Head & Shoulders receives United Nations ‘Momentum for Change’ award

GreenPrint Packaging Solutions

Head & Shoulders was the recipient of a UN Momentum for Change award in the ‘planetary health’ category.

The Momentum for Change initiative, spearheaded by the UN climate change secretariat, shines light on some of the most innovative, scalable and practical examples of what people across the globe are doing to combat climate change.

In June 2017, in partnership with TerraCycle and Suez, Head & Shoulders launched the world’s first recyclable shampoo bottle made with 25% recycled beach plastic, considered a technological breakthrough.

Through this partnership, Procter & Gamble has brought about one of the largest solutions to ocean plastic to date (in terms of volume and percent used in the package) thanks to the support of thousands of volunteers and hundreds of NGOs that collected plastic waste found on beaches.

Compared to the standard model of producing virgin plastic, the innovation is less energy intensive and emits 60% less CO2 throughout the production process. Additionally, Procter & Gamble announced that in Europe, by end of 2018, more than half a billion bottles per year will include up to 25% post consumer recycled plastic. This represents more than 90% of all the hair care bottles sold in Europe across the company’s hair care portfolio of flagship brands like Pantene and Head & Shoulders.

The launch of the Head & Shoulders Beach Bottle has inspired other brands and industries to follow suit. Such is the case of Fairy washing up liquid, which recently launched a recyclable bottle made with plastic collected from the beach.

‘We are humbled to receive this award from the United Nations together with our partners TerraCycle and Suez,’ said Lisa Jennings, vice president Head & Shoulders and sustainability hair care, Procter & Gamble. ‘It encourages us to expand this pilot further and to continue the journey of innovating on circular economy solutions. The launch of the world’s first recyclable shampoo bottle made with beach plastic shines a light on scalable solutions to diverting waste from landfill and beaches. We are confident this project will continue inspiring other brands and industries to find solutions to the issue of plastic waste.’