March 25, 2022
CORPORATE ACTION: Clorox
Clorox Launches Household Cleaning Products In Earth-Friendly Packaging
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Clorox has launched Clorox Disinfecting Mist, an aerosol-free disinfecting mist that kills 99.9% of bacteria and viruses on hard surfaces. The cleaning product comes in a 100% recyclable bottle with reusable sprayer. The company has also launched the Clorox Multi-Purpose Refillable Cleaner and Clorox Bathroom Foamer Refillable Cleaner that use 80% less plastic packaging.[Image Credit: © Clorox]
CORPORATE ACTION: Colgate
Palmolive And Walmart Launch Sustainable Dishwashing Detergent With Refillable Recycled Plastic Bottle
Palmolive is working together with Walmart to launch the Palmolive Shake & Clean Dish Soap dishwashing detergent that comes in a refillable and reusable bottle. The starter kit comes with a bottle that is 100 percent recycled plastic, with both the bottle and carton packaging recyclable. Refilling is a three-step: fill the empty bottle with water to the indicated line; add the 5-ounce concentrated gel from the pouch; and shake the bottle to get a 20-ounce bottle of dishwashing liquid.[Image Credit: © Colgate-Palmolive]
Colgate-Palmolive Uses Several Approaches To Plastic Abatement
Colgate-Palmolive is taking various steps to achieve its 2025 Sustainability & Social Impact Strategy objectives. To reduce plastic waste, the company plans to reduce unnecessary packaging; make all packaging recyclable, reusable, or compostable; and reduce virgin plastic use by a third compared with 2019. Also, the company plans to use at least 25 percent recycled plastic in packaging, and is also looking at using possible alternative materials that promise sustainability benefits, product formats that require no plastic packaging, and products that include natural and sustainable materials.[Image Credit: © Colgate-Palmolive]
CORPORATE ACTION: PepsiCo
PepsiCo Pledges Increased Investment In Circular Economy For Flexible Packaging In Europe
PepsiCo director of packaging policy, Gloria Gabellini, said her company has promised to increase its investment in speeding up the adoption of a circular economy for flexible packaging in Europe. The company also plans to support government policies aimed at increasing the rate of adoption of a circular economy that is based on the “principles of resource efficiency, prevention of waste and pollution”, and reducing packaging’s impact on the environment. PepsiCo has started reviewing packaging designs to reduce use of unnecessary materials, improve recyclability, and increase recycled content.[Image Credit: © PepsiCo]
CORPORATE ACTION: Tesco
Tesco Stops Selling Plastic Baby Wet Wipes In UK
UK retailer Tesco will stop selling branded baby wipes containing plastic on March 14, 2022. The company stopped using plastic in own-label baby wipes in 2020. The retailer sells more than 75 million packs of baby wipes each year.[Image Credit: © Tesco plc]
CORPORATE ACTION: Unilever
Unilever Adopts, Pushes Recycled Food Packaging And Calls For Legislation Supporting Circular Economy
Unilever said its research & development teams are developing sustainable packaging solutions, including recycling of plastic packaging waste and discovering new materials to replace virgin single-use plastic. Plastic packaging’s ability to keep air, moisture and bacteria away from food products makes it a most important means of preventing food waste. However, a growing demand for products that come in sustainable packaging is driving growth in the alternative packaging materials sector. Unilever sees a need for legislation with industry support to promote recycled plastics in food packaging and ensure a fully functioning circular economy.[Image Credit: © Unilever plc]
Unilever Supports UN’s Efforts To Find Legally Binding Global Deal Against Plastic Pollution
Unilever’s chief R&D officer, Richard Slater, said his company is supporting calls for a mandatory UN treaty to fight plastic pollution. Unilever has promised to reduce by half its use of virgin plastic by 2025 and remove more than 100,000 tons of plastic from packaging. The company also supports voluntary efforts to fight plastic pollution, but it is also aware that non-mandatory agreements have not been sufficient to deal with the global problem. UN member states agreed to start working on a legally binding agreement after seeing that plastic pollution is “systemic and fundamentally entrenched in the global economy”.[Image Credit: © Unilever plc]
Unilever’s Positive Beauty Growth Platform Looks For Ideas For Sustainable Beauty Products
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Through its Positive Beauty Growth Platform, Unilever is calling for participants in its search for the “next generation of biodegradable and sustainable cosmetic ingredients and packaging materials”. The invitation goes to innovators and entrepreneurs from business start-ups, scaleups, and school-based enterprises. Unilever will explore partnerships or even pilot their sustainability concepts under the company’s Beauty & Personal Care business.[Image Credit: © Unilever plc]
