Henkel, the maker of personal care brands including Schwarzkopf, Right Guard and Dial, has joined the U.S. Plastics Pact, in a push to create sustainable packaging solutions and drive change towards a circular economy.
Created by The Recycling Partnership and World Wildlife Fund (WWF) in partnership with the Ellen MacArthur Foundation, the non-profit brings together more than 70 brands, retailers, NGOs and government agencies to work together on sustainable solutions to rethink products, packaging and business models.
As a founding member, Henkel will work towards four main sustainability targets, including taking measures to eliminate 'problematic or unnecessary' packaging; ensuring all its plastic packaging is 100% reusable, recyclable or compostable; undertaking efforts to recycle or compost 50% of its plastic packaging; and boosting the average recycled or bio-based content in its plastic packaging to 30% by 2025.
Meanwhile, the company has also pledged its commitment to transparent, annual reporting of its progress towards these goals, guided by WWF's ReSource: Plastic Footprint Tracker.
Jillaine Dellis, Head of Sustainability for Henkel North America's Consumer Products business, said: "Henkel is committed to developing more intelligent packaging for the benefit of people and the planet.
“Our mission is to integrate materials from sustainable sources into intelligent designs to complete the circle.
"We are proud to join the U.S. Plastics Pact as a founding member, reinforcing Henkel's own comprehensive commitments to develop solutions that minimise and manage plastic waste."
Earlier this year, Henkel announced new sustainability targets, including making 100% of its packaging recyclable, reusable or compostable by 2025, which the company says it is “well on the way” to achieving.
Meanwhile, the company's North America manufacturing facilities are also said to be on target to achieve its goal sending zero waste to landfill by 2021, helping prevent the disposal of waste into the environment.
It joins fellow beauty and personal care giants L’Oréal and Unilever in the pact, which aims to create a unified voice for sustainable packaging across the US.
Sarah Dearman, Vice President of Circular Ventures for The Recycling Partnership, added: "Together through the U.S. Plastics Pact, we will ignite system change to accelerate progress toward a circular economy.
"The U.S. Pact will accelerate systemwide change by inspiring and supporting upstream innovation through a coordinated national strategy, creating a unified framework and enabling members to accelerate progress toward our ambitious 2025 sustainability goals.”
