Helping Costco reduce plastic and achieve sustainability across the globe

In 2020, Costco started a major sweep of plastic-reduction, with help from Smurfit Westrock, that's now touched dozens of consumer brands around the world and has eliminated more than 200 tons of plastic¹.

… And it all started with one urgent phone call from a Costco buyer about "plastic dog bones." Not literal dog bones, but the plastic handles big-box stores use to group products like cooking oil, juices or shampoo.

"I said, 'It's your lucky day. Honestly, I just started working on that,'" said David S. Murphy, Smurfit Westrock Costco account lead. "The Costco buyer said, 'Good, because they just passed a law in Mexico, and in about four weeks, we can no longer have plastic dog bones on anything.'" 

Murphy assured Costco that our developers were ready to commercialize a new product, a more sustainable, paper-based version of the plastic dog-bone handle. The team was able to act quickly and deliver the solution to Costco team members in Sinaloa, Mexico, who were sprinting to adjust to a new plastic ban. When the paper-based handles arrived, it was all hands on deck for Costco workers.

"Our industrial designer in Mexico, Daniel Hernandez, told us the warehouse employees were literally taking off the plastic handles and applying these paper handles one-by-one, trying to meet the new regulations by the deadline," said Larry Kruger, senior technical project manager on the Costco projects.

Since then, the partnership has come a long way, spawning two new paper-based innovations that are being used across countries and continents and using already-existing machinery to provide automation, as well as developing our own automated solution.   

“It’s great to see applications that don’t require plastic move to a sustainable and renewable material, and it’s been extremely rewarding to see our packaging designs and equipment solutions generate so much interest with Costco and their manufacturers,” said Kruger.

Moving from store to supplier

“Immediately, we thought, how do we do this more efficiently, so the new handles can be applied by the manufacturer so that the products could come into the warehouse with paperboard handles attached already," said Kruger. "Versus the scenario where they were applying them in the store."

Smurfit Westrock designers got to work on a new iteration of the handle. They wanted to create a paper-based handle they could sell directly to large-volume suppliers, a handle that could be applied with the same automation already being used to apply plastic handles. The result of their work is the EnduraGrip® paper-based handle, which started rolling out in North American Costco stores in mid-2023 and is used in packaging products such as margarita mix and cooking oil. Besides being paper-based, the handle could be made to be curbside recyclable.

EnduraGrip multipack handle bundles Kirkland Signature Canola Oil.

"This can be applied manually or with automation, because it's like switching from one configuration to another, or from one plastic design to another but instead, it’s plastic to paper,” said Matt Zacherle, new product commercialization manager at Smurfit Westrock. “It just requires adding change parts to the existing automated equipment."

Being able to apply the Enduragrip handle automatically using existing equipment would make the switch from plastic handles easier for suppliers. Additionally, suppliers would be able to add graphics right on the handle for additional branding.

Further expanding big-box retail sustainability

Along with this next iteration of the paper-based handle, developers started to evolve another plastic-replacement solution for multipacks.

"They said, 'Oh, but we have jars. We want to get stuff like our salsas and sauces out of shrink film,' and we already had something we could use for that too,” said Murphy.

Costco had great interest in continuing to replace plastic packaging in order to meet their sustainability goals. So, the team introduced the retailer to the Cluster-Clip™ multipack solution: paper-based but strong enough to group large glass jars in packs of two or three. Like its sister solution, suppliers could also easily opt to add graphics and branding to Cluster-Clip.

Cluster-Clip multipack solution is sturdy enough to bundle products in glass jars.

With two new sustainable ways to create multipacks, representatives at Costco began connecting their suppliers in Mexico, the U.S. and Canada with Smurfit Westrock. The big-box retailer holds a yearly Supplier Day where representatives from all of their suppliers come together to learn more about the direction of the company, what changes are being made, and how to continue a strong relationship with the retailer. Smurfit Westrock was invited to attend to show suppliers how they could easily transition to a paper-based solution.

