Personal care brand, Gillette, has committed to halving the amount of virgin, fossil-based plastics used and to halving absolute emissions by 2030. These sustainability targets are an addition to their current sustainable strategy.
Reduction of Virgin Plastic Usage
Gillette pledged to use 50% less virgin, fossil-based plastics in packaging and products than it did in 2018. The company was able to poll 5,500 men across its 11 main markets by collaborating with research firm Lucid and found that 58% view plastic waste as a very important issue.
Gillette will work to make its designs more resource-efficient and increase its sourcing of plastic-free materials, bio-based plastics and recycled plastics to meet the new target. The company has launched UK’s first nationwide recycling scheme for razors and blades, as part of a partnership with recycling firm TerraCycle. This initiative is currently implemented in the US, UK, Australia and New Zealand. Gillette will promote this scheme further to source more recycled content. Currently, they have set up more than 21,000 recycling locations.
The strategy also includes new ambitions to achieve zero-waste-to-landfill status at all of Gillette’s sites and to reduce the company’s water consumption related to production by 35% by 2030.
Climate Action
In addition to Gillette’s pledge to use 50% less virgin, fossil-based plastics, it has also set a new climate target to halve absolute emissions by 2030 from a 2018 baseline. Since 2010, Gillette has cut down its Scope 1 (direct) and Scope 2 (power-related) emissions by more than 26%.
Gillette plans to switch to 100% renewable energy globally, mainly through tariffs, renewable energy certificates (RECs) and power purchase agreements (PPAs). The company will also update the remit of its energy task force teams. Currently, there is one team at each major site, and they are tasked with spotting areas for improving energy efficiency and increasing decarbonization.
The article was published originally by the Edie Network (November, 2020). You can read more here.