We all make purchases because the packaging attracts us to the product, whether we really need the item or not. The shape is pretty or unique. Maybe utilitarian. The colors are lovely. You can store all your loose change in it. There are all kinds of reasons we buy what we buy. But more and more, consumers, in particular Millennials, make purchases based on the brand’s corporate social responsibilities. They expect their brands to commit to social and environmental responsibility and will support those brands with undying loyalty. Enter P&G. It is debuting fully recyclable shampoo bottles made with 25% recycled plastic. The plastic is collected after washing up on beaches around the world for bottles of Head & Shoulders Shampoo. To get the word out to consumers, the bottles include the callout, “Plastique Collecte Sur La plage.” The first 150,000 bottles will appear on store shelves in France this summer. The initiative expanded P&G’s focus to include more post-consumer recycled content in its packaging. “We felt that the leading shampoo brand in sales should lead in sustainability innovation and know that when we do this, it encourages the entire industry to do the same,” says Lisa Jennings, Vice President, Head & Shoulders and Global Hair Care Sustainability Leader, Procter & Gamble. “We’ve been fortunate to work with such great partners in TerraCycle and SUEZ to make this vision a reality.”

Last week, I reported on the news that business and government leaders have endorsed a new plan to tackle plastics waste issues and to increase plastic packaging recycling to 70%, which they called, “The New Plastics Economy.” Well, looks like it’s not just all talk after all. Consumer goods giant P&G announced that it will produce the “world’s first” recyclable shampoo bottle made from up to 25% recycled beach plastic.  P&G partnered with innovative recycler TerraCycle and SUEZ, a waste recovery company, on this new packaging initiative, which will be released in France this summer as a limited-edition Head & Shoulders (H&S) bottle available to consumers in Carrefour, a retailer in France. P&G claims that this will be the world’s largest production run of recyclable bottles made with post-consumer recycled (PCR) beach plastic, and a first major step in establishing a unique supply chain that involves the support of thousands of volunteers and hundreds of NGOs collecting plastic waste found on beaches.  Additionally, P&G announced that in Europe by end of 2018 more than half a billion bottles per year will include up to 25% post-consumer recycled plastic. This represents more than 90% of all the hair care bottles sold in Europe across P&G’s hair care portfolio of flagship brands like Pantene and Head & Shoulders. The project will require a supply of 2,600 tons of recycled plastic every year – the same weight as eight fully loaded Boeing 747 jumbo jets.   According to the Ellen MacArthur Foundation (EMF), 95% of the value of plastic packaging material, worth $80-120 billion annually, is lost to the economy and on the current track, there could be more plastics than fish in the ocean (by weight) by 2050. “At P&G, we believe that actions speak louder than words. The increased use of PCR plastic across our hair-care portfolio of brands, demonstrates our continued commitment to driving real change,” says Virginie Helias, vice president of global sustainability, P&G. “The Head & Shoulders recyclable shampoo bottle made with beach plastic is a world’s first in the hair care category. Increasing the use of recycled plastic in the packaging of our flagship brands, like Pantene and Head & Shoulders, makes it easier for consumers to choose more sustainable products, without any trade-offs. So while we’re proud of what we’ve done and what we’re doing, we know there is much more work ahead.” Hopefully one day we will see these beach plastic recyclable bottles on U.S. store shelves as well. 

Here's one way to make sure your advertising doesn't go to waste: As part of a new sustainability marketing push, Coors Light is converting its billboards into beer coolers and its kegs into barbeque grills. The effort will kick into gear in a few months as part of a summer promotional campaign called "Every One Can," which will also include a large-scale push to get drinkers to recycle beer cans. The MillerCoors brand will begin touting its environmental credentials in TV ads next week that begin a new chapter of its ongoing "Climb On" campaign by 72andSunny. The Coors brand has long pursued sustainability goals at the corporate level. But "we just haven't talked about it," said Elina Vives, senior marketing director for Coors brands.

A gigante multinacional Procter & Gamble acaba de anunciar a comercialização de uma embalagem com edição limitada da sua principal marca de xampus, a Head & Shoulders, que será fabricada com resíduos de plástico coletados em praias.

