MONTREAL— Domtar is one of the winners of the Beyond the Bag Challenge, led by the Consortium to Reinvent the Retail Bag — a collaboration convened by Closed Loop Partners with leading retailers, environmental partners, global design firm IDEO and others. The challenge attracted more than 450 global participants, and nine winners . Domtar’s winning submission is a 100 percent paper-based material that is sourced from a renewable natural resource, robust enough for limited reuse in a bag application and curbside recyclable. Though the single-use plastic bag remains ubiquitous in retail operations today, rising concerns about plastic waste have spurred efforts to identify viable alternatives. The consortium assembled leading retailers to find innovative solutions that serve the function of today’s single-use plastic retail bag, offering ease and convenience for consumers while reducing the product’s negative environmental impacts.Though 100 percent cellulose fiber–based, Domtar’s winning submission boasts properties not commonly associated with paper: