Volontärer från strandstädningen skickar den insamlade hårdplasten från Marstrand till TerraCycle som betalar fraktkostnaderna. All insamlad PE-HD plast används för att tillverka nya Head & Shoulders återvinningsbara schampoflaskor gjorda utav upp till 25 % återvunnen marinplast. Flaskorna kommer till en början att säljas i Frankrike, men målet är att försäljningen senare ska utvidgas till andra europeiska länder, inklusive Sverige.

Tom Szaky is a man with a mission to eliminate waste. Parvati Magazine caught up with him this month to inquire about some of the innovative ways he collects and repurposes hard-to-recycle waste through his global company TerraCycle. Parvati Magazine: Individuals, schools and offices in 20 countries send TerraCycle their hard-to-recycle waste, and you have it made into cool stuff! At this time, which of your products are you excited about? Tom Szaky: I am excited about an announcement we recently made with Procter & Gamble to manufacture the world’s first recyclable shampoo bottle made from beach plastic, for the Head & Shoulders brand. The first bottles will be on store shelves in France in early summer. PMAG: You were 19 years old being laughed at and turned away as you pitched your business idea for worm-poop fertilizer in recycled bottles. What in your life prepared you to be the young man who kept persisting? TS: I think emigrating with my parents from Hungary when I was a child. After tremendous political instability, we went from Hungary to Belgium to the Netherlands and then to Canada where I grew up. My parents were respected physicians in Hungary but had to redo all of their training to practice medicine in Canada. In high school, some of my friends’ parents were entrepreneurs, starting with nothing but accomplishing amazing things. When I saw that, I felt like a whole new world was at my feet and knew I could drive my own success. PMAG: It seems that TerraCycle shines a light on hard-to-recycle waste. Have there been alternatives or packaging changes as a result? TS: There are companies, many of whom we work with, who are trying to be as responsible as possible about their packaging on the front and back end. I like being part of the discussion as to how we can affect change, either by finding a solution for a huge problem, like recycling cigarette butts, or giving consumers a way to be part of the solution, as with the Head & Shoulders shampoo bottle. Consumers can make a conscious decision to support the initiative by buying a bottle made with beach plastic and recycling it when it’s empty. PMAG: The more successful your business is, the better it is for the global community! What can you say about that? TS: I think it’s great. There are a lot of people out there who want to operate more sustainably, whether it’s corporately by making packaging changes on the front end and providing a way to recycle on the back end, or the people who recycle with us through their homes, schools and offices. PMAG: This seems like high-energy work. How do you find your personal rhythm among the ideas, people, meetings, juice wrappers and graffiti walls? TS: I’m a high-energy person! I love my job and coming to work and interacting with our staff and partners. Our offices are reflections of our people and our business and I think it helps stimulate creative thinking. PMAG: As we’re focusing on the value of laughter this month, can you tell us if you think laughter is important in the workplace and why? How do you foster laughter ringing through the halls of TerraCycle on any given day? TS: Laughter is definitely important in the workplace. The office can be a very intense environment and laughing at yourself and with your colleagues is helpful to relieve stress and generate camaraderie with your team.

At the World Economic Forum (WEF) on 19 January, P&G announced that its Head & Shoulders brand would partner with recycling experts TerraCycle and SUEZ to pioneer a new approach to produce the world’s first recyclable shampoo bottle made from up to 25% postconsumer recycled content (PCR) derived from beach plastic. P&G’s Lisa Jennings, global hair care sustainability leader and Head & Shoulders brand franchise leader, said the initiative reflects concern over ocean waste. Jennings said the issue had been underscored by remarks at the previous year’s WEF by recycling campaigner Ellen MacArthur, who claimed that by 2050 the ocean could contain more plastics than fish. “I grew up by the beach in Brighton in the South Coast of England, and I was stunned,” said Jennings. “I thought about the world I would leave to my children and realised that, both as a consumer and a business leader, I had to play an active role in the solution. “2017 will be a major year for Hair Care Sustainability. I couldn’t be more proud of everyone involved in making this a reality. Together, we made the unrecyclable recyclable, and gave a second life to plastic that usually ends up in landfills or on our beaches. ” P&G has long been inspired by the idea of plastic never becoming waste. Its citizenship goals for 2020 call for doubling the amount of recycled resin used in plastic packaging and ensuring that 90% of product packaging is either recyclable, or programmes are in place to create the ability to recycle it.

