Colgate-Palmolive reaffirms commitment to curb plastic waste

Global consumer products firm Colgate-Palmolive Company has reaffirmed its commitment to reduce plastic waste by joining the Ellen MacArthur Foundation’s New Plastics Economy initiative.

The move comes after Colgate-Palmolive pledged last month to ensure packaging across all its product categories is 100% recyclable by 2025.

The company also aims to achieve 25% recycled content in all plastic packaging by 2025.

In order to accelerate its progress, the company will focus on improving the capacity and quality of recycled material available for its packaging.

The focus will also be on continuous innovation to curb unwanted plastic packaging.

Colgate-Palmolive Company chairman, president and CEO Ian Cook said: “We are committed to reducing our use of plastic in our packaging, using more recycled plastic, and increasing the recyclability of our plastic packaging.

“We’re proud to join this Ellen MacArthur Foundation initiative, an important part of our strategy to help us achieve our goals and keep building a future to smile about.”

As part of its efforts, the company introduced a re-engineered fabric softener sachet in Latin America and redesigned toothpaste packaging in China.

Together, the recently launched packaging designs will enable the company to save more than 50 tonnes of plastic per year.

By 2020, Colgate-Palmolive aims to make 100% of its packaging PVC-free.

New Plastics Economy Initiative lead Sander Defruyt said: “Great to see Colgate-Palmolive take a leading role in the transition to a circular economy for plastics with an ambitious set of commitments that recognises the need to eliminate problematic or unnecessary packaging and aims to design all remaining packaging to be recyclable while significantly increasing the use of recycled content.”