TRENTON — Plastic waste that washed ashore or was left on the sand by beachgoers will make up to 25 percent of a first-of-its-kind product hitting shelves this summer in France. And it wouldn’t be possible without the help of a company in New Jersey. The Head & Shoulders product, according to Procter & Gamble, will be the first recyclable shampoo bottle comprised specifically of recycled beach plastic. But in order for P&G to get their hands on this plastic, they need assistance from Trenton-based TerraCycle, which prides itself on making the most out of hard-to-recycle materials. The company, with a presence in more than 20 countries, is responsible for gathering the waste – specifically plastics – collected along the coast by organizations and charities that conduct local beach clean-up efforts. TerraCycle then forwards the materials to other companies responsible for sorting, cleaning and processing. “So far in Europe, we’ve collected over 25,000 pounds of beach plastic in a few months of collections,” said Brett Stevens, TerraCycle’s global project lead on this initiative. “When we expand this program to America and specifically New Jersey, we expect to see dozens of shipments along the Jersey Shore – somewhere in the neighborhood of thousands of pounds of material coming off the beaches here in our home state.” Clean Ocean Action, which performs two “beach sweeps” in New Jersey each year, has already been contacted by TerraCycle regarding the effort, according to executive director Cindy Zipf. “Whatever they want to take, we’ll give it to them,” she said. Plastic pieces, caps, and food wrappers and bags were the top-three types of debris collected on New Jersey beaches during COA’s 2015 sweeps, according to their latest report. Volunteers are hitting the sand on Apr. 22 and Oct. 21 of this year as well, rain or shine. Stevens said there’s no specific timeline on when the special edition shampoo bottles will reach the United States, but his prediction is within the next year. He noted it’s not rare for products to be comprised of recycled materials, but those materials are typically “untraceable.” “These beach plastics are unique because they have a story behind them,” he said. Announcement of the green initiative occurred at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland earlier this month.  

TRENTON — Plastic waste that washed ashore or was left on the sand by beachgoers will make up to 25 percent of a first-of-its-kind product hitting shelves this summer in France. And it wouldn’t be possible without the help of a company in New Jersey. The Head & Shoulders product, according to Procter & Gamble, will be the first recyclable shampoo bottle comprised specifically of recycled beach plastic. But in order for P&G to get their hands on this plastic, they need assistance from Trenton-based TerraCycle, which prides itself on making the most out of hard-to-recycle materials. The company, with a presence in more than 20 countries, is responsible for gathering the waste – specifically plastics – collected along the coast by organizations and charities that conduct local beach clean-up efforts. TerraCycle then forwards the materials to other companies responsible for sorting, cleaning and processing. “So far in Europe, we’ve collected over 25,000 pounds of beach plastic in a few months of collections,” said Brett Stevens, TerraCycle’s global project lead on this initiative. “When we expand this program to America and specifically New Jersey, we expect to see dozens of shipments along the Jersey Shore – somewhere in the neighborhood of thousands of pounds of material coming off the beaches here in our home state.” Clean Ocean Action, which performs two “beach sweeps” in New Jersey each year, has already been contacted by TerraCycle regarding the effort, according to executive director Cindy Zipf. “Whatever they want to take, we’ll give it to them,” she said.   Plastic pieces, caps, and food wrappers and bags were the top-three types of debris collected on New Jersey beaches during COA’s 2015 sweeps, according to their latest report. Volunteers are hitting the sand on Apr. 22 and Oct. 21 of this year as well, rain or shine. Stevens said there’s no specific timeline on when the special edition shampoo bottles will reach the United States, but his prediction is within the next year. He noted it’s not rare for products to be comprised of recycled materials, but those materials are typically “untraceable.” “These beach plastics are unique because they have a story behind them,” he said. Announcement of the green initiative occurred at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland earlier this month.

A P&G anuncia  no Fórum Econômico Mundial de Davos que a sua marca Head & Shoulders, número um de xampu do mundo, irá produzir a primeira embalagem reciclável feita de plásticos retirados das praias.