Procter & Gamble (P&G) lanserte 19. januar verdens første Head & Shoulders sjampoflaske laget av 25 prosent resirkulert strandplast. Den nye sjampoflasken er utviklet i samarbeid med gjenvinningsekspertene Terracycle og SUEZ

La multinacional Procter&Gamble ha creado la primera botella de champú desarrollada con hasta un 25% de plástico reciclado recogido en playas. Para ello ha colaborado con los expertos en reciclaje TerraCycle y SUEX. La innovación llegará primero a Francia en forma de edición limitada de una botella de h&s disponible para los consumidores de la cadena Carrefour.

Esta será la producción más grande de botellas recicladas a partir de plástico reciclado (PCR) recogido en playas a nivel mundial y un primer gran paso en el establecimiento de una cadena de suministro única que incluye el apoyo de miles de voluntarios y cientos de ONGs recogiendo desechos de plástico encontrados en las playas.

Además, la firma ha anunciado que para finales de 2018, en Europa más de medio billón de botellas al año incluirán hasta un 25% de plástico reciclado. Esto representa más del 90% de todas las botellas vendidas en Europa a través del portafolio de cuidado capilar de P&G, con marcas como Pantene y h&s.

Por otro parte, Unilever también se  ha comprometido para 2020 a reducir a un tercio el peso de los envases utilizados durante esta década, y para 2025 a aumentar el uso de contenido de plástico reciclable en al menos un 25% en sus envases. En referencia a esto y como parte del Plan de Vida Sustentable de Unilever, en 2015 alcanzó su compromiso de no enviar residuos de sus operaciones a rellenos sanitarios.

Paul Polman, CEO de Unilever, señaló: "Nuestros envases plásticos cumplen un rol muy importante al hacer que nuestros productos se vean atractivos y seguros para nuestros consumidores. Aun así está claro que, si queremos continuar impulsando los beneficios de este material versátil, tenemos que hacer mucho más como industria para ayudar a asegurar que se lo trate de forma responsable y eficaz posteriormente al uso del consumidor".

"Para abordar el desafío de los residuos de plástico en los océanos necesitamos trabajar en soluciones sistémicas (aquellas que frenen el ingreso de plásticos a las vías fluviales en primer lugar).Esperamos que estos compromisos alienten a otros en la industria a lograr un progreso conjunto para garantizar que todos nuestros envases plásticos sean totalmente reciclables y reciclados. Además necesitamos trabajar en colaboración con gobiernos y otras partes interesadas para apoyar el desarrollo y el aumento de recaudación y reprocesamiento de infraestructura, que es fundamental en la transición hacia una economía circular".

Karen Vizental, VP de Comunicaciones Corporativas y Sustentabilidad de Unilever Latinoamérica añadió: "Al mirar el desarrollo de los productos, el abastecimiento y la fabricación a través del lente de la sustentabilidad, aparecen oportunidades para la innovación. Este caso nos lleva a reconsiderar el diseño de nuestros envases en un mundo de recursos limitados".

Como parte de su compromiso, Unilever asegurará que para el 2025 sea posible que sus envases plásticos sean reutilizados o reciclados, ya que existen ejemplos establecidos y comprobados de que es comercialmente viable que re procesadores de plásticos puedan reciclar el material.

