Community Updates

A Step Change to More Recyclable Consumer Goods; Spearheaded by P&G and Tesco

The UK only recycles 39%¹ of the plastics used which is why Tesco and P&G signed the UK Plastic Pact in April this year, aiming to have all plastic packaging reused, recycled or composted by 2025. However, this is not an easy task to undertake, with one third of supermarket plastic so hard to recycle².

That is why iconic P&G brands Fairy and Head & Shoulders are launching new, bottles, made from up to 100% recycled plastic, including beach plastic which was collected and recycled in partnership with TerraCycle. Fairy dish and Head & Shoulders shampoo bottles will be sold exclusively at Tesco.

Published 6 years ago | About a 3 minute read

Because, at a time where every 100 metres of UK beaches shows an average of 138 pieces of litter³ and we’re on track to have more plastic than fish in the ocean by 20504, every plastic bottle we buy really does make a difference.

So when you shop for the products you use to clean your dishes or to clean your hair, pick the ones that help clean your planet too; use bottles made with recycled content and can be municipally recycled to make future bottles.

Virginie Helias, Vice President of Global Sustainability at Procter & Gamble comments: “As a leading UK manufacturer and as much-loved brands in the UK, we want to use Fairy and Head & Shoulders to raise awareness about the plight of our oceans 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.’’

THE BEACH PLASTIC BOTTLES:

Plastic recovered from our oceans and beaches is notoriously difficult to reuse due to degradation over time, but Fairy and Head & Shoulders have found a technically revolutionary way to integrate ocean plastics with other recycled plastics into their bottles.

Fairy Ocean Plastics Washing Liquid (RRP £2.005) Made from 100% recycled plastics with 10% from recovered beach plastics Head & Shoulders Beach Plastics Bottle (RRP £3.005) 100% recyclable bottle (except cap), up to 20% packaging made from recovered beach plastics

The beach plastics used in the Fairy and Head & Shoulders bottles was collected and recycled in association with partners Terracycle, SUEZ, and QCP.

HELP CLOSE THE LOOP

It’s not just the simple act of rinsing the Fairy and Head & Shoulders bottles after use and popping them in the recycling bin that will help close the loop. Tesco and P&G are cleaning up beaches too. OPEN NOW:

Voting is open for you to nominate your local beach to be one of ten UK beaches cleaned up by Fairy, Head & Shoulders, Tesco and Keep Britain Tidy. To vote for your local beach or find our further information on the project, visit www.bigbeachclean.co.ukAvailable whilst stocks last in Tesco stores nationwide from August 2018.

1 https://resource.co/article/uk-overestimating-plastic-packaging-recycling-rate-says-eunomia-12453

2 https://www.which.co.uk/news/2018/07/up-to-29-of-supermarket-packaging-is-not-recyclable-which-finds/

3 Source: The Marine Conservation Great British Clean Up 2017 Report https://www.mcsuk.org/media/GBBC_2017_Report.pdf

4 Comparison fish to plastics by weight. Source: The Ellen MacArthur Foundation, The New Plastics Economy: Rethinking the future of plastics (2016), available at: https://www.ellenmacarthurfoundation.org/publications/the-new-plastics-economy-rethinking-the-future-of-plastics

5 RRP is at the sole discretion of the retailer