Sick of too much wasteful packaging? So, apparently, is the country's biggest grocery chain.

Starting early next year, Loblaws will start offering some products in reusable containers as part of a Toronto-area trial run, the company announced Thursday morning.

The containers, produced as part of recycling company TerraCycle's Loop initiative, will at first only be available to customers shopping online. Loblaws will also pick them up and clean them once customers are done. While there's no set date for the in-store launch, it's expected to be later in 2020.

"There is too much plastic waste," said Loblaw executive chairman Galen Weston in a news release. "Our industry is part of the problem and we can be part of the solution. Our partnership with Loop is a powerful example of entrepreneurial innovators working with like-minded large enterprise to bring a meaningful solution to a real problem."

While pricing details haven't yet been announced, in other markets where Loop has launched, customers have paid an initial deposit for the reusable containers.

The announcement comes a day after a Dalhousie University study found that 94 per cent of Canadians are trying to reduce their use of single-use plastic packaging because of its environmental impact.

"In all my years researching this industry, that's as close to a consensus as you can get. It's basically unanimous," said the study's author, Sylvain Charlebois.

Charlebois expects the Loblaws announcement — and one earlier this year from Metro allowing Quebec customers to bring in their own containers for meat, fish and deli products — to put pressure on the country's other major grocery chain, Sobeys.

"I'd be shocked if Sobeys didn't do something within six months. We've got the biggest and third-biggest grocery chains in the country doing something. They're the second-biggest, so they'll have to," said Charlebois.

Part of the reason for the pervasiveness of single-use plastics in grocery stores, says Charlebois, is Canada's stringent food safety regimen.

"I think a lot of Canadians don't appreciate what plastics have done. They've kept food safe, they've increased the shelf life of products, and reduced food waste and cost," said Charlebois.

That safety consideration, Charlebois added, is why he prefers the approach taken by Loop, rather than having customers bringing in their own containers.

"It's all well and good to say customers need to bring in clean containers. But you can't see pathogens. You can't see allergens," he said.

The flip side of the growing green consensus, however, is that while consumers want to see less single-use plastic, they're reluctant to pay more for alternatives: Charlebois' study found that just 38 per cent of Canadians were willing to pay more for alternative packaging.

"It was unsurprising but disappointing at the same time," said Charlebois.

While he likes Loop's approach, Charlebois noted that it requires consumers to change their habits, something which could hamper the success of the trial.

"If you're asking people to basically be container inventory managers, that's asking them to change behaviour," said Charlebois. "I think that ultimately, the most successful approach would probably be compostable packaging, because people can just throw it into the compost bin when they're done with the product."

Earlier this year, before revealing Loop would be partnering with Loblaws, Loop's founder told The Canadian Press that everything from ice cream to toothpaste and shampoo will be available as part of the Toronto-area trial.

"I say this as a Canadian, I'm super excited about getting Loop to Canada. I think it will resonate really well with the public there," said Tom Szaky, who grew up in Toronto.

Canadians generate about 3.25 million tonnes of plastic waste according to Greenpeace Canada.