DICK’S Sporting Goods (NYSE: DKS), the largest U.S.-based, omni-channel sporting goods retailer, today announced two major actions to help create a future free of single-use plastic bags: a commitment to remove all single-use point-of-sale plastic bags from its stores by 2025 and a partnership with Closed Loop Partners’ Center for the Circular Economy.
It’s estimated that the U.S. alone uses 100 billion plastic bags per year, and less than 10 percent of these are recycled. Single-use plastic bags are typically made from fossil fuel-derived virgin plastic and are among the top 10 items found on beaches and waterways worldwide where athletes play and explore. DICK’S has been working to reduce its environmental footprint with a recycling rate of 70% for its retail stores and operations. As a next step in this journey, the company is putting a focus on eliminating single-use retail plastic bags.
As a first step to meet this goal, DICK’S has joined the Consortium to Reinvent the Retail Bag as the lead Sports & Outdoors sector partner and will work alongside founding partners CVS Health, Target and Walmart, as well as Kroger and Walgreens. DICK’S is partnering with Closed Loop Partners’ Center for the Circular Economy, Managing Partner of the Consortium, in its quest for more sustainable solutions to replace the current retail bag through the Beyond the Bag Initiative. Closed Loop Partners launched the initiative earlier this year to identify, test and implement viable design solutions and models that more sustainably serve the purpose of the current retail bag.
“Our customers are outdoor enthusiasts who are passionate about working together to keep our planet clean and safe for future generations,” said Peter Land, Chief Communications and Sustainability Officer at DICK’S Sporting Goods. “Like our customers, we’re committed to doing what we can to prevent waste from ending up in our oceans and natural environment, and we look forward to working on the Beyond the Bag Initiative.”
The Consortium recently launched the Beyond the Bag Challenge in partnership with IDEO, which is currently accepting ideas from across the globe to re-invent the current retail bag – which could include reusable models, new materials, or software and hardware innovations that eliminate the need for bags altogether. As the Consortium’s Sports & Outdoors Sector Lead Partner, DICK’S will direct priorities and activities for the initiative within this sector.
“We want to realize a future in which waste is a thing of the past. DICK’S commitment to creating a more sustainable world for its customers makes them a perfect partner of the Consortium to Reinvent the Retail Bag,” said Kate Daly, Managing Director of the Center for the Circular Economy at Closed Loop Partners.
The Beyond the Bag Initiative takes a holistic three-year approach to identify and scale affordable, accessible and less wasteful solutions. The initiative focuses on spurring innovation, advancing materials recovery through infrastructure investments, identifying best practices for policy and engaging consumers. The Consortium aims to test and launch near term solutions to replace the current retail bag early on in the Initiative, while also continuing to refine longer term solutions to ensure that we’re designing both for today’s and tomorrow’s needs. The initiative not only brings together major retailers as Consortium Partners, but it also engages with stakeholders across the bag value chain, including suppliers, materials recovery facilities, municipalities, advocacy groups, policymakers and others to support this collaborative approach designed to promote viable market solutions that can scale and bring value to retailers, customers and end markets.
