The Procter & Gamble Company has shared its latest advancements toward packaging circularity in Europe which deliver on its “Ambition 2030” goals to reduce virgin plastic usage by 50% and reach 100% recyclability or reusability by 2030.
 
Consistent with the European Green Recovery and its aspiration to shift to a more circular economy, P&G is the first FMCG company to join the RecyClass initiative, a certification approach for recycling requirements to help deliver the goal of making plastic packaging circular with traceability along the whole value chain. P&G obtained a record high of 12 product and technology approvals on its packaging across Hair Care, Home Care and Fabric Care brands confirming they meet the Design-for-Recycling criteria guidelines determined by RecyClass.
 
P&G Shave Care brands, Gillette and Venus are making strides to eliminate 545 metric tons of plastic over a year by moving to recyclable carton packaging, ia.e. the equivalent of over 55 million water bottles. Moving towards a reuse model breathes longevity into existing products to minimize waste. Household haircare brands, Head and Shoulders, Pantene, Herbal Essences and Aussie launched at scale a new reusable 100% aluminum bottle alongside its recyclable refill pouch, made using 60% less plastic, enabling consumers to maximize product lifecycles.
 
Higher recycled content means reducing dependency upon fossil fuel. More than 10,000 tons of recycled plastic are now used every year across P&G Fabric and Home Care brands in Fairy, Mr Proper, Swiffer and Lenor.
 
“Much has changed in the last year, but our commitment to enabling and inspiring positive impacts through our supply chain, our brands and our partnerships has remained the same,” said Virginie Helias, P&G chief sustainability officer. “We are innovating to accelerate the development of the circular economy: from spearheading the Holy Grail intelligent sorting concept, reducing our use of virgin petroleum plastic and increasing recycled material content to developing alternative refill models at scale. This is a combination of innovation and collective action.”
 
Breathing New Life into Existing Materials
 
Improving the recycling rates is essential to bringing a new life for existing materials. Led by P&G in 2015, Project HolyGrail is an award-winning technology designed to enhance packaging waste sorting in the EU with the objective to improve both the quality and quantity of recycled plastic. This watermarking technology is gaining momentum and is now expanding as a part of AIM, the European Brands Association, key initiatives.
 
Currently, more than 120 companies from across the value chain are participating in this pioneering project. Outside sorting, data management and consumer engagement are key pillars to the initiative. Increasing consumer participation and adopting advanced sorting technologies, are essential to improve the recycling rates in Europe. P&G is hopeful that this effort to demonstrate the potential of the technology will be recognized by the European Commission and incorporated into their plans for the reform of the Packaging & Packaging Waste Directive.
 
Beyond efficient sorting, to enable circularity, easy-to-recycle materials should be used at scale. Ensuring packaging remains functional whilst meeting the requirements for recycling systems across Europe is crucial to P&G’s innovation work.
 
In Europe, P&G’s Fabric & Home care brands including Ariel, Lenor and Dash pods bags and Fairy Automatic Dishwashing capsules bags started transitioning from a multilayer, non-recyclable flexible packaging to a single layer, recyclable packaging made of Polyethylene.
 
This new packaging follows local eco-design criteria, to ensure the films are compatible within local recycling streams. Improving the packaging of everyday items such as Oral B’s first HDPE (High Density Polyethylene) tubes is another example of how millions of households can now recycle their toothpaste packaging in existing streams. In the same bathroom, Gillette and Venus have introduced brand new modern and sustainable packaging on their refillable razors range, which sees the brand switch from plastic packaging to recyclable cardboard packaging.
 
Breaking the Cycle
 
Moving towards a consumer reuse consumption model breathes longevity into existing products to minimize waste. P&G enters the next phase with LOOP following pilot programs in New York and Paris. The 18-month pilot has taught P&G the importance of disruptive, innovative refillable packaging that delights and is convenient. Through e-commerce expansion, LOOP is looking to derive more consumer insights such as purchase cycles, the preferred offers and the environmental impact at use. More learnings are essential to secure a reuse Model which delivers all the environmental and the consumer benefits.
 
In addition to the cross-industry efforts with LOOP, P&G is innovating with a breakthrough scaled model on reuse. P&G Hair Care brands Head & Shoulders, Pantene, Herbal Essences and Aussie are now able to change how people combat bathroom waste. A new reusable 100% aluminum bottle and recyclable refill pouch en-masse is now available in many stores across Europe. This will enable 200 million European households to recycle, reduce and reuse. It will also result in 300 million fewer plastic bottles being produced yearly.