Dusseldorf The goals are ambitious: consumer goods giants such as Henkel, Beiersdorf and Unilever are planning to drastically reduce the amount of new plastic in their packaging for deodorants, creams and perfumes, thereby saving tens of thousands of tons of CO2. By 2025, many branded companies want to add 25 to 30 percent recyclate, i.e. recycled plastic, to their packaging.
But the new sustainability reports from the companies show that most of them are far from it. The Nivea producer Beiersdorf has a share of just seven percent. Unilever (Dove, Langnese) and Henkel (Persil, Pril) are at least 17 and 18 percent respectively.
The companies unanimously emphasize that they are on schedule, but experts are skeptical: “The goals are very ambitious. Some manufacturers overslept the topic of recyclate and rested too long on using new plastic,” says engineer Roman Maletz, who teaches waste and recycling management at the Technical University of Dresden.
Politicians are now increasing the pressure: The European Union (EU) is planning to present a revised packaging guideline in the coming months. This should oblige companies to use recyclates in packaging. So far, there are only binding quotas for PET plastic bottles in the EU.
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And: The federal government has stipulated in the coalition agreement that manufacturers should participate in the plastic tax. Since 2021, EU members have had to transfer money to Brussels for non-recycled plastic waste. Helmut Maurer, an expert on circular economy at the EU Commission, says: “Without political pressure, the industry will deliver too slowly when it comes to recyclates.”
The hesitation could take revenge, because now the price of oil is also rising as a result of the Ukraine war – and with it the price of new plastic. This makes it more attractive for manufacturers to use recyclate. But that is scarce, at least in the required quality. Some recycling companies have already sold their recyclate by the end of 2023, reports Maletz.
Nivea manufacturer Beiersdorf is far behind
The recyclate is still correspondingly expensive. Manufacturers pay 1,100 to 1,400 euros for a tonne of new plastic, depending on the type, while recyclate sometimes costs several hundred euros more, according to industry circles. Old plastic has to be extensively sorted, cleaned and processed.
Beiersdorf is the furthest away from his goal. By the end of 2025, the Nivea manufacturer wants to use 30 percent old plastic, at the end of 2021 the proportion was only seven percent. “We did indeed have a somewhat longer start-up phase,” the people in Hamburg concede. The reasons for this are manifold. This is also justified with safety requirements, recycled plastic should not contaminate the cosmetics.
Like Beiersdorf, all manufacturers are now researching recyclates, and there are increasing alliances with waste disposal companies and dealers. The branded companies design tubes and bottles with less plastic, rely on refill concepts or try to avoid plastic with the help of paper packaging.
While Beiersdorf and Henkel want to add at least 30 percent used plastic by 2025, Unilever is only aiming for 25 percent. “We continue to generate a large proportion of our sales with food,” says the British group. In this category, the use of recyclates is much more difficult, in some cases not even permitted by law.
Procter & Gamble (Head & Shoulders, Gillette) does not even set a recyclate target. “We believe that reducing the percentage of virgin plastic combined with increasing the percentage of reusable packaging serves the overall goal of reducing plastic waste,” it says. P&G wants to save around 300,000 tons of new plastic by 2030, compared to 780,000 tons of plastic packaging last year. The proportion of recycled material is just nine percent.
Frog manufacturer relies on plastic from the yellow bag
The Mainz medium-sized company Werner & Mertz is significantly further. The manufacturer of the cleaning agent Frosch and the shoe cleaner Erdal mixes 58 percent used plastic in its packaging. For 2025, owner Reinhard Schneider is