How to play with packaging in the carbon age

As mankind enters the carbon age, the non degradable "plastic packaging" of fossil materials has become the target of public criticism, and the change is imminent.

So, how do L'Oreal, Unilever and P & G, which consume a lot of plastic packaging, deal with it?

From the information published online, these international well-known brands are putting packaging "plastic reduction" in a very important position and trying various innovative schemes to achieve plastic reduction. Come and watch!

L'Oreal Group

L'or é al Group, a French beauty giant, announced the ultimate goal that 100% of the plastics used in the packaging of the group's products will come from recycled or bio based materials by 2030. According to the data released on the group's official website, plastics currently account for nearly 60% of the total packaging materials of L'Oreal Group, and the group's plastic consumption was 140000 tons in 2018.

In 2019, Kiehl's, Maybelline and other brands of L'Oreal Group carried out empty bottle recycling activities and made recycled plastics into packaging or parts.

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L'Oreal Group also established a consortium with carbios in 2017 to focus on large-scale upgrading and improvement of recycling technology. Last year, Nestle é waters, PepsiCo and Suntory beverage & Food Europe also joined the consortium.

In October last year, L'Oreal and ALB é a, a beauty product packaging supplier, announced their cooperation in developing the first paper-based cosmetic tubular packaging. Compared with ordinary cosmetic packaging, the plastic content of this paper packaging is reduced by 45%. L'Oreal said that in the future, it will also apply this packaging technology to the products of more brands of the group.

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Matrix, a brand of L'Oreal Group, has improved the packaging of its Biolage washing series in Brazil. It uses bio PE, a local sugarcane derivative in Brazil, as raw material to produce plastic under the action of microorganisms. Compared with ordinary plastics, this bio based plastic greatly reduces the carbon footprint of products and is a renewable material.

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Unilever group

Unilever, a European consumer goods giant, has announced its plastic reduction plan by 2025:

Reduce the absolute use of plastic packaging by more than 100000 metric tons through the circular plastic packaging distribution mode; Reduce the use of new plastics by 350000 metric tons by using alternative packaging materials and reducing the plastic content in packaging. picture

Unilever has implemented the "less, better, no plastic" sustainable plastic packaging strategy since 2017, mainly by increasing the number of plastic packaging reuse, including the launch of shampoo and detergent filling mobile vending machines in Southeast Asia, the establishment of product filling stations in cooperation with universities and stores, and the cooperation with loop, a recycling consumer goods shopping platform. By the first half of 2019, nine Unilever brands had begun to pilot this packaging recycling model.

At present, Unilever has launched environmental protection innovative products such as solid shampoo, hard paper packaged antiperspirant and bamboo wire toothbrush.

By the end of 2019, dove will launch 100% recyclable plastic bottles on the premise of feasible technology in North America and Europe. In 2020, dove's iconic beauty soap products will adopt plastic free packaging all over the world; Dove will also use minim ™ Stainless steel packaging technology further reduces the use of plastics, which has been applied to its antiperspirant products

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Procter & Gamble group

In the 2019 P & G corporate citizenship report white paper released in April last year, P & G said that by 2030, 100% of the packaging materials that can be recycled or reused will be used, and the amount of plastic produced from crude oil in packaging will be reduced by 50% worldwide, which is estimated to reduce the amount of new plastic by more than 300000 tons.

As of the release of the report, P & G has used about 45000 metric tons of PCR (recycled plastic) in packaging, and has ensured that 90% of the products are packaged with recyclable materials or launched relevant projects to improve the recycling capacity. P & G said it plans to invest US $1.5 billion in the next five years to help eliminate plastic waste in the environment.

P & G has also established a cooperative relationship with terracycle, an American waste recycling company, and joined loop, a circular e-commerce platform. P & G said that household products such as tide, Bilang, cascade, febreze and Pantene purchased by platform participants adopt sustainable and refillable packaging. After the product is used up, loop will collect it for cleaning for recycling.

P & G has set specific plastic reduction targets for its washing powder brand Bilang (Europe): all product packages will be recycled by 2022, and the amount of plastic packaging will be reduced by 30% by 2025. Specifically, from July 2019, the small plastic bottles of washing powder in the UK will be replaced with light bags to save 75% of the plastic consumption; By the first quarter of 2020, the consumption of PCR recycled plastics used in Bilang packaging bottles in Europe will be increased from 25% to 50%.