DICK’S Sporting Goods has announced two actions to help eliminate 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.

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 other large corporations. 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.” In June, Closed Loop Partners — with founding partners CVS Health, Target, and Walmart, and joined by Kroger and Walgreens — formed a consortium to reinvent the traditional retail bag. Collectively, consortium partners have committed more than $15 million to launch 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.

Companies around the globe are taking action against single-use plastics. In 2019, toy maker Hasbro announced that it plans to begin phasing out plastic from new product packaging, including plastic elements like polybags, elastic bands, shrink wrap, window sheets and blister packs. The company’s ambition is to eliminate virtually all plastic in packaging for new products by the end of 2022.