PROCTER & GAMBLE
Consumer goods group plans to save over 300,000 t of virgin plastics per year by 2030 / Up to 50% recyclate used in detergent bottles so far
 PET bottles for detergent are already made with up to 50% recyclate (Photo: Procter & Gamble) |
Similar to Unilever (see Plasteurope.com of 16.10.2019), consumer goods group Procter & Gamble (P&G, Cincinnati, Ohio / USA; www.us.pg.com) has also set itself the goal of halving its own consumption of virgin plastics for packaging and other products. P&G wants to achieve this by 2030, taking five years longer than its competitor.
The plan is to save 300,000 t/y of virgin plastics by avoiding packaging and increasing the use of recycled materials. At “K 2019”, P&G presented a new project to strengthen circular economy, involving companies from the consumer goods, retail and recycling industries. Its aim is to improve the sorting and recycling of plastic packaging with the help of “HolyGrail 2.0” – through digital watermarks that provide information on material and contents. The initiative is led by Gian de Belder, a packaging expert at P&G.
In addition to this, the group has announced that it intends to make 95% of all P&G packaging material in Europe recyclable by 2025, and that by 2030, all P&G containers worldwide would be recyclable or reusable. The first steps have already been taken, de Belder said during the K trade fair. As of December 2019, for example, the cardboard packaging of “Olay” will no longer be wrapped in an additional cellophane film. Beginning in spring 2020, “Ariel” will switch from a large-volume package to a material-saving bag for the jumbo packs of Ariel detergent pods.
With the “Ambition 2030” sustainability agenda, P&G has defined the essential elements – recyclable design, effective collection systems, informed households, optimised automated sorting systems, use of recycled materials and technical innovations. With the “Loop” deposit system that is being tested in Paris / France and New York, New York / USA, or with Fatersmart, a joint venture between P&G and the Angelini group in Italy, the company is working to introduce diaper recycling in at least ten major cities worldwide by 2030. The first plant is located in Treviso / Italy, another collection programme has already started in Amsterdam / The Netherlands.
In order to establish closed cycles in plastics recycling, P&G is relying on global alliances such as the Alliance to End Plastic Waste (AEPW ; www.endplasticwaste.org). In Germany, the group is a member of the initiative geTon (Berlin; www.get-on.org).
P&G currently uses post-consumer recyclate (PCR) in detergent and shampoo bottles made of rPET and rHDPE. The PCR proportion is usually between 25% and 50%. Despite these plans to decrease the use of virgin polymers, the group is not yet a signatory of the “New Plastics Economy Global Commitment” launched by the Ellen MacArthur Foundation (EMF, Cowes / UK; www.ellenmacarthurfoundation.org) and the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP, Nairobi / Kenya; www.unep.org), which has recently published its first progress report (see Plasteurope.com of 31.10.2019).
The plan is to save 300,000 t/y of virgin plastics by avoiding packaging and increasing the use of recycled materials. At “K 2019”, P&G presented a new project to strengthen circular economy, involving companies from the consumer goods, retail and recycling industries. Its aim is to improve the sorting and recycling of plastic packaging with the help of “HolyGrail 2.0” – through digital watermarks that provide information on material and contents. The initiative is led by Gian de Belder, a packaging expert at P&G.
In addition to this, the group has announced that it intends to make 95% of all P&G packaging material in Europe recyclable by 2025, and that by 2030, all P&G containers worldwide would be recyclable or reusable. The first steps have already been taken, de Belder said during the K trade fair. As of December 2019, for example, the cardboard packaging of “Olay” will no longer be wrapped in an additional cellophane film. Beginning in spring 2020, “Ariel” will switch from a large-volume package to a material-saving bag for the jumbo packs of Ariel detergent pods.
With the “Ambition 2030” sustainability agenda, P&G has defined the essential elements – recyclable design, effective collection systems, informed households, optimised automated sorting systems, use of recycled materials and technical innovations. With the “Loop” deposit system that is being tested in Paris / France and New York, New York / USA, or with Fatersmart, a joint venture between P&G and the Angelini group in Italy, the company is working to introduce diaper recycling in at least ten major cities worldwide by 2030. The first plant is located in Treviso / Italy, another collection programme has already started in Amsterdam / The Netherlands.
In order to establish closed cycles in plastics recycling, P&G is relying on global alliances such as the Alliance to End Plastic Waste (AEPW ; www.endplasticwaste.org). In Germany, the group is a member of the initiative geTon (Berlin; www.get-on.org).
P&G currently uses post-consumer recyclate (PCR) in detergent and shampoo bottles made of rPET and rHDPE. The PCR proportion is usually between 25% and 50%. Despite these plans to decrease the use of virgin polymers, the group is not yet a signatory of the “New Plastics Economy Global Commitment” launched by the Ellen MacArthur Foundation (EMF, Cowes / UK; www.ellenmacarthurfoundation.org) and the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP, Nairobi / Kenya; www.unep.org), which has recently published its first progress report (see Plasteurope.com of 31.10.2019).
01.11.2019 Plasteurope.com [243799-0]
Published on 01.11.2019
German version of this article...