[caption id="" align="alignleft" width="220"] La firma Head & Shoulders, perteneciente a P&G, ha creado el primer bote de champú realizado con plástico reciclado de las playas.[/caption]

La compañía Procter & Gamble anunció en el marco del Foro Económico Mundial, celebrado la semana pasada en la localidad suiza de Davos, que su empresa Head & Shoulders (H & S), reconocida a nivel mundial por su champú, producirá el primer bote de champú reciclable del mundo, hecho en un 25% con plástico de playa reciclado.

En colaboración con los expertos de reciclaje TerraCycle y Suez, esta innovación llegará a Francia este verano como un envase H & S de edición limitada a disposición de los consumidores de Carrefour. Se tratará de la mayor producción del mundo de botellas reciclables hechas con plástico post-consumo reciclado (PCR) de playa y un primer paso importante en el establecimiento de una cadena de suministro única que implica el apoyo de miles de voluntarios y cientos de ONGs en las playas.

Fuimos conscientes de que la principal marca de champú en ventas tenía que liderar la innovación en sostenibilidad y animar así, a toda la industria a hacer lo mismo, dijo Lisa Jennings, Vicepresidenta de Head & Shoulders y Líder Global de Sostenibilidad de Cuidado de Cabello , Procter & Gamble. Hemos tenido la suerte de poder trabajar con grandes socios como TerraCycle y Suez para hacer realidad este proyecto.

Además, P & G anunció que en Europa a finales de 2018 aproximadamente más de 500 millones de botellas por año incluirán hasta un 25% de plástico reciclado del post-consumo. Esto representa el 90% de todas las botellas para el cuidado del cabello que se venden en Europa de P & G, de marcas insignia como Pantene y Head & Shoulders.

El proyecto requerirá un suministro de 2.600 toneladas de plástico reciclado cada año - el mismo peso que ocho Boeing 747 completamente cargados-. P & G ha utilizado el plástico de PCR en envases por más de 25 años, y el anuncio de la semana pasada es un paso importante de la compañía para cumplir su objetivo de 2020 de duplicar el tonelaje de plástico PCR utilizado en los envases.

Según la Fundación Ellen MacArthur (EMF), el 95% del valor del material de envases plásticos, que oscila entre 80 y 120.000 millones de dólares anuales, se pierde en la economía y siguiendo el ritmo actual, podría haber más plástico que peces en el océano (por peso) en 2050.

En P & G, creemos que las acciones valen más que las palabras. El mayor uso de plásticos de PCR a través de nuestras de marcas de cuidado del cabello, demuestra nuestro compromiso continuo para impulsar un cambio real, dijo Virginie Helias, Vicepresidenta de Sostenibilidad Global de P & G. La botella de champú reciclable Head & Shoulders fabricada con plástico de playa es la primera del mundo en la categoría de cuidado del cabello. Aumentar el uso de plástico reciclado en los envases de nuestras marcas insignia, como Pantene y Head & Shoulders, facilita a los consumidores poder elegir productos más sostenibles, sin concesiones. Así que mientras estamos orgullosos de lo que hemos hecho y lo que estamos haciendo, sabemos que hay mucho trabajo por delante.

*Para más información: www.uk.pg.com / www.terracycle.es / www.suez-environnement.com

Procter & Gamble recently collaborated with TerraCycle and Suez, the largest waste management company in Europe, on the world's first fully recyclable shampoo bottle made with 25% plastic collected from beaches. This packaging made with post-consumer recycled (PCR) content will soon be available in France. A recent report from the World Economic Forum and the Ellen MacArthur Foundation in the UK reveals that of the 300 million tons of virgin plastic that's produced annually, 43% ends up incorrectly deposited in the garbage and ends up in landfills. This is particularly significant because it means that most plastic packaging is used only once. Considering that the look and shape of the Head & Shoulders shampoo bottle seems to remain unchanged, the makeup of this shampoo bottle sets a precedent that brands across multiple industries should take note of.

