Dove unveiled new initiatives and impact figures to accelerate its progress to address plastic waste.
As one of the biggest known reduction plans of its kind in the beauty industry, Dove initiatives will generate an ongoing massive impact, reducing the use of virgin plastic by more than 20,500 tonnes per year globally.
“Better recycling alone will not solve the plastics problems we face today, we must address plastic waste at the source,” says Sander Defruyt, new plastics economy lead of the Ellen MacArthur Foundation. “This means eliminating the plastic items we don’t need, innovating the ones we do need so that all of them are reusable, recyclable, or compostable, and circulating all those we use by reusing them, or recycling them into new products and packaging.”
The amount of virgin plastic Dove will save per year would be enough to circle the Earth 2.7 times.
“Action is needed now, and on all of these fronts in parallel.,” says Defruyt. “That is why we welcome Dove’s announcements. Their significant strides help reduce Dove’s use of virgin plastics and help to accelerate the global transition to a circular economy for plastics.”
The brand has opted for long-term initiatives rather than one-off limited editions to ensure a greater and sustained impact. The announcement will be a key contribution to achieving Unilever’s recently announced goals.
Plastic waste is one of the biggest perceived global environmental and human health issues we face today: an issue being driven by a linear, single-use consumption model. To be part of the solution in creating a circular plastics economy, one where plastics are reused and recycled, Dove is accelerating and expanding its actions with renewed force following the NO | BETTER | LESS PLASTIC framework:
1. NO PLASTIC: Dove is paving the way for the rest of the sector with industry-leading innovations – eliminating the use of plastics where possible by using alternative materials and new packaging formats. Next year, its iconic beauty bar single packs will be plastic-free globally, and development is underway to replace the plastic outer-wrap of its beauty bar multipacks with a zero-plastic material.
2. BETTER PLASTIC: Dove is committed to investing in more sustainable plastic choices to reduce the use of virgin plastic, supporting the creation of a circular economy for plastics. This includes today’s announcement that Dove will start to launch new 100 per cent recycled plastic (PCR) bottles where technically feasible, in North America and Europe by the end of 2019 – across all ranges (Dove, Dove Men+Care, and Baby Dove). Dove continues to search for solutions where recycled plastic is not currently technically feasible, including for caps and pumps.
3. LESS PLASTIC: Dove will leverage the technology behind its new reusable, refillable, stainless steel format deodorant sticks: minim. This technology minimizes waste by radically reducing the amount of plastic required. The launch date is not yet confirmed but work is well underway. minim will be trialled as part of the LOOP platform initiative: a first-of-its-kind, minimal waste, direct-to-consumer shopping system.
Dove’s initiatives will contribute to Unilever’s recently announced new commitments on plastic:
- To halve its use of virgin plastic, by reducing its absolute use of plastic packaging by more than 100,000 tonnes globally and accelerating its use of recycled plastic
- To help collect and process more plastic packaging than it sells
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