Procter & Gamble recently announced that its best-selling natural care brand, herb essences, has adopted Eastman renew material manufactured by Eastman molecular recycling technology. Procter & Gamble aims to increase the content and recyclability of recyclable materials in bottles.

P & G creates product sustainability from inside and outside

The herb essences brand is made of active plant ingredients and natural derived ingredients. The brand attaches importance to the sustainability of the internal and external packaging of its products. This is also to achieve P & G's 2040 net zero climate transformation action plan: it is required to reduce the packaging of petroleum based plastics by 50% by 2030.

This new herb essences Bio: renew package jointly created by P & G and Eastman is a molecular recycled PET (polyethylene terephthalate). It is made of 50% recyclable ingredients and has passed the international sustainable development and carbon certification (ISCC) quality balance distribution certification.

Since November, herbal essences has launched six primary packaging shampoo and conditioner series made of Eastman renew resin. This material solution is expected to transfer 1 ton of plastic waste from the landfill for every 2 tons of bottles produced.

Eastman molecular recycling technology: ending difficult to recycle plastics

Eastman said that molecular recycling technology converts disposable or difficult to recycle plastic wastes (such as color shampoo bottles, food packaging trays or textiles) into basic molecular structures. Once decomposed, these structures are indistinguishable from the material structures produced by fossil resources. Then they are sent to Eastman's existing manufacturing process for manufacturing materials with the same appearance and performance as the traditional manufacturing process. Moreover, since the molecular recovery decomposes the plastic into the original structure without affecting the quality, the process can be carried out countless times.

This advanced technology expands the variety and quantity of recyclable plastics, thus transferring more plastic wastes from landfills, incinerators and the environment. We provide many special polymers with molecular recycling ingredients for various downstream markets, including reusable water bottles, small appliances, glasses, cosmetics and personal care packaging.

In addition to investing in recycled materials, P & G and Eastman are also cooperating to increase the type and quantity of recycled materials. Both companies have established the steering committee of PET recycling coalition. Through funding, technical assistance and knowledge sharing, the alliance aims to create a more powerful recycling system, capture more materials, and make PET packaging have more recycled ingredients.