Materials & Packaging Materials & Packaging

Ecover Partners with Sonoco on Plant-Based Plastic Bottles for New North American Cleaning Products

Ecover, the world's largest maker of non-toxic, eco-friendly cleaning products, has teamed up with packaging producer Sonoco for a series of plant-based plastic bottles for its new North American home care line.

By Sustainable Brands | Published 10 years ago | About a 2 minute read

Ecover, the world's largest maker of non-toxic, eco-friendly cleaning products, has teamed up with packaging producer Sonoco for a series of plant-based plastic bottles for its new North American home care line.

"As a leader in the green cleaning space, Ecover sought a packaging partner who could collaborate on sustainable packaging solutions and meet an aggressive commercialization timeline," said Andrew Moreno, procurement director at Ecover North America. "We also required responsive service and a near-site manufacturing facility to minimize lead times and environmental impact. Sonoco has the ability to provide all of this and perfectly meet our needs. We feel this new line of packaging will help Ecover reach more consumers while continuing to be deeply rooted in nature-based science."

Ecover's new look hit store shelves across the U.S. in August in Sonoco's extrusion blow-molded bottles made from Plantplastic, Ecover's proprietary blend of bio-sourced high-density polyethylene (HDPE) and post-consumer recycled (PCR) resin. The bio-resin, which is produced using plant-based feedstock and recycled resin collected from municipal curbside programs across the U.S., uses up to 90% less energy and emits 75% less greenhouse gases than petroleum-based virgin resin, and is recyclable in most curbside recycling programs.

"Sonoco is proud to partner with Ecover to become the brand's HDPE bottle provider inNorth America, collaborating to produce a fresh new line of bottles," said Jeff DiPasquale, VP of Sonoco Blow Molding. "Our material and technical expertise, responsiveness, and customer focus created a perfect match between Sonoco and Ecover."

In April, Ecover announced it is developing an algae-based laundry liquid as part of its goal to cut the use of palm oil in all of its products. Benefits of algal oil include a much lower carbon footprint — it can be grown anywhere, greatly reducing its shipping miles — it requires much less water to grow, and, since it doesn’t compete with land usage, it doesn’t compete with food crops.