Did a waste audit reveal your company’s recycling program isn’t exactly where you want it to be? Don’t be discouraged. Most companies hit pitfalls along the way, but those that stick with it can emerge as industry leaders. Take Procter and Gamble (P&G) and Microsoft, for example, which lead the consumer packaged goods and electronics industries in recycling. Procter and Gamble (P&G) set a goal to send zero manufacturing waste to landfill by 2020. So far, 56 percent of its global production sites send zero manufacturing waste to local landfills. Although it has less than three years left, the company is optimistic it can meet its 2020 goal — an achievement P&G says will keep about 65,000 metric tons of waste out of landfills. That is equivalent to the weight of almost 350,000 mid-sized cars. Manufacturing waste makes up about 95 percent of the waste P&G produces, with the remainder coming from its offices and tech center programs. The company works toward its 2020 goal by looking at waste through a new lens. As it states on its website: “The key is to not see anything as trash, but material with potential use.” Part of a successful recycling program is to reuse waste whenever possible. P&G offers a number of examples of reusing waste across its supply chain, including in Hungary where employees collect production scraps and send them to a local cement company that incinerates them to make energy for bricks. How a partnership can help a company Sometimes a company needs to partner with key recycling industry leaders to overcome plateaus and achieve their goals. P&G recently partnered with TerraCycle and SUEZ to produce a shampoo bottle made from up to 25 percent recycled beach plastic. The bottle of Head and Shoulders shampoo will debut this summer in French retailer Carrefour. And the rollout will eventually represent the world’s largest production of recyclable bottles made with post-consumer recycled beach plastic. The idea for the shampoo bottle came about a year ago at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, when the Ellen MacArthur Foundation challenged P&G to “drive greater recovery and reuse of plastics,” Helias told us. P&G felt Head and Shoulders, the “the leading shampoo brand in sales,” should be the label to “lead in sustainability innovation,” Helias said. P&G’s partnership with TerraCycle and SUEZ “brought about the largest solution to ocean plastic to date in terms of volume and percentage used in the package,” Tom Szaky, CEO and founder, TerraCycle told TriplePundit. The “problem of ocean plastic is immense,” Szaky explained. Over 25 percent of global plastic waste winds up in marine systems. “Only with a project that provide business value will we be able to clean up the plastic clogging our beaches, rivers, inlets and other waterways,” he said. P&G will also include up to 25 percent post-consumer plastic in over half a billion bottles in Europe by the end of 2018. That will represent over 90 percent of all P&G’s hair care bottles sold in Europe. P&G has used recycled plastic in its packaging for over 25 years — and it used 34,100 metric tons in 2016. Helias said the company “committed” to using post-consumer recycled material and helping to “build a marketplace by providing consistent end markets.”

