Harrison Burger King Goes Green With Reusable Loop Containers

The Burger King located in Harrison NJ is among five Burger Kings restaurants in New Jersey that will offer customers the option to purchase menu items such as sandwiches, soft drinks and coffee served in durable, reusable packaging.  Customers can order their favorite Burger King items in durable packaging and when finished return them to the Loop Return Point at the store to be cleaned, sanitized, and reused.  The sanitizing of the container is done by New Jersey-based company TerraCycle.  TerraCycle’s reusable packaging is marketed under the tradename, Loop.  Customers will be charged a small deposit upon purchase, and a refund is given after the package is returned.

The Loop Return Point is the size of the cloths dropbox but it is a lot more sophisticated.  You start by getting a label from the dropbox, attaching it, and then depositing your returned item to get a credit back.  The idea is not new. Decades before plastic or cardboard milk containers, milk came in glass bottles that you paid a deposit for and then got a credit upon the return of the bottle.  The same principle was applied to glass soda bottles. TerraCycle picks up the containers and sanitizes them for reuse. It delivers sanitized containers back to the Burger King restaurant.

Burger King has committed by 2025 to have 100% of its restaurants’ guest packaging come from renewable, recycled, or certified sources, and to recycling all guest packaging at its restaurants in the USA and Canada.

Matthew Banton, Burger King’s head of innovation and sustainability department, said that Burger King is “investing in the development of sustainable packaging solutions that will help push the foodservice industry forward in reducing packaging waste. The Loop system gives us the confidence in a reusable solution that meets our high safety standards, while also offering convenience for our guests on the go."

TerraCycle was founded by Tom Szaky.  The Loop line of reusable products is only one part of the TerraCycle recycling company.  Tom Szaky stated that "During Covid, we have seen the environmental impact of increased takeaway ordering which makes this initiative by Burger King all the more important." You can listen to an interesting interview with Tom Szaky by following this link.  

For more information on Loop products, you can visit www.ExploreLoop.com

The Harrison Burger King is located at 751 Harrison Avenue.

Let us know what you think about the Loop packaging on our Discussion Board.