Personal care products brand Gillette, known for its razors, set out to become a more sustainable company one decade again. And over the past 10 years, it has reduced its energy consumption by 392,851 gigajoules and its greenhouse gas emissions by 26 percent. The company has also reached zero-manufacturing-waste-to-landfill status across all of the plants in its global network.   On Monday, Gillette announced its 2030 goals to uplevel its sustainability ambitions. Building on the 26 percent reduction in greenhouse gas emissions — and using a 2009-2010 baseline — Gillette plans to boost that number to a 50 percent reduction by 2030.   “We've done a lot over the 10 years. But we're not complacent,” said Gary Coombe, CEO at Gillette. “And we recognize there's still a lot to do.”   One of Gillette's 2030 goals is to maintain zero-waste-to-landfill status. To achieve that designation at its World Shaving Headquarters in Boston, Gillette worked with local recycler Rand Whitney Recycling to do an in-depth assessment on all of its waste streams, with a goal of ensuring all would be either reused, recycled or incinerated for energy recovery. P&G Corporate, Gillette's parent company, doesn't release numbers about how much waste is reused, recycled or incinerated across its brands.   From there, the company worked to reduce scrap waste and engaged employees to help improve recycling rates. Gillette said because the assessment of its waste streams, which helped determine how to treat the waste, was effective, it was later implemented at other plants globally.   Another one of Gillette’s goals is to reduce water consumption related to production by 35 percent. The company has been cutting its water consumption by using more recycled water at its sites and through water conservation projects. The company shared its Milenio plant in Mexico as an example. At that plant, it said it has zero water discharge, meaning 100 percent of its wastewater is treated and reused onsite.   What's more, Coombe said when Gillette thinks about reducing water consumption, it also considers how to reduce the amount of water people who use its razors consume when shaving.   To that end, it designed razors to be easier to rinse hair from, enabling people to use less water. It also recently released a “waterless” razor for "assisted shaving," or shaving someone else. that product was designed with caregivers in mind, with a shave gel tube attached directly to the razor.   Gillette’s other 2030 goals include:  

1. Use 100 percent renewable purchased electricity: The company has created an energy task force team at each of its sites to help identify and improve its energy footprint.
2. Reduce absolute virgin plastic by 50 percent.
3. Provide 100 percent transparency about the ingredients in its formulas: Gillette is part of the Smart Label program in the U.S. to promote ingredient transparency for people who use its products. Additionally, its parent company P&G provides product ingredient information through its product ingredient transparency page.
4. Responsibly source animal, plant and mineral-derived materials, backed by supporting credentials (e.g. Forest Stewardship Council)
5. Use 100 percent recyclable packaging.
6. Increase the amount of PCR content used in its blades and razors by 2023.

  To help support the recyclability of its products, in 2019, Gillette in partnership with TerraCycle, launched a razor recycling program in the U.S., Canada, UK, Australia and New Zealand, which allowed its customers to recycle any brand of used razor handle or blade along with its packaging.   “This is a program that we felt was very important and, you know, necessary to give consumers that option, should they wish, to recycle the product,” Coombe said. “That's a partnership that continues to grow. And we're going to leverage it further, as we launch new products and products that are even more specifically designed to improve the environmental profile of the razor.”   Since the program’s initial launch, the partnership has established over 21,000 public razor recycling locations globally, according to Gillette. Once the disposable razors, replaceable-blade cartridges and their packaging are collected, they are broken down and separated by material. The plastics are cleaned and turned into pellets to be recycled into new products like picnic tables and park benches and the metal materials are smelted and converted into alloys.   Aside from its 2030 goals, Gillette this week is releasing results of a global survey it conducted with research firm Lucid. The survey, which polled about 5,500 men aged 18 to 50 in 11 countries, showed more than half of the men surveyed (54 percent) care about sustainability and more than half (58 percent) say plastic waste in the environment is a very important issue to them.   Coombe said that while the survey results didn’t influence Gillette’s 2030 goals, “it's given us even more encouragement and energy to get to stay on this journey and accelerate the journey that, frankly, we've been on for 10 years already.”

Thanks to Happy Family Organics for sponsoring this post and thank you for supporting the brands that partner with me. All opinions expressed are my own.   When I quickly realized that I definitely did not have time to make all of Marin’s food I tested out some food pouches, and her favorites were all from Happy Family Organics. Needless to say I was pretty thrilled when they reached out to partner for the launch of their Stage 2 Regenerative & Organic Pouches made with ingredients grown to help reverse climate change. They also have a partnership with Terracycle so you can recycle the pouches and caps!