Carelessly tossed plastic water bottles eventually go somewhere, and that somewhere might be a hidden cove off Plum Point on the Delaware River, a few miles north of Center City, that snags mighty amounts of trash as it flows downstream. Enter Jay Kelly’s class, determined not only to clean up the mess on the Jersey side of the Delaware, but also to log each and every one of the 7,917 pieces of debris found Saturday morning before the 60-mile bus ride back to Raritan Valley Community College. The students' mission, in collaboration with the nonprofit Clean Ocean Action, was scientific: Where does all the trash come from? What types of debris are most common? The garbage not only is ugly, it also may be swallowed by animals, killing or injuring them. And some chemicals, scientists fear, can end up in the food chain, contaminating other creatures. On Saturday, the class from Somerset County, N.J., found so many plastic water and soda bottles, it was impossible to take a step in a 75-foot length of the cove’s shoreline without the crinkling, crunching sound of collapsing plastic. In all, the students collected nearly 4,000 plastic bottles. But the bottles were just the start. Three dozen car and truck tires were wedged in the muck so densely they looked like headstones poking out of a graveyard. A rubber traffic cone stuck up like a warning. Two giant green plastic barrels, a playground slide, assorted combs, and a child’s tricycle were among trash snarled in nearby brush. Even after 2½ hours of work, the group could only pick up most of the larger items. The plastics were placed in large bags provided by TerraCycle, a Trenton company that specializes in hard-to-recycle items, such as severely degraded plastics. Rudy Sanfilippo, TerraCycle's manager of partnerships, said much of the plastic picked up in Cinnaminson could end up as packaging for new Procter & Gamble products. Items that couldn't be recycled were placed in a dumpster provided by the New Jersey Lands Trust. Left behind were the little bits and pieces that scientists call microplastics, left from decades of decomposing trash and small enough for animals to eat, Henry said. “We see little fish eating plastics and bigger fish eating the little fish,” she said. “So it ends up in the food chain. And the little plastics release toxins.” In just one nine-square-foot area, she said, the group found 152 drinking straws. “A lot of people are not aware of the problem along the river,” said Swarna Muthukrishnan, a scientist with Clean Ocean Action.  “If you got to the ocean beaches, it’s really visible, so people take notice. But lots of these river shorelines don’t get visited.” Kelly doesn’t think people are hurling their unwanted water bottles directly into the river. Rather, he thinks that trash tossed along roadways gets into storm drainage systems that are then overwhelmed during heavy rain, or melt from snowstorms. “It seems to me that most of this trash is coming from upstream during major storm events,” Kelly said. Coves such as Plum Point catch and trap the debris. He believes booms could be set up along the river above covers to funnel the debris into one area where it could be scooped out by heavy machinery. But, for now, he said, that’s just a wish. The more practical solution: Picking up and properly disposing of trash before it becomes a college class project.

Every business should be humbled by the limitless effort that Procter & Gamble pours into improving the quality of this world. P&G has published details of the green work it does in a yearly Sustainability Report since 1999, with the name changing in 2016 to the Citizenship Report (now covering the topics of Ethics & Corporate Responsibility, Community Impact, Diversity & Inclusion, Gender Equality, and of course Environmental Sustainability). This most recent report outlines the company’s greatest valuable accomplishments. With regard to the environment specifically, the innovations have been astonishing. For example, 65 percent of the USDA-certified ingredients contained in Tide purclean come from plants and other renewables, and the product is guaranteed to clean as well as the original – even in cold water. It’s also manufactured at a site which only uses renewable wind electricity, and boasts zero manufacturing waste-to-landfill. Another of P&G’s biggest brands, Charmin, sources all of its tissue from responsible forests, with Forest Stewardship Council and Rainforest Alliance Certified labels proudly emblazoned across the brand’s products. Waste from the production of Oral B, Head & Shoulders, and Always is repurposed globally, and Fairy dishwashing tablets will soon become phosphate-free, removing enough phosphate to cover 270,000 soccer fields. It is these kinds of achievements which enabled P&G to reach one of its long-term goals early – to reduce energy usage by 20 percent per unit of production by 2020. Last year, it managed this four years ahead of schedule. Earlier this year, the company made a new announcement which affected one of its most famous brands, and shone the spotlight on a sustainability issue not often discussed: beach plastic. Litter on beaches has been a problem for as long as packaging has existed, and in January this year, Procter & Gamble announced that Head & Shoulders had created the world’s first recyclable shampoo bottle made with PCR (post-consumer recycled) beach plastic. This innovation has been made in partnership with TerraCycle and SUEZ, and the limited edition bottles containing up to 25 percent PCR plastic will be sold in Carrefour – one of the biggest retailers