How Paper Tube Packaging is Saving the Planet
In April, Procter & Gamble announced its first project doing trials for the first all-paper tube packaging for some Old Spice & Secret aluminum-free deodorants in May. These trials would be done through 55 Walmart stores in the United States. The packages were made from 90% recycled paper, and were certified by the Forest Stewardship Council. The tubes featured a “push-up” design that replaced the plastic stick deodorant canisters previously used by the company. Through this new project, P& G would be completing the second recyclability testing phase on the new package by fall. It hopes that by it, it would learn how the consumers would respond to the design, and if successful, it would expand the tube package across its product line-up.
It is crucial at this point to note that the need for recyclable and reusable packages has continued to increase dramatically in the last several years. This is following numerous reports of how plastic waste has continued to accumulate in landfills and oceans. Countries such as the Philippines and the People’s Republic of China historically took plastic waste from the US for recycling. However, they recently announced that they would not accept the waste imported from other countries anymore. This could mean that they, too, are facing the same challenge handling their plastics, and they are working towards more sustainable packaging methods. They also have goals to remove plastics from their supply chain for good. P & G and Walmart have realized that they, too, can play a role in removing plastics from their chain, and have publicly declared aggressive sustainability goals.
By the year 2030, P & G Beauty brands have resolved to use 100% recyclable and reusable paper tube packaging, while also reducing the use of petroleum plastics by 50%. Walmart, on the other hand, has committed to carry zero waste to landfills for its US, UK, Japan, and Canadian operations by 2025. Paper tube packaging is one of the ideas that P& G has initiated, hoping to reduce plastic waste in its chain. Earlier in the year, the company cut the plastics used in the Secret antiperspirant and deodorant canisters by 8%. This move has played a crucial role in saving about 900,000 pounds of plastic waste. The company also signed a five-year contract to buy recycled plastics from a UK company in January.
P & G plans to use the recycled polyethylene in its European Ariel laundry product variety. It recently noted that using the recycled resin for making Ariel liquid detergent bottles would help it reach more than 50% recycled content in liquid bottles in 2020. This would mean that P & G will manage to reduce the virgin petroleum plastics in use in the globe. Ariel previously committed itself to make packaging recyclable by 2022. Its goal is to reduce plastic use in packaging by 30% by the year 2025. The company has already begun doing it and is on the way to the top. Yet, it is succeeding not only as a consumer product manufacturer but also as a sustainable company of the twenty-first century.
Tube packaging is one of the areas that P & G has taken advantage of in the modern sustainability era to impact the environment and energy sector. The company, having noted the impact that its product continues to cause on the environment, has combined efforts with Walmart to ensure that it reduces that amount of waste reaching the oceans and landfills. So far, it has managed to use paper tubes for packaging products such as Secret and Old Spice aluminum-free deodorants. The paper packages are made of 90 percent recycled paper and certified by the Forest Stewardship Council. Once this recyclability test succeeds, P & G will expand across more of its line-up.