Dove commits to reducing plastic waste through innovation
Dove has unveiled a new plan to reduce plastic dependency in the beauty industry by leading the discussion through its No, Better, Less, framework
A new initiative, unveiled by Dove on 18 October, aims to reduce the company’s plastic waste and push the cosmetics industry towards a more sustainable future. By working with alternative packaging, recycled plastic and new developments in refill technology, Dove is looking to address its plastic waste output.
The initiative is one of the largest plans currently in place across the beauty industry. As part of Dove’s 2025 promise to reduce plastic waste, it will save enough virgin plastic to encircle the Earth 2.7 times each year. The company has said it intends to focus on more long-term initiatives to ensure a more noticeable impact towards the company’s goals and is expecting to avoid using more than 20,500 tonnes of virgin plastics next year.
Plastic waste has been pushed to the forefront of the climate change discussion. With bodies of plastic three times the size of France building up in the ocean, the issue has never been more apparent. This waste is largely driven by industries’ single-use consumption model, and Dove plans to instigate a circular economy in regards to its plastic use following the ‘No, Better, Less’ framework.
- No Plastic: Next year the beauty bar single packs will be plastic-free globally, with development underway to replace multipacks with zero-plastic packaging.
- Better Plastic: 100% recycled plastic bottles will be used where possible across Europe and North America by the end of 2019. Dove is also pouring focus into finding alternative recycled plastics that could be used in caps and pumps which are not normally easily produced using recycled plastics.
- Less Plastic: The new stainless-steel reusable, refillable, deodorant sticks minimise waste by drastically reducing the demand for plastics within Dove’s production line and will serve as a model for future innovations. A launch date is yet to be determined.
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Through these new initiatives, Dove is determined to become a catalyst for change within the industry in a bid to shift commercial and consumer behaviour towards a more sustainable model.
Marcela Melero, Dove Global Skin Cleansing Vice President, explains: “At Dove, we believe in care that goes further: for our consumers as well as our planet. We are passionately committed to being one of the brands making the biggest impact against plastic waste. We know we’re not perfect, but we can’t afford to wait. We’re working to have the biggest positive impact we can, as quickly as we can, and empowering others to do the same.”
Richard Slater, Unilever Chief R&D Officer added: “At Dove, we are proud to have more than 100 initiatives ongoing around the world dedicated to tackling plastic waste. But as one of the biggest beauty brands in the world, we have a responsibility to accelerate our progress even further. Today’s announcements are an important step in our work to transform how we produce, use and dispose of plastic packaging. By making this move, we aim to drive the global recycling industry to collect more waste plastic and make more recycled plastic available for use.”