in the world – in France. The aim is that by the end of 2018, in Europe, more than half a million bottles a year (which amounts to 90 percent of all P&G hair care brand bottles sold in Europe) will include up to 25 percent PCR plastic. While the company has in fact been using PCR plastic in packaging for 25 years, this announcement comes at a time when its use is to be vastly expanded across various brands. The Head & Shoulders project alone will require 2,600 tons of recycled plastic a year, and one of P&G’s corporate 2020 goals is to double the tonnage of PCR plastic used. Aside from anything else, this will mean far less waste being swept into the sea, which has been a huge concern; the Ellen MacArthur Foundation stated that there could be more plastic than fish in the ocean (by weight) by 2050 if huge changes are not made. I spoke with Virginie Helias, Vice President of Global Sustainability at P&G, on the day that the Head & Shoulders project was announced. My first question is an obvious one – how was this news received? “Overwhelmingly positively,” Helias replies with a laugh. “I was so thrilled. Our President [Europe Selling & Market Operations] Gary Coombe already posted about it on LinkedIn, and it received over 2,000 likes within a couple of hours. People are saying ‘why are you doing this now? Why not before? You should have done this earlier, this is amazing’. It’s been very positive, but the biggest impact has been within the company because everyone wants to do it, and it’s almost as if we’ve given permission to our staff to branch out and do things like this. It’s quite an unusual project and it hasn’t been easy, but this is the beginning of a new era.” Why now? The reason it hasn’t been done before, Helias says, is because something like this takes a great deal of planning and development before it can be rolled out to the public: “Imagine you’re representing a brand like Head & Shoulders – it’s not something you do lightly. It’s a big deal for us and there was so much preparation involved.” Helias admits that one large reason P&G’s efforts in the use of recycled plastics have escalated recently is the findings by the Ellen MacArthur Foundation, which triggered a reaction across the industry: “The idea of there being more plastic than fish in the ocean really captures the imagination of people, and the leader of our healthcare business simply said ‘let’s do something – something we can bring to our brand and engage with the consumer about’. It’s imperative that we raise awareness of the responsibility that we have in terms of recycling. The use of beach plastic is a very strong consumer statement, and we have the power to make a meaningful impact.” Partnerships The impact P&G makes is bolstered by its strategic partnerships, one of the most integral of which is the WWF (World Wildlife Fund). In 2010, both P&G and the WWF announced their goals and visions together, and the two organizations have worked together a very long time. “We work with anyone who is willing to help us with what we do,” Helias explains. “We choose people based on whether they have a similar agenda. Recycling is always an interesting topic because it’s something we have to act on. We have many projects with many partners who recycle a lot themselves and have the technology to support sustainability.” Alternative power P&G relies heavily on wind-generated electricity, and it has recently completed work on a wind farm in Texas, which will be an integral part in P&G’s long-term goal of powering all plants with 100 percent renewable energy. “The wind farm is now in operation, and it covers the electricity for all our public and homecare products in North America,” she says. “We are actually commercializing it on some of our products, where we mention on the pack that it’s powered with wind electricity. It’s been quite a milestone because it’s the first time we’re explaining that wind power is part of our vision and we’re on track to meet that vision. We also have a new biomass factory in Albany that will be in operation later this year, and that will provide all the heat for our Bounty and Charmin paper needs, something that is very energy-intensive.” What next? So where can P&G possibly go from here? According to Helias, the company is more committed than ever to its sustainable manufacturing and zero waste-to-landfill vision, and for the latter, it is more than halfway there. “It’s the holy grail,” she says, “and a big challenge for business. We have a pilot project in northern Italy and it’s the first time that it has been technically, logistically, and financially viable. That’s huge, and we’re very proud to have developed this business model. Water, too, is an issue we’re focused on, because people use it in the shower, when shaving, doing laundry, cleaning – hot water is always in use. The most important thing we can do as a company is reduce that, which is why we started working on cold water technology years ago. We’re always working on products that reduce the need for hot water and reduce our footprint.” This vision is endless and incredibly admirable, and the last time Helias spoke to us for one of our sister magazines, Business Review Europe, she told the editor that her personal vision was for her role to be eliminated. Is that still the case? “Absolutely,” she replies with delight in her voice. “When a business shows they can do something super exciting, and also work hard to reduce their footprint, then more and more businesses want to join in and eventually they won’t need me anymore. At that point I can happily retire.”