CORPORATE ACTION: Other
SC Johnson Launches DISSOLVE Liquid Pods With Reusable Bottles
SC Johnson has launched the DISSOLVE Concentrated Pods liquid format across the company’s Windex, Scrubbing Bubbles, and fantastik brands in the United States. The company said the dissolvable liquid pods come in reusable bottles that reduce plastic waste by 94% with each refill and offer consumers a powerful clean.[Image Credit: © SC Johnson]
Extended Producer Responsibility Offers Means To Deal With Plastic Waste In US
New York’s Extended Producer Responsibility legislation represents a “better and more sustainable” approach to dealing with plastic waste in the United States. The country needs expanded EPR regulation that requires manufacturers to share some responsibility for the “cost and governance” of plastic waste collection and recycling infrastructure. Solving the country’s plastic waste problems will also require manufacturers to make products that are easier to recycle, come with more recycled content, and are more reusable.[Image Credit: © SC Johnson]
CAMPAIGNS, COMMITMENTS & NGOs
WRAP, GPAP Join Forces To Fight Plastic Pollution Worldwide
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WRAP and the World Economic Forum’s Global Plastic Action Partnership have joined forces to deal with plastic pollution by supporting Plastics Pacts and Global Plastic Action Partnerships networks worldwide. The partnership will combine the “knowledge, experience, and resources” of what they claim are the world’s two leading organizations working against the global problem of plastic waste. The groups are currently working with local partners in countries, including Ghana, India, and Mexico.[Image Credit: © WRAP]
UN Adopts Mandate To Negotiate Legally Binding Treaty On Plastic Pollution
United Nations member countries voted on March 2, 2022 to adopt a mandate for an International Negotiating Committee to come up with a legally binding UN Treaty on plastic pollution. The UNEA 5.2 resolution includes specific references to the “circular economy, full life cycle, and sustainable production and consumption”. The Ellen MacArthur Foundation calls for the adoption of a treaty that includes “legally binding elements” to promote a circular economy worldwide, addresses the full life cycle of plastics, and provides a global common vision and harmonized standards.[Image Credit: © United Nations]
ALLIANCES, PARTNERSHIPS & JVs
UK Retailers Join Refill Coalition To Help Reduce Single-Use Plastic Packaging Volume
Several UK retailers have banded together to form the Refill Coalition to develop a refill solution that could help reduce the 56.5 billion units of single-use plastic packaging sold each year in the country. Refill expert group Unpackaged organized the group, which includes M&S, Morrisons, Ocado, Waitrose & Partners, and supply chain solutions provider CHEP, in 2020. The group aims to test the refill system in stores and online later in 2022.[Image Credit: © Unpackaged Systems Ltd,]
CONSUMER & PUBLIC OPINION
Survey Reveals Consumer Preference For Products With Easy-To-Follow Recycling Guides
DS Smith’s latest consumer survey has revealed that 63 percent of respondents said they are “more likely to purchase” products with clear directions on recycling. Results of the survey conducted by the sustainable packaging provider also showed that 59 percent of consumers said that “disposal instructions” on product packaging are “hard to find”, while 62 percent said there are lots of “conflicting advice on recycling”. The survey, which was conducted in early March, also revealed the top 12 hard-to-recycle items, such as junk mail, padded envelopes, and sandwich wrappers, which are hard to recycle because of plastic content and food contamination.[Image Credit: © DS Smith]
POLICY, REGULATION & LEGAL
Food Manufacturers Cry Foul Against UK’s New Plastic Packaging Tax
Food companies and food industry representatives have expressed opinions against the new plastic packaging tax in the UK. The tax takes effect on April 1 and is aimed at encouraging food manufacturers to use recycled plastic in packaging. Plastic packaging that contains at least 30 percent recycled material is exempt from the tax, while food manufacturers or importers with 10 tons or more of plastic packaging per year containing less than 30 percent of recycled plastic will have to pay £200 per tonne.[Image Credit: © Crown Copyright]
UK Introduces New Tax On Plastic Used In Packaging
The UK government and the HM Revenue and Customs are introducing the Plastic Packaging Tax on all plastic packaging components manufactured or imported into the country. The tax will become effective on April 1, 2022 and will apply a £200 tax per tonne. The new law exempts packaging that contains at least 30% of recycled plastic material, is designed for human medical products or designed to be an integral part of the product.[Image Credit: © Crown Copyright]
