOBE AND MAIL

This is a branding problem for retailers and packaged-goods companies that are facing increasing pressure not to be seen as part of the problem.

Pressure is not only coming from consumers. Policy makers have begun insisting that industry play a role in tackling the issue. Earlier this year, Canada’s federal government announced that it wants to ban “harmful” single-use plastics including disposable straws, bags and cutlery as early as 2021. In its announcement, the government said that companies should be “responsible for their plastic waste.”

Slightly more than half of shoppers reported that they would be more inclined to make their holiday purchases with retailers they see as environmentally conscious, according to a recent Accenture survey of 1,500 Canadians. Sixty-four per cent of those surveyed said they want retailers to offer zero-packaging options. But people don’t always do what they tell surveys they will, and other research indicates that consumers are not willing to pay more or sacrifice convenience for sustainable options. But this does not mean that companies can afford to ignore the problem.

“Consumers won’t share their frustration and say, you should be thinking about this. They will just say, I’ve had enough,” said Diane Brisebois, chief executive of industry group the Retail Council of Canada. “And because it’s a very competitive environment, there will be innovators in the retail sector, who will come up with sustainability practices, including packaging, that will set the bar. Retailers have a lot at stake, have a lot to lose, if they don’t pay attention.”

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It is one of the most famous marketing promotions in Canada, but Roll Up the Rim has lost step with the times. Last April, Tim Hortons parent company Restaurant Brands International Inc. blamed weak quarterly results partly on waning interest in the contest. Tims drew criticism from environmental groups for its prize giveaways tucked in the rim of disposable cups. But the company acknowledges that it’s more than just Roll Up the Rim that needs a revamp.

“There were decades when it was okay to have a car without a seat belt … when it was okay and cool to smoke, and that behaviour had to change. We are currently in a society where it’s okay to use and throw away a cup just once. We think that behaviour has to change,” said Duncan Fulton, RBI’s chief corporate officer. The company manufactures roughly two billion single-use cups a year. While they’re made with recyclable materials, municipalities across the country differ in what they accept; the result is that the majority end up in the garbage.

Tims is planning to dedicate more of its marketing spending on a campaign to encourage people to adopt reusable cups. “That’s inevitably going to mean putting more reusable cups into the hands of Canadians,” Mr. Fulton said.

This issue has picked up momentum in a very short amount of time, said Sara Wingstrand, a project manager with the Ellen MacArthur Foundation.

“Around a year ago, all the focus was mainly on recycling. That was as far as we’d gotten,” said Ms. Wingstrand, who works on the “new plastics economy” initiative, which has persuaded nearly 140 packaging producers, packaged-goods companies and retailers to sign a commitment to make 100 per cent of their plastic packaging either reusable, recyclable, or compostable by 2025. That includes swapping out single-use plastics for reusable packaging where possible.

"A very large share of the companies [in the initiative] are looking into reuse models.”

Reusable packaging is an old idea. The milkman model of returnable glass bottles fell out of fashion with the advent of cheap, disposable plastic packaging. But in many provinces the deposit-and-return system is still kicking for beer and wine bottles. In Ontario, it dates back to the end of Prohibition in 1927, said Ted Moroz, president of the Beer Store, which takes back hundreds of millions of containers each year. Most bottles are sanitized and refilled 15 to 25 times before needing to be recycled, he said. The industry absorbs the cost of the system, through fees paid by brewers, and deposits give consumers an incentive to bring back empties.

“We think that our model is really exemplary of what other industries could and should be doing,” Mr. Moroz said.