Procter & Gamble, leverancier van huishoudelijke en verzorgingsproducten, hanteert duurzaamheid als een belangrijk criterium bij de ontwikkeling van innovaties. “Met innovatie kun je de milieu-impact van consumenten verkleinen, zonder dat ze daarvoor iets extra’s hoeven te doen”, aldus Virginie Helias, global VP sustainability van Procter & Gamble. 06-04-2017 10:27 | DOOR: CHRIS THIJSSEN Producten ontwikkelen die het leven van consumenten gemakkelijker maken, terwijl grondstoffen worden behouden. Dat is een van de langetermijndoelen van het Amerikaanse bedrijf Procter & Gamble (P&G). Om dat te bereiken werkt de multinational met merken als Ariel, Braun, Gilette en Head & Shoulders toe naar een duurzamere bedrijfsvoering, waarbij afval tot het verleden behoort. DuurzaamBedrijfsleven ging in gesprek met Virginie Helias, global VP sustainability bij P&G, over duurzaamheid, innovatie en impact. Wat betekent duurzaamheid voor P&G? “Als we het over duurzaamheid hebben, hebben we het meestal over ecologische duurzaamheid, een van de vijf pijlers van onze Citizenship Agenda. Dat betekent kort gezegd: zakendoen binnen de grenzen van de planeet. Om dat te kunnen doen, focussen we ons op de gebieden die voor ons als bedrijf het belangrijkst zijn: klimaat, water en afval.” “Onze missie is om producten te ontwikkelen met minimaal gebruik van grondstoffen, gemaakt van recyclebare en hernieuwbare materialen. Deze producten worden geproduceerd in fabrieken die draaien op 100 procent schone energie en waarbij ‘zero waste to landfill’ de standaard is. Met alles wat we doen, werken we naar deze visie toe.”

“Onze milieu-impact ontstaat voornamelijk bij het gebruik van onze producten, thuis bij de consument"

Hoe komt dat terug in de dagelijkse bedrijfsvoering? “Duurzaamheid moet diep geworteld zijn in de bedrijfsvoering. Daarvoor is het nodig dat wanneer we innoveren, duurzaamheid een belangrijk criterium is. In tegenstelling tot voorheen, waarbij we aan het einde van het proces bekeken of een product recyclebaar is, moet duurzaamheid nu een criterium zijn dat we helemaal vooraan in het proces meenemen. Om dat te bereiken, moet je met elke afdeling samenwerken en uitleggen waarom dit belangrijk is. Als je dat laat zien, kun je betere innovaties creëren, dat is echt de sleutel.” Hoe dragen die innovaties bij aan verduurzaming van de producten van P&G? “Onze milieu-impact ontstaat voornamelijk bij het gebruik van onze producten, thuis bij de consument. Zo wordt binnen ons was-segment 80 procent van onze milieuvoetafdruk bepaald door de temperatuur waarop consumenten hun wasmachine laten draaien. Daarom moeten we producten ontwikkelen die werken met koud water en korte programma’s en hen helpen energie en water te besparen.” “Hierbij richten we ons op de groep consumenten die wij als ‘duurzame mainstream’ beschouwen, circa tweederde van de populatie. Deze groep wil zijn steentje bijdragen aan het milieu, zonder daarvoor kwaliteit in te leveren of er meer voor te betalen. Je moet deze mensen dus eigenlijk duurzaamheid geven zonder dat het hen moeite of geld kost. Het enige waarmee je dat kunt bereiken, is innovatie.” “Een voorbeeld van een product dat de milieu-impact bij de consument thuis vermindert, is Swiffer. Het gebruik van dit merk bespaart jaarlijks 250.000 liter water vergeleken met een emmer en een mop. Een ander voorbeeld is de lancering van een duurzamere variant van Tide (Ariel in Nederland, red.). Dit nieuwe wasmiddel heeft dezelfde kwaliteit die consumenten van het merk gewend zijn, maar is 65 procent plantbased. Achter dit product zitten jaren van ontwikkeling en innovatie.” Hoe bereikt P&G die ‘duurzame mainstream’-consument? “Het gaat om de link tussen een product en de belangrijkste milieu-impact van dat product. Bij babyverzorging veroorzaakt materiaalgebruik de grootste impact, bij wasmiddel is dat het wassen op hoge temperaturen door de consument. Om met de consument te communiceren over het verminderen van die impact, is een link tussen de impact en de merkwaarde nodig.” “Neem Ambi Pur, waarvoor we in het verleden een communicatiestrategie moesten ontwikkelen. De grootste impact van dit merk komt voort uit verpakkingen; het product bestaat uit een mix van materialen, een nachtmerrie voor recyclers. Het belangrijkste merkvoordeel is ‘giving everyone a breath of fresh air’. Het was een uitdaging om een brug te vinden tussen die twee. Maar uiteindelijk werd het motto: ‘leaving nothing behind but fresh air’. Daarmee adresseren we het punt van verpakkingen, want je wilt geen afval of verpakkingen achterlaten. En het is een duidelijke link naar de merkmissie. Dit gaf ons vervolgens groen licht om dingen te doen die we in het verleden niet kónden doen, omdat ze niet bij de merkwaarde pasten. Dat leidde onder meer tot de lancering van een recycleprogramma met TerraCyle in Nederland.”

