Procter & Gamble launches Fairy Ocean Plastic bottle made with 100% recycled plastic

The Procter & Gamble Co. (P&G; Cincinnati, OH) has launched the Fairy Ocean Plastic bottle made from 100% post-consumer recycled (PRC) and ocean plastic. The campaign aims to raise awareness of the issue of plastics in our waterways and what can be done to prevent plastic waste from reaching the ocean.

The first-ever Fairy Ocean Plastic Bottle was created in partnership with recycling expert TerraCycle and will reach British consumers in 2018. The UK launch of 320,000 bottles will be the largest production run of recyclable dish soap bottles in the world made using ocean plastic. The innovative bottle will be made from 10% ocean plastic, collected from oceans and beaches around the world, and 90% post-consumer recycled plastic, according to P&G.

“We are thrilled that P&G is raising awareness of ocean plastic pollution amongst their consumers. P&G’s leadership on this issue, including through their participation in the Trash Free Seas alliance, is critical to solving the ocean plastic crisis,” commented Susan Ruffo, Managing Director at Ocean Conversancy. “We are excited that in addition to its work to reach consumers directly through the Fairy bottles, they are also addressing the source of ocean plastic by supporting our initiative to raise over $150 million over the next five years to improve waste collection, sorting and recycling in key ocean plastic economics. Improving waste management in these places can help cut the flow of plastic going into the ocean by half by 2025.”

Brett Stevens, Vice President of Material Sales, Procurement, at TerraCycle, told PlasticsToday that the TerraCycle is making sure that at least 25% of the beach plastic going into the bottles is collected in the local market (i.e., western Europe), with the balance coming from pollution hot spots around the world. “The transportation of this material into Europe for processing is actually not a key carbon footprint driver when you measure its impact against the carbon cost of creating new virgin plastic to be used in these Fairy bottles,” Stevens commented.  “As the beach plastic and recycled plastic are preventing the need for new virgin resin production, this is the key point of savings.”

Stevens also noted in his comments to PlasticsToday that the cleaning process for the beach plastic is identical to the one that is used for post-consumer recycled plastic. “The material runs through the same lines, with the same rigorous washing steps, as traditional recycled plastic that goes into these bottles,” he said. “This process certainly requires energy to run, but again, any carbon footprint calculation should be compared against the industry alternative—which is to use virgin plastic—and the carbon impact that the production of this virgin resin creates.”

With the P&G Fairy Ocean Plastic bottle, and the intent to extend the initiative across other brands and regions in the future, P&G continues to leverage the power of its brands to inspire change. In an effort to divert plastic waste from landfills and the ocean, P&G brands will continue to divert 8,000 metric tonnes of plastic from landfills for use in transparent plastic bottles, using an average of 40% post-consumer recycled plastic content across 481 million transparent dishcare bottles globally, said P&G’s information.

Virginie Hellas, Vice President of Global Sustainabiity at P&G, commented: “As the world’s number one dishwashing liquid globally and a much-loved brand in the UK, we want to use Fairy to raise awareness about the plight of our ocean and raise awareness about the importance of recycling. Our consumers care deeply about this issue and by using ocean plastic we hope to show that the opportunities are endless when we rethink our approach to waste.”

Tom Szaky, the CEO of TerraCycle, said, “We are proud to be working with an iconic brand like Fairy to launch a fully recyclable bottle made from 100% recycled plastic and ocean plastic. The issue of ocean pollution is a pertinent one; we hope other brands will be inspired to think creatively about waste and make the circular economy a reality.”