Procter & Gamble recently collaborated with TerraCycle and Suez, the largest waste management company in Europe, on the world's first fully recyclable shampoo bottle made with 25% plastic collected from beaches. This packaging made with post-consumer recycled (PCR) content will soon be available in France. A recent report from the World Economic Forum and the Ellen MacArthur Foundation in the UK reveals that of the 300 million tons of virgin plastic that's produced annually, 43% ends up incorrectly deposited in the garbage and ends up in landfills. This is particularly significant because it means that most plastic packaging is used only once. Considering that the look and shape of the Head & Shoulders shampoo bottle seems to remain unchanged, the makeup of this shampoo bottle sets a precedent that brands across multiple industries should take note of.

A year ago at the World Economic Forum in Davos, a report from the Ellen MacArthur Foundation and the World Economic Forum found that most plastic packaging is used only once; 95% of the value of plastic packaging material, worth $80 billion-$120 billion annually, is lost to the economy after a short first use. This challenges the world to drive greater recovery and reuse of plastics, and create solutions that see that plastics never become waste. During this year's Davos, Procter & Gamble announced that it has teamed up with us at TerraCycle and SUEZ, the largest waste management company in Europe, to source, develop and put out the first fully recyclable shampoo bottle made from up to 25% recycled beach plastic for the world’s number one shampoo brand, Head & Shoulders. The first 150,000 bottles will be available in France this summer, making it the world’s largest production run of recyclable shampoo bottles made with beach plastic, and a major step in establishing a unique supply chain that supports a new plastics economy. Working directly with thousands of volunteers and hundreds of NGOs and other beach cleanup organizations, TerraCycle sources the shipments of rigid plastics collected through beach cleanup efforts, capturing these materials for recycling for the first time, at no cost to participants. TerraCycle’s partnership with SUEZ tackles logistics (collection and shipment) and processing (separation and material pelletization) of these mixed plastics so they can be used as recycled raw material. The scale of the beach plastics project focuses on the goal of incorporating more post-consumer recycled content (PCR) across other P&G brands and globally, inspiring other world entities to do the same. P&G has been using PCR plastic in packaging for over 25 years, last year using over 34,000 metric tons, and its Hair Care division is projected to see half a billion bottles per year include 25% PCR by the end of 2018. Today’s announcement is an important step in P&G’s mission to meet the Corporate 2020 goal of doubling the tonnage of PCR used in plastic packaging. P&G, using the programme created by TerraCycle and SUEZ as a sourcing method, not only creates a market for recycled plastics, but a sustainable supply chain designed to feed back into itself. This collaborative partnership is a milestone in how organizations can look to partner up in order to deliver major environmental changes across industries. The benefit of putting forth the resources to divert plastics from landfills and create a market for them in the value system is many-fold. Approximately 10–20 million tons of plastic end up in the oceans each year. These include microplastics, which result in an estimated $13 billion a year in losses from damage to marine ecosystems (not to mention the severe degradation to natural capital suffered by animals and their habitats) and financial losses to fisheries and tourism. If things don’t change, we are projected to see more plastics than fish in the ocean by 2050. Of the more than 300 million tons of new, virgin plastic produced globally per year, it is estimated that up to 129 million tons (43%) of the plastic used is disposed of in landfills; in the United States, the EPA’s most recent report places the plastics recovery rate for recycling at 9%. Linear solutions for plastic waste miss out on opportunities to capture and use these resources, reinforcing our dependence on fossil fuels and incurring an avoidable degree of structural loss. The interesting thing about beach plastic is that there is so much of it, and companies like P&G see the ROI potential for harnessing those resources and rolling out their own sustainability initiatives. When consumer goods companies make the commitment to put out products made from non-virgin raw material, it creates a circular system that can be nurtured and expanded for sustainable growth and positive impact.

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.