"Eind 2018 moet 90 procent van onze shampooflessen zijn gemaakt met een bijdrage tot 25 procent post-consumer gerecycled plastic"

Begin dit jaar, tijdens het World Economic Forum in Davos, kondigde P&G in samenwerking met Suez en TerraCycle de productie van een Head & Shoulders-fles aan, waarin gerecycled plastic is verwerkt. Hoe komt de link tussen impact en communicatie daarin terug? “Bij Head & Shoulders (H&S) was de discussie over de link tussen de merkwaarde en duurzaamheid eigenlijk heel kort. De inspiratie was een rapport van de Ellen McArthur Foundation, waarin wordt voorspeld dat, wanneer er niets gebeurt, er in 2050 meer plastic dan vis in de oceanen zal zijn. We zagen dit plastic als ‘roos’ in de oceaan. En Head & Shoulders wilde, als nummer 1-shampoomerk in de wereld, die hoeveelheid roos, ofwel plastic, verminderen.” “Omdat het moeilijk is om plastic uit de oceaan te halen - het is daar als ‘soep’ aanwezig - besloten we plastic van het strand te gebruiken voor de productie van de shampoofles. Dat leidde tot een nieuwe shampoofles, waarin tot 25 procent gerecycled strandplastic is verwerkt. De H&S-fles heeft met zijn blauwe en witte kleur een iconische uitstraling. Maar voor deze campagne besloten we de fles van gerecycled plastic grijs te maken. Een enorm statement, want dit doen we niet snel. Maar we willen dat consumenten begrijpen dat recycling vandaag de dag suboptimaal is en dat zij dit kunnen verbeteren door in hun badkamer te recyclen.”   In Davos kondigden jullie aan ook shampooflessen van andere merken te verduurzamen. “Dat klopt, en dat is misschien nog een veel interessantere doelstelling. Want de fles met strandplastic, die in Frankrijk als limited edition zal worden aangeboden, blijft gelimiteerd in bereik vergeleken met alle shampooflessen die we in Europa verkopen. Eind 2018 moet 90 procent van onze shampooflessen dan ook zijn gemaakt met een bijdrage tot 25 procent post-consumer gerecycled plastic. Behalve voor Head & Shoulders geldt dat ook voor andere shampoomerken, zoals Pantene. Dit wordt zeer impactvol.” In hoeverre zijn jullie een voorbeeld in de industrie? “Dat we anderen inspireren, bleek wel uit de vraag die TerraCycle na deze aankondiging kreeg. En uit de vraag die wij van retailers krijgen, die zijn erg geïnteresseerd. Dat is mooi, want samenwerking is een belangrijk aspect, vooral als het gaat om recycling. Het nieuwe pakket Circulaire Economie van de Europese Unie schrijft voor dat in 2030 65 procent van al het afval in de EU moet worden gerecycled. Dit kunnen we nooit alleen bereiken. Dus we moeten samenwerken om te garanderen dat we de benodigde infrastructuur ontwikkelen, dat we consumenten voorlichten en onze merken opleiden.” “En we moeten met z’n allen investeren in recyclingtechnologie, want bepaalde materialen, zoals gekleurde PT, veroorzaken problemen voor recyclers. We werken dan ook met verschillende partners, zoals Petcore Europe of de Ellen McArthur Foundation. En alleen al het feit dat we zeggen dat we in 2020 het gebruik van gerecycled plastic willen hebben verdubbeld, is een zeer helder signaal voor de industrie dat wij ermee bezig zijn en dat zij moeten volgen door de toevoer te creëren.”

