Sky’s impact investment fund has made its largest investment in a zero-waste shopping service which aims to remove single-use plastic from the weekly shop.
The sustainable service, called Loop, wants to help customers reduce reliance on single-use plastic in their homes. Dubbed the “21st-Century milkman” service, groceries and household products are delivered to a customer’s home in reusable containers, which are later collected, cleaned and reused or recycled for the next customer.
Loop is an initiative from US recycling business TerraCycle. Currently available in the US and France, Loop counts P&G, Nestle and Unilever amongst the companies providing products through the service, allowing customers to receive Haagen-Dazs ice cream in reusable steel containers and Pantene shampoo in bottles made of aluminium.
Once they have finished using the items, customers can book a slot for the containers to be picked up from their home at a convenient time.
The service is also going to be launching with Tesco in 2020, making sustainability easier than ever for UK customers when it comes to food shopping.
Sky Ocean Ventures, the impact investment fund of the media arm, is investing $2 million (£1.55 million) in Loop. Established in 2018, the £25 million fund aims to support new businesses tackling plastic pollution in the oceans. Sky has made 17 investments so far including Choose Water, which makes plastic-free biodegradable water bottles and donates the proceeds to the charity Water for Africa; DAME, which created the world’s first reusable tampon applicator, and Naturbreads, a biodegradable alternative to plastic microbeads.
Speaking about the Loop investment, Sky’s group chief executive Jeremy Darroch, said: “Loop fundamentally changes the way we approach packing and waste. The transition to a circular economy will take time but big ideas like this can and will help change the world our children will inherit.”
CEO of TerraCycle and Loop, Tom Szaqky, said the investment from Sky will help to bring attention to Loop and promote new opportunities to move away from single-use plastic to durable products and packaging.
Going plastic-free is increasingly becoming easier. In London, milkmen services have been growing in popularity as people turn to ordering glass milk bottles to reduce their plastic waste. In addition, there’s Good Club, world’s first zero-waste online supermarket which sources products from companies with a focus on sustainability and delivers orders using a 100 per cent carbon neutral courier service.
Good Club is currently developing reusable containers and delivery boxes to end the use of single-use plastics.
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