The National Retail Federation estimates that $2.6 billion was spent on candy for Halloween 2019. Most candy wrappers contain plastic and aluminum and cannot be recycled, says a June 23, 2019 article at candyclub.com. “Recycling mixed materials like candy wrappers or potato chip bags is simply too labor-intensive and expensive to be worth it.” Candy wrappers are often too small to pass through a recycling machine so they are diverted to a landfill where plastics make up almost 20% of all municipal solid waste, says RTS, a waste handling service headquartered in New York.

Tim Hortons has partnered with TerraCycle to bring reusables to its restaurants, becoming the first QSR to join the company’s Loop recycling platform. Set to be piloted in Toronto next year, customers will be given the option to pay a deposit to receive their drink or food order in a reusable container. The containers are then returned to a restaurant, where they will be cleaned for reuse and the customer will get their deposit back. Loop is a TerraCycle program that has partnered with retailers and brands to create sustainable, reusable packaging for grocery, household and personal care products. Once used, the empty containers are returned in a milkman-style system using a tote, which is placed outside a customer’s home for Loop to pick-up, with the containers then cleaned by the company and returned to the customer for reuse. Customers will have their refills returned directly to their door.

An innovative packaging initiative in pilot with Burger King presents retail foodservice operators with interesting opportunities to reduce waste and generate repeat customer traffic. The brand, as part of its Restaurant Brands for Good framework, has launched a partnership with TerraCycle’s circular packaging service, Loop, to pilot a closed-loop system with zero-waste packaging that can be safely cleaned and refilled to be reused, again and again.

Whether it’s styrofoam, plastic straws, or cardboard, there’s no escaping the fact that the convenience of fast food dining has typically been served with more than just an inconvenience to the environment. But in recent years, major chains have aimed to reduce disposable packaging and, in some cases, attempt to remove it from their restaurants altogether. Notably, Starbucks and McDonald’s joined forces (pre-pandemic) to support the launch of a test run of returnable coffee cups. Now, another burger giant is joining in as Burger King announces plans to rest reusable cups and containers beginning next year. Today, Burger King says it “has launched a partnership with TerraCycle’s circular packaging service, Loop, to pilot a closed-loop system with zero-waste packaging that can be safely cleaned and refilled to be reused, again and again.” The test run will begin sometime in 2021 at locations in New York City, Portland, and Tokyo, however, more cities are expected to be added to that list.

The next Whopper you order may look a little different when you take it out of the bag. In fact, the bag may look different, too. Fans don't need to worry: Burger King's packaging is changing, but the Whopper itself is staying the same. Thanks to a partnership with the brand Loop, Burger King will soon test reusable boxes, bags, coffee and soda cups, and more packaging—and it may end up saving customers money. Loop is a "circular packaging service" specializing in zero-waste wrappers and storage containers. All of its products may be cleaned, sanitized, and reused. Starting next year, Burger King will test the new packaging: Customers who opt-in to receive the Loop wrapping pay a deposit, which is refunded upon return. Once the packaging is back in the hands of Burger King, it will be cleaned before its next use. (Related: How did Burger King sales do this year? Check and see if the burger chain is part of the 9 Restaurant Chains That Closed Hundreds of Locations This Summer.)

Beginning in 2021, quick-service restaurants Burger King in the U.S. and Japan and Tim Hortons in Canada will pilot reusable, closed-loop container programs through TerraCycle’s circular packaging platform, Loop, to help in their efforts to reduce packaging waste. The programs will give guests the option of paying a deposit for reusable and returnable cups or food containers with their order that will be refunded when the packaging is returned. For Burger King, the partnership is being launched as part of its company-wide sustainability framework. Says Matthew Banton, Head of Innovation and Sustainability, Burger King Global, “As part of our Restaurant Brands for Good plan, we’re investing in the development of sustainable packaging solutions that will help push the foodservice industry forward in reducing packaging waste. The Loop system gives us the confidence in a reusable solution that meets our high safety standards, while also offering convenience for our guests on the go.”

Sift through the contents of your average fast-food haunt, and you’ll find plenty of single-use packaging bound for a landfill. OK, maybe don’t sift through that. Still, you’ll find lots of paper drink cups with a plastic coating, discarded ketchup sachets, and sandwich boxes galore, a veritable smorgasbord of mixed material QSR waste. Now, Burger King hopes to cut down on some of that waste, announcing a pilot program alongside Terracycle’s Loop that will give customers the option to select reusable packaging when they order their food. With the zero-waste packaging company behind them, BK will offer reusable containers and cups to customers in New York, Portland, and Tokyo starting in 2021.