GLOUCESTER — Local environmental groups are gearing up for an ultimate spring cleaning event in five locations across the city next month. The Gloucester Clean City Commission, One Ocean One Love Shop, the One Hour at a Time Gang and Cape Ann SUP are partnering for the city-wide clean up. The Great Gloucester Cleanup is scheduled, appropriately, for Earth Day on April 22 from 9 to 11 a.m.  The five locations to be cleaned include Cripple Cove, Pavilion Beach, Main Street, St. Peters Square and the Eastern Point Lighthouse. Volunteers will meet at the site of their choice at 9 a.m. There will be a party with free food afterward for all volunteers from 11:30 a.m. to 2 p.m. at One Ocean, One Love Shop at 47 R Parker St.  Each site will have a point person to help organize volunteers and keep track of the number of bags collected.  “We are excited to bring these groups together and we would love to see good turnout from different neighborhoods and different groups. I think this has potential to be a great event and hopefully we can make it an annual event in the future,” Clean City commissioner Ainsley Smith said. This year, the groups are partnering with TerraCycle, and all hard plastic debris will be collected and upcycled to produce Procter & Gamble’s new line of recycled bottles. In January, Procter & Gamble announced a partnership with TerraCycle to make its Head & Shoulders shampoo bottles both recyclable and made of up to 25 percent “beach plastics” — trash removed from waterways including beaches, oceans and rivers.

In a move that could increase consumer awareness about marine plastic pollution — and thus, consumer willingness to pay more for products made from recycled marine plastic — recycling company TerraCycle plans to expand its beach cleanup programs to collect up to 1,000 tons of plastic waste globally. Earlier this year TerraCycle, in partnership with Procter & Gamble and Suez, developed the world’s first recyclable shampoo bottle made from up to 25 percent recycled beach plastic. The Head & Shoulders shampoo bottle will debut in France this summer. TerraCycle told Plastics News that the partners have major expansion plans. The initial beach cleanups collected 15 tons of material in Europe; Brett Stevens, vice president of material sales and procurement at the recycling company, told the publication that the company plans to expand collection efforts to North America and Asia. “The collection goals we’ve set forth in total approach I would say probably 500 to 1,000 tons coming off beaches over the next 12 months,” Stevens said. “It is very much not a fad. I think that we’re investing the staff and resources and building our programs with our partners, making this a long-lasting impact.” TerraCycle’s statements come as other leading companies are turning their attention to plastic waste ending up in oceans and other waterways. Last month Dell said it has developed the technology industry’s first packaging trays made with 25 percent recycled ocean plastic content. In January, Unilever CEO Paul Polman called on the consumer goods industry to address ocean plastic waste and employ circular economy models to increase plastic recycling rates. Adidas is also working to solve the problem of plastic pollution in oceans by turning this waste stream into new material for its shoes. But as environmental groups like Greenpeace and circular economy advocates like the Ellen MacArthur Foundation have shown in recent reports, more needs to be done. According to the Ellen MacArthur Foundation, one-third of the plastic packaging used globally ends up in oceans and other fragile ecosystems. An earlier study by the foundation found there could be more plastics than fish in the ocean by 2050. However, as Waste Dive reports, the cost associated with collecting and cleaning marine plastic for reuse in products and packaging means virgin material is cheaper. “A coordinated global campaign that can demonstrate the path from cleaning beaches to putting new products on store shelves might help drive consumer interest in paying a little more for packaging made from this content.”