UN Environmental Assembly Focuses On Fighting Plastic Waste At Source
The United Nations Environment Program will hold its fifth environmental assembly on February 28 to March 2. The event will focus on creating the world’s first ever global and binding treaty to fight plastic waste. The convention will see world leaders gathering virtually and face-to-face in Nairobi, Kenya, and will recognize the importance of tackling plastic waste at its source.[Image Credit: © United Nations]
INNOVATION & TECHNOLOGY
Colgate Launches Toothpaste With LiquiGlide’s EveryDrop Packaging Technology In Canada
Colgate is launching its Colgate Elixir toothpaste in Canada in March 2022. The toothpaste comes with LiquiGlide’s EveryDrop technology that eliminates the friction between solids and liquids. The technology allows consumers to easily dispense the toothpaste and recycle the packaging.[Image Credit: © LiquiGlide]
UKRI’s Smart Sustainable Plastic Packaging Challenges Announces Grant Winners
The UK Research and Innovation’s Smart Sustainable Plastic Packaging Challenge has announced the winners of the £30 million sustainable plastic packaging and waste management funding competition. The SSPPC has awarded £4.4 million to Plasgran Ltd. to develop and demonstrate an economically viable process to separate post-consumer non-food polypropylene food packaging. The project of Fiberight Ltd. and Impact Recycling Ltd. receives £5.1 million to develop a sustainable solution for hard-to-recycle packaging, such as films and flexibles.[Image Credit: © UK Research and Innovatio]
Indian Scientists Develop Process For Replacing 70% Of Sand In Concrete With Recycled Plastic
Researchers at the Sona Institute of Technology in Salem, Tamil Nadu, have received a patent for a process that replaces as much as 70% of sand used in concrete with shredded plastic waste. The method saves sand and helps prevent plastic waste from going to landfills. At present, India uses about 70 million tons of sand in infrastructure projects, with consumption increasing by 7% each year.[Image Credit: © Sona Institute of Technology]
EMERGING IDEAS, THEMES & TRENDS
TwelveNYC Offers Sustainable, Branding-Friendly, Customizable Bags
TwelveNYC has developed a biodegradable, nontoxic and compostable bags that can dissolve in hot water in seconds. The company developed a combination of polyvinyl alcohol, starch, glycerine, and water that it has used in making bags that are water-soluble and biodegradable. The bags are 100 percent environment-friendly and can be branded and customized.[Image Credit: © TwelveNYC ]
Beauty Kitchen’s Re Initiative Receives £3-Million Grant From UKRI
Beauty Kitchen’s Re reuse model and circular economy program has said it is receiving £3 million in grant money from the UK Research and Innovation’s Smart Sustainable Plastic Packaging Challenge. The funding will help expand Re operations across the UK and will they claim make the program the leader of the country’s efforts to achieve Plastics Pact objectives. At present, Re has saved more than 4 million bottles from landfill.[Image Credit: © Beauty Kitchen]
RESEARCH
Scientists Discover Microplastics In Human Blood For The First Time
Scientists have discovered microplastic pollution in human blood for the first time, with researchers finding the tiny plastic particles in almost 80 percent of the people tested. Results of the study funded by the Dutch National Organisation for Health Research and Development and anti-plastic pollution social enterprise Common Seas also revealed that microplastics can travel inside the human body and may get stuck in organs. The scientists analyzed blood samples from 22 healthy adults, with 17 of the samples testing positive for plastic particles, and half of the samples containing PET plastic. The research is published in the Environment International journal and used existing techniques to discover and analyze microparticles as small as 0.0007mm.[Image Credit: © FLY:D]
Review Finds Recycled PET Bottles Leach More Chemicals Into Drinks Than New PET Bottles
Brunel University London researchers discovered that plastic bottles made from recycled Polyethylene Terephthalate leach more chemicals into drinks that bottles made from virgin PET. The researchers also found 150 chemicals that entered the drinks from plastic bottles, with 18 chemicals found in amounts exceeding those prescribed by regulations. Results of the review suggest that contamination is caused by problems with the recycling process. Researchers are calling for improvements in recycling methods to help remove potentially harmful chemicals.[Image Credit: © Brunel University London]
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