WHERE THE PLASTIC COMES FROM, 2016

PLASTIC RESIN IN PRODUCTS

IN CANADA

Packaging

Construction

33%

26%

Automotive

Electronics

Textile

TOTAL

Appliances

TONNES

Agriculture

10%

Other

6%

15%

6%

3%

1%

PLASTIC IN DISCARDED PRODUCTS

IN CANADA

Packaging

Construction

Automotive

47%

Electronics

5%

Textile

TOTAL

9%

Appliances

TONNES

Agriculture

7%

Other

7%

19%

4%

1%

THE GLOBE AND MAIL, SOURCE: DELOITTE REPORT FOR

ENVIRONMENT AND CLIMATE CHANGE CANADA

WHERE THE PLASTIC COMES FROM, 2016

PLASTIC RESIN IN PRODUCTS

IN CANADA

Packaging

Construction

33%

26%

Automotive

Electronics

Textile

TOTAL

Appliances

TONNES

Agriculture

10%

Other

6%

15%

6%

3%

1%

PLASTIC IN DISCARDED PRODUCTS

IN CANADA

Packaging

Construction

Automotive

47%

Electronics

5%

Textile

TOTAL

9%

Appliances

TONNES

Agriculture

7%

Other

7%

19%

4%

1%

THE GLOBE AND MAIL, SOURCE: DELOITTE REPORT FOR

ENVIRONMENT AND CLIMATE CHANGE CANADA

WHERE THE PLASTIC COMES FROM, 2016

PLASTIC RESIN IN PRODUCTS

IN CANADA

PLASTIC IN DISCARDED PRODUCTS

IN CANADA

Packaging

33%

26%

47%

Construction

Automotive

5%

Electronics

TOTAL

TOTAL

9%

Textile

TONNES

TONNES

10%

Appliances

7%

Agriculture

6%

7%

15%

19%

6%

Other

4%

3%

1%

1%

THE GLOBE AND MAIL, SOURCE: DELOITTE REPORT FOR ENVIRONMENT AND CLIMATE CHANGE CANADA

Tom Szaky agrees. He’s the Canadian CEO of Trenton, N.J.-based TerraCycle, a recycling company that launched a packaging return-and-reuse program called Loop. It has signed a partnership with Canada’s biggest retailer.

Loop allows customers to return packaging for goods such as ice cream, shampoo, salad dressing and detergent, which it sanitizes and refills for resale. Loblaw Cos. Ltd. has announced a test of the project, starting with roughly 5,000 customers in the Greater Toronto Area next year.

“It’s just the way we’ll do business moving forward – we will significantly change, in some areas, how packaging is dealt with,” said Kathlyne Ross, vice-president of food product development for Loblaw brands.

Loop is already being tested in parts of the northeastern U.S. and in France, with further tests soon to come in Britain, Germany and Japan. Some of the world’s biggest packaged-goods companies, including Unilever, PepsiCo, Mars and Procter & Gamble, have redesigned packaging for Loop. Nestlé is testing Haagen Dazs in double-walled steel tubs instead of coated paper. (Loblaw is not redesigning packaging for now; its test will include a number of President’s Choice products that are in sufficiently durable packaging to be reused.)

Loop users pay a deposit for such items, placing them in a reusable bag when they’re done for curbside pickup. (Some U.S. retailers will soon test in-store returns as well.) Each bag has a customer ID for refunding deposits. Loop handles cleaning and sanitizing before returning the packages to manufacturers for refill. It is working on a Canadian facility in preparation for launch here.

Disposable packages are “very profitable and low cost. We’ve got to compete against that,” Mr. Szaky said.

The biggest surprise, he said, is that two-thirds of users cite design as the main reason for buying the products. The packages are prettier; environmentalism is just a bonus.

“I thought it would be more sustainability-driven. … But whatever gets them into a reusable platform, I don’t care,” Mr. Szaky said.

Loop’s partnership with Loblaw is exclusive for the first year, but the company is already working on signing up other Canadian partners.

“The jury's out until these models are proven at scale, including this one,” Mr. Szaky said. “Until you're using it, and so are all your friends, I can't say we've gotten there yet.”

Retailers should be part of the return and reuse model, since store returns are more efficient than curbside pickup, said Jostein Solheim, Unilever’s executive vice-president of foods and refreshment for North America. “We do see our retail partners being a critical part of the solution going forward,” he said, citing tests with Walgreens in the U.S. and Carrefour in France.

Turning a ship as big as Unilever is difficult. The company plans to grow its business by 3 per cent to 5 per cent globally each year, while also reducing its use of plastic packaging by 100,000 tonnes by 2025.

“Obviously there is a cost, but it’s not as unmanageable as you might think,” he said. “… When we move at scale, it creates opportunities in the whole economy to serve that.”

