Procter & Gamble will soon announce the release of a new sugarcane plastic packaging for Pantene’s Nature Fusion line, according to Earth911.com, Earth911.com, a company that specializes in providing consumers with accessible and actionable recycling information across the U.S. The new plant-based plastic is set to debut in Western Europe this month, with a global rollout to come in 18-24 months, the report says.

The bottles will be categorized as plastic #2 and can be recycled using the same process as those plastics made with petroleum, according to Randall Chinchilla, spokesperson for Global Pantene. “The properties of this [plant-based] packaging are identical to those of petroleum-based HDPE,” he says. “The only way you can tell them apart is by carbon dating them – petroleum and takes millions of years to form, and the sugarcane takes only one year.

“It’s a step, but it’s not small. It’s important,” Chinchilla adds, noting that Pantene is the largest beauty brand at Procter & Gamble. “We’re hoping that stakeholders and consumers understand it that way, too. But by no means do we imply that this is changing the way business is done.”

Chinchilla says consumer demand will utlimately influence the company’s manufacturing process. “Ultimately, for everything we do in sustainability, we believe that you have to deliver the same product,” he says, citing a Procter & Gamble study that found that 70 percent of consumers are interested in products that improve sustainability, but they don’t want to sacrifice quality.