89
packaging. Products
range from $4 to
about $60 and
require refundable
deposits for the con-
tainers. When they’re
finished with the
product, customers
return the packaging
to Loop, where it’s
cleaned and refilled,
and the cycle begins
again. More than
80,000 people in the
U.S. and France have
signed up, with expan-
sion to more coun-
tries planned soon.
—Mahita GajananSUSTAINABILITY
REDUCING
WASTE
TerraCycle LoopLoop wants to help
make major brands
more sustainable.
Launched in May by
recycling company
TerraCycle, the service
sells brand-name
products—including
Clorox wipes,
Häagen-Dazs ice
cream and Febreze
air freshener—in
durable, reusableSeveral years ago, B’zT founder
Kiyeon Nam had what she recalls as
a terrifying experience: she briefly
lost her then 3-year-old daughter in
a mall. The incident spurred Nam to
research child- tracking devices and
then, finding the options lacking, to
create one of her own. B’zT’s trackingdevices—which won a 2019 Edison
Award—are machine- washable and
come embedded in kid-friendly T-shirts
and patches, which start at $19.99.
Parents and teachers can use the
company’s free app to monitor the
locations of kids wearing the devices.
—E.P.PARENTING
KEEPING KIDS CLOSE
B’zTCONSUMER ELECTRONICS
A PHONE, PLAIN
AND SIMPLE
The Light Phone IIFor those who think time spent star-
ing at screens is doing more harm
than good, the $350 Light Phone II
provides a smartphone stripped
down to its essentials. The iPhone 4
look-alike can only call, text and set
an alarm —no camera, email or social
media, though features like a calcula-
tor and music playback are in devel-
opment. “It’s been incredible to hear
user feedback that people are feeling
more calm and content ... because
they weren’t scrolling through their
smartphones,” says co-founder Joe
Hollier. —Patrick Lucas AustinB’zT’s app
alerts users
when a child
wanders out of
its roughly 100-
ft. rangethe portable probe
into their phone; peer
at a patient’s heart,
lung or growing fetus;
and even diagnose
diseases. At $1,999,
plus a $35 monthly
software subscription,
the FDA- approved
device is now used in
more than 20 coun-
tries—many where
imaging is lacking.
—Mandy OaklanderHEALTH CARE
ULTRASOUND
TO GO
Butterfly iQMedical imaging is
cumbersome and
expensive. But Butter-
fly iQ has shrunk ultra-
sound technology
to the size of a chip,
letting medical profes-
TH sionals simply plug