IKEA Canada recently began testing a program to take back used furniture when customers are done with it, and has already taken more than 2,000 pieces back.

“If there’s a feeling that a company is not doing their utmost help in this circular journey, [customers] might decide to shop elsewhere,” said Michael Ward, CEO of IKEA Canada.

Over the holidays, Canadians

throw away more than

540,000

tonnes

of wrapping paper and

plastic bags, which is roughly

equivalent to

45,000

full garbage trucks.

THE GLOBE AND MAIL, SOURCE: ZERO WASTE CANADA

Over the holidays, Canadians

throw away more than

540,000

tonnes

of wrapping paper and

plastic bags, which is roughly

equivalent to

45,000

full garbage trucks.

THE GLOBE AND MAIL, SOURCE: ZERO WASTE CANADA

Over the holidays, Canadians throw away more than

540,000 tonnes

of wrapping paper and plastic bags, which is roughly equivalent to

45,000

full garbage trucks.

THE GLOBE AND MAIL, SOURCE: ZERO WASTE CANADA

Sometimes reducing packaging can save money. Aldo Shoes reduced costs after it eliminated shopping bags. A string on its shoe boxes allows them to be carried without a bag.

Empire Co. Ltd. will phase out plastic bags in all of its Sobeys grocery stores by the end of January. Customers who do not bring their own bags will be charged five cents for a paper bag. The company is retraining cashiers to say, “Did you bring your reusable bag today?” instead of “Do you need bags today?” Sobeys estimates it will take 225 million plastic bags out of circulation each year. It is making small changes elsewhere as well: By asking its supplier of store uniforms to stop shipping them individually wrapped, the company avoided throwing away 2,000-pounds of plastic.

But other changes are complicated. Empire’s IGA banner, like its competitor Metro, has begun allowing customers to bring their own containers for purchases such as meat, seafood and baked goods. It prevents waste, but such programs can introduce concerns about cross-contamination if undetectable allergens are present in those containers, said Sylvain Charlebois, a professor who researches food distribution, security and safety at Dalhousie University.

Taking plastic out of the produce department is tricky too. Empire has been in discussions with greenhouse suppliers, which led to Urban Fresh stores selling tomatoes in a self-serve “tomato bar” rather than in plastic clamshell containers. But some plastic wrapping – such as the film on English cucumbers – can increase shelf life significantly.

“What you don’t want to do is unwrap items but then create food waste. It’s also about alternative solutions for packaging,” said Vittoria Varalli, vice-president of sustainability at Sobeys Inc. "There are biodegradable and compostable options being tested, and our suppliers … are really eager to test these different packaging options to see what we can make work in our stores.”

Store operators are hearing from shoppers that they want more options, she said. Labatt Breweries was seeing similar signs from customers. It recently took the shrink wrap off its Corona cans and swapped out plastic rings holding the brand’s six packs for cardboard. Customers will be motivated to spend money with brands that offer more sustainable options, said Labatt’s vice-president of marketing, Todd Allen.

“What’s good for the environment is good for business.”

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But just how good? Research shows that customers want more sustainable choices, but are not willing to pay more. In June, Prof. Charlebois of Dalhousie co-authored a report on consumer attitudes toward green initiatives in food retail, for example. It found that only 17.3 per cent of Canadians are willing to pay more for sustainable food – and even they would accept only a 2.5-per-cent price hike.

“It goes to show that both industry and governments are under tremendous pressure to come up with solutions without relying on market currency,” he said. “That’s a bit of a travesty.”

A second consideration is convenience. With giants such as Amazon.com changing consumer expectations, people have come to tolerate the extra packaging, not to mention fuel costs, that come with the convenience of delivery. Amazon declined a request for interview for this article.

Unilever’s Mr. Solheim acknowledged that recycled or reusable packaging won’t persuade people to buy a product on its own. But the company’s research shows it does significantly increase consumers’ interest in repurchasing a product. “Loyalty is the name of the game in consumer goods,” he said. “So this plays a really, really, really important role.”