“It’s an effort to try to get the suppliers to volunteer to reduce plastic before they’re mandated to do it like they were in Mexico,” said Zacherle. “So, we’ve been working with suppliers in that way, letting them know we’re here to help them work with Costco, as well as help Costco achieve their sustainability goals.”

Their work has now led to suppliers choosing to replace plastic handles and shrink film for around 20 products and counting.

From North America to Japan

With the designs winning awards for innovation and sustainability from the Paper and Packaging Council and Cluster-Clip winning a Best-in-Class PAC Global Award, it wasn’t long before word of EnduraGrip and Cluster-Clip solutions spread through Costco locations, eventually landing in Japan. The retailer has more than three dozen stores in Japan and is continuing to grow and expand in the region.

One of its suppliers provides a multipack of cold brew coffee. Costco workers were having issues with labels falling off the plastic handles since they had trouble adhering to the smooth surface. The plastic handles

The team contacted Smurfit Westrock about creating a paper-based solution for the supplier, United Foods International. By implementing the EnduraGrip solution in August of 2024, the company was able to avoid using labels altogether by printing right on the handle.

 The cold brew coffee multipack before, with the plastic handle, and after using EnduraGrip paper-based multipack handle.

It also met Costco’s goals of increasing safety and sustainability. The paper-based handles didn’t easily cut hands, and it’s estimated that United Foods is eliminating around 300,000 plastic dog-bone handles a year by applying EnduraGrip to both its cold brew coffee and watermelon juice².

“This is a great steppingstone for us,” said Satoru Sonoda, general manager of Consumer Packaging for Smurfit Westrock Japan. “We’re now kicking off our second project.”

As a result of the successful implementation, United Foods is continuing the transition to more sustainable packaging by switching over to the Cluster-Clip multipack solution for their sauce used as a base to make Japanese beef bowls. Sonoda expects the supplier list using both solutions to grow from there, much like it has in North America.

Increased automation and the future

With continued adoption of these paper-based innovations, the Smurfit Westrock team wanted to provide the perfect automated solution for EnduraGrip. While they do provide “change parts” so suppliers can adjust existing machinery originally used for plastic handles, they also wanted to provide machinery made specifically to apply paper-based handles. This way, businesses looking to purchase or replace machinery could choose a solution already fit to handle paperboard.

In the spring of 2024, Smurfit Westrock released OmadaTM multipack machinery to efficiently package products bound for big-box stores with the EnduraGrip handle. With the Omada, suppliers generating large volumes can package their product at up to 28 cycles a minute, providing greater speed and efficiency over manual application. With both the multipack solution and the machinery to apply it, Smurfit Westrock can now offer a complete packaging solution.

Meanwhile, with options that make it easier for suppliers to make a change, many are doing just that. Supplier adoption of both the EnduraGrip and Cluster-Clip solutions continues to pick up speed in both North America and Asia, helping Costco provide consumers more and more sustainable and recyclable packaging.

“We've got dozens of suppliers interested in both solutions,” said Zacherle. “Some are current Costco suppliers, and some are customers dipping their toes in and trying to get business with Costco.”

As well as their suppliers, Costco is using both plastic-replacement solutions to assist in meeting its own sustainability development goals. One goal is to reduce waste through eliminating plastic packaging for its Kirkland Signature products. Through EnduraGrip and Cluster-Clip and similar packaging solutions, the retailer has already eliminated a total of approximately 37.8 million pounds of plastic since its fiscal year 2021 and is continuing this work³.

If you’re looking for more sustainable packaging options or you’d like to create one, contact our team of innovators and packaging designers. Our team is experienced in helping suppliers make packaging transitions and can help with design, supply and logistics.

1. Estimated number based on the amount of plastic packaging used to bundle one product with either EnduraGrip or Cluster-Clip multiplied by the number of product bundles sold since the packaging was replaced by EnduraGrip or Cluster-Clip. The estimated numbers for each product were then combined to get a total for all products.
2. Estimated number based on annual sales of Alameda Cold Brew Coffee.
3. Number based on the total amount of plastic packaging of Kirkland Signature products that has been eliminated.