Across two special editions of shampoo and shower gel from its brands Fa and Nature Box, Henkel is using packaging bottles made of recycled plastic in Germany, with the company stating the first products involved will hit the market in June.
The products will be dubbed "Meeres Glück" from Nature Box and "Meeres Liebe" from Fa. With this latest effort, Henkel Beauty Care is continuing its support for the initiative led by Plastic Bank, which is committed to fighting Ocean Plastic while reducing poverty.
“We are looking forward to consistently and successfully integrate sustainability with the upcoming product launches for Fa and Nature Box and to tackle – together with Plastic Bank – the global issue of Ocean Plastic," says Saskia Schmaus, Corporate Director International of Henkel Beauty Care.
Why tackle ocean plastic?
The issue of non-recyclable plastic in consumer products has jumped to the front of the beauty industry’s agenda lately, thanks to a rapid rise in consumer interest in the issue.
Henkel is one of many companies responding to this demand. On the packaging supplier side, companies including Silgan and Neopac have been leading efforts to offer recyclable plastic packaging solutions for the industry.
“About eight million tons of plastic trash make their way into the world's oceans, every year. Henkel Beauty Care strives to help find solutions to eliminate plastic trash from the environment, particularly from the oceans,” explains Henkel.
Since 2017 Henkel has been working with Plastic Bank, whose goals are ‘to combat the problem of plastic waste in the oceans and find solutions to overcome poverty’.
Individuals from local communities in Haiti, for example, can return plastic to collection centers in exchange for cash or non-monetary benefits, Henkel says. The plastic that is sorted, processed and re-introduced to the market as Social Plastic®.