A problem with this discussion is that what feels good for consumers may not be the smartest solution for the environment. It feels good to recycle, but all the fuel used in collection, and problems with sorting and material durability, make these systems inefficient. Metal cans are worth recycling because it’s resource-heavy to make new ones, and metal is durable enough to be repurposed. For other materials, it’s not so clear, said Thomas Kinnaman an economics professor at Bucknell University who works with engineers to study the life cycle of products and their economic impact.

“I was shocked to find that we should only be recycling about 15 to 20 per cent of our waste. It’s costing us more, economically and environmentally, to recycle beyond that,” he said.

WHERE THE PLASTIC ENDS UP, 2016

TOTAL: 3.3 MILLION TONNES

LANDFILL

86%

RECYCLING

9%

OTHER*

5%

*OTHER INCLUDES INCINERATION FOR ENERGY RECOVERY,

(4%) AND UNMANAGED DUMPS AND LEAKS, (1%)

WHERE THE PLASTIC ENDS UP, 2016

TOTAL

3.3 MILLION

TONNES

LANDFILL

86%

RECYCLING

9%

OTHER*

5%

*OTHER INCLUDES INCINERATION FOR ENERGY RECOVERY, (4%)

AND UNMANAGED DUMPS AND LEAKS, (1%)

WHERE THE PLASTIC ENDS UP, 2016

LANDFILL

TOTAL

86%

3.3 MILLION

RECYCLING

TONNES

9%

OTHER*

5%

*OTHER INCLUDES INCINERATION FOR ENERGY RECOVERY, (4%) AND UNMANAGED DUMPS AND LEAKS, (1%)

The same applies to reuse. For example, reusable cups take significantly more energy and materials to produce than disposable ones do, and consume more energy to wash between uses, he said. That does not mean that reusable cups are worthless, but they need to be reused many more times than people might think to be worth it. A reusable cup that you use once or twice, forget to bring with you because it’s inconvenient, and eventually throw away, is a bigger waste than the disposable version.

Life-cycle models can often assume that garbage is properly collected and buried in a landfill. If it makes its way into the ocean, however, there are other environmental impacts that change the equation. A paper bag may take more energy to produce than a plastic one, but is easier to break down. The more difficult conversation, Prof. Kinnaman said, is asking governments to invest in expensive technologies to make landfills more efficient. He says he does not believe the solution ultimately lies with businesses.

“You're at the whim of your consumers. You can't always do what the science says. You have to do what they want you to do,” he said.

Better recycling rules are needed, said the Retail Council’s Ms. Brisebois. In Canada, different municipalities have different standards for materials accepted for recycling, which makes it difficult for companies to choose “good plastic” over bad. Businesses want harmonization of the rules, she said.

“Rare is there a situation where business is asking for regulations. Most of the time I’m fighting against it,” she said. “I’ve never seen retailers so impatient about getting everybody around the table.”

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The cucumbers alone require some persistence.

To get them stacked in a neat, unwrapped pile at the Unboxed Market in Toronto’s west end, means reminding the supplier ahead of time to put down the plastic.

“At the field, they package them. … It’s a constant conversation," said store co-owner Michelle Genttner, standing in the produce aisle. “If they know that we’re coming, they’ll pull a box off and they won’t wrap it.”

This small grocery store is dedicated to using as little packaging as possible. It’s not just the dry goods you might see in a typical bulk store. There is honey, milk, olive oil and vanilla extract, all on tap; peanut and cashew butters can be scooped out of large refillable buckets; and a wall of spouts dispenses unpackaged goods such as laundry detergent, stain remover, shampoo and dish soap. Customers bring or buy reusable shopping bags, and either supply their own containers for loose goods or pay a $2 deposit for the store’s glass Bernardin jars.

“People need to shop, and there are enough people who are starting to be aware of the overwhelming crisis that we’re in, in our world right now,” she says.

Ms. Genttner and her husband bought and converted this neighbourhood grocery in October of last year. They are already breaking even – something that took a lot longer to achieve when they used to run a bar.

Ms. Genttner is hoping other retailers will make similar changes.

“That gives us a more competitive voice, and purchasing power, if more businesses are doing the same thing. You can only do so much at one time, when you’re this new, and at this scale,” she said. “Eventually this is going to, I hope, be normalized.”