There are about 5.25 trillion pieces of plastic debris in the ocean, a great deal of which is washing up on beaches around the world, resulting in the high-profile fouling of shorelines in Hawaii and Alaska. In an effort to clean up some of this pollution, consumer goods giant Procter & Gamble is planning to produce Head & Shoulders shampoo bottles partly made from beach plastic. The company told The Guardian that the containers will be made from 25 per cent of these recycled materials, collected by thousands of volunteers on the shorelines of France. P&G called it a “first major step” towards establishing a supply chain using the recycled debris. “We felt that the leading shampoo brand in sales should lead in sustainability innovation and know that when we do this, it encourages the entire industry to do the same,” Lisa Jennings, vice-president of global hair at P&G, said in a release. The pilot project, which also involves recycling business TerraCycle and waste management firm Suez, will result in up to 170,000 recycled bottles on shelves across France this summer, according to The Guardian. Steve Morgan, the technical director of plastics recycling organization Recoup, told The Guardian that it is a “technological breakthrough,” despite its limited run. “In the past when companies have tried to use plastics that have been sourced from oceans or beaches, it hasn’t been technically possible because of the exposure to UV, and also the plastics degrade and don’t recycle that well. What they’ve done here is make it technically viable, which is kind of the big thing,” said Morgan. He added that the techniques used by P&G could become “more mainstream” once the technology is further developed and the cost advantage improves. The company also promised to produce more than a 500 million of the same type of bottles per year across Europe by the end of 2018. P&G said this figure represents 90 per cent of all of its haircare bottles sold on the continent. It estimated it will require 2,600 tonnes of recycled plastic each year, or the equivalent of eight fully-loaded Boeing 747s. The company is aiming to double the amount of PCR plastic, post-consumer resin or reclaimed material, that it uses in packaging by 2020. “Increasing the use of recycled plastic in the packaging of our flagship brands, like Pantene and Head & Shoulders, makes it easier for consumers to choose more sustainable products, without any trade-offs,” said Virginie Hellas, vice-president of global sustainability at P&G. “So while we’re proud of what we’ve done and what we’re doing, we know there is much more work ahead.” The Ellen MacArthur Foundation, a United Kingdom-based non-profit, estimates that plastic production will double in the next 20 years. However, current efforts are only leading to 14 per cent it being recycled. But it estimates that number could be bumped up to 70 per cent.

Many people, myself included love GU’s Energy Chews (formerly known as Chomps). What they didn’t love was the packaging. By placing a number of chews inside of a large plastic bag, they tended to stick together and could be a challenge to get out of the package while riding. Now, GU is offering similar packaging to other energy brands like the Clif Bloks with all of the Chews lined up in a row. However, GU is offering them either in single serving pouches with four Chews, or in the new double serving sleeves with eight chews so you can choose based on the duration of your ride. There are also some environmental benefits from the packaging now that they can be recycled through the TerraCycle program.

There are about 5.25 trillion pieces of plastic debris in the ocean, a great deal of which is washing up on beaches around the world, resulting in the high-profile fouling of shorelines in Hawaii andAlaska. In an effort to clean up some of this pollution, consumer goods giant Procter & Gamble is planning to produce Head & Shoulders shampoo bottles partly made from beach plastic. The company told The Guardian that the containers will be made from 25 per cent of these recycled materials, collected by thousands of volunteers on the shorelines of France. P&G called it a “first major step” towards establishing a supply chain using the recycled debris. “We felt that the leading shampoo brand in sales should lead in sustainability innovation and know that when we do this, it encourages the entire industry to do the same,” Lisa Jennings, vice-president of global hair at P&G, said in a release. The pilot project, which also involves recycling business TerraCycle and waste management firm Suez, will result in up to 170,000 recycled bottles on shelves across France this summer, according to The Guardian. Steve Morgan, the technical director of plastics recycling organization Recoup, told The Guardianthat it is a “technological breakthrough,” despite its limited run. “In the past when companies have tried to use plastics that have been sourced from oceans or beaches, it hasn’t been technically possible because of the exposure to UV, and also the plastics degrade and don’t recycle that well. What they’ve done here is make it technically viable, which is kind of the big thing,” said Morgan. He added that the techniques used by P&G could become “more mainstream” once the technology is further developed and the cost advantage improves. The company also promised to produce more than a 500 million of the same type of bottles per year across Europe by the end of 2018. P&G said this figure represents 90 per cent of all of its haircare bottles sold on the continent. It estimated it will require 2,600 tonnes of recycled plastic each year, or the equivalent of eight fully-loaded Boeing 747s. The company is aiming to double the amount of PCR plastic, post-consumer resin or reclaimed material, that it uses in packaging by 2020. “Increasing the use of recycled plastic in the packaging of our flagship brands, like Pantene and Head & Shoulders, makes it easier for consumers to choose more sustainable products, without any trade-offs,” said Virginie Hellas, vice-president of global sustainability at P&G. “So while we’re proud of what we’ve done and what we’re doing, we know there is much more work ahead.” The Ellen MacArthur Foundation, a United Kingdom-based non-profit, estimates that plastic production will double in the next 20 years. However, current efforts are only leading to 14 per cent it being recycled. But it estimates that number could be bumped up to 70 per cent.