Closed Loop Partners, L’Oréal Expand Small-Format Recycling Efforts 

Billions of small-format plastics currently end up in landfills each year simply because they are too small to be properly captured by traditional recycling equipment. To address this challenge, Closed Loop Partners’ Center for the Circular Economy (the Closed Loop Center) announced the next phase of its Smalls Consortium.

Joined by founding partner L’Oréal, supporting partners Kraft Heinz and CVS Health, and strategic advisor Circular Action Alliance (CAA), the Advancing the Recovery of Small-Format Packaging (the Smalls Consortium) aims to address this recycling gap.

The Smalls Consortium is focusing its field testing efforts on California. As the state prepares for the implementation of SB 54, the historic Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) law set to take effect on January 1, 2027, this initiative serves as a critical proving ground to help brands, recyclers and end markets build a scalable roadmap for capturing small rigid plastics before they are lost to waste.

Marissa McGowan, Chief Sustainability Officer, North America at L’Oréal, said,

“L’Oréal is helping to build the systems needed to recover, sort, process and ensure market demand for small format materials. As a founding member of the Smalls Consortium, we’re motivated to continue our work with Closed Loop Partners. This is both an environmental priority and a business imperative. Advancing solutions for small-format packaging is a credible path to reduce supply chain risk, strengthen EPR readiness and secure future material supply. We encourage other companies to join us in scaling solutions that no company can solve alone.”

Using the Smalls Consortium’s established methodology, the initiative aims to design a scalable recovery solution. 

The goal is to generate real-world learnings at a California facility that can inform a broader roadmap for small-format packaging recovery across the state and other states where EPR is gaining momentum.

Methodology includes site diligence, material characterization studies, equipment assessments, financial modeling, recovery testing, and end-market engagement. 

To trial recovery solutions in the field, the Smalls Consortium is partnering with Potential Industries, four regional satellite facilities, and a large regional materials recovery facility in Southern California.

Taking a holistic approach, the Smalls Consortium’s work is organized around four key focus areas:

• Developing a practical, data-backed roadmap to serve as a resource for CAA and other stakeholders;
• Strengthening recycling infrastructure to capture small-format packaging curbside;
• Ensuring recovered materials can be used in new products; and
• Improving packaging design in partnership with brands and retailers.

The Closed Loop Center is also collaborating with CAA, the nonprofit Producer Responsibility Organization (PRO) selected by California, Colorado, Maryland, Minnesota, Oregon, and Washington to develop the EPR program plan for paper and packaging under each state’s law. 

Kate Daly, Managing Partner at Closed Loop Partners, commented, 

“Small-format packaging has long fallen through the cracks of the recycling system—not because it lacks value, but because recovery requires coordination across the full system. When these materials go to landfill, it represents both an environmental loss and a missed economic opportunity. Over the past four years, our Smalls Consortium has built a deep understanding of the small-format packaging material stream—from infrastructure needs to end markets—and is now bringing stakeholders together in California to help build a system designed for long-term, real-world impact.”

The Smalls Consortium offers brands a pragmatic way to tackle complex packaging challengesm enabling proactive problem-solving and risk reduction in a rapidly evolving regulatory environment. 

Participation helps companies strengthen their EPR readiness by understanding how their packaging performs in the recycling system, where recovery barriers exist, and what changes may be needed across design, sortation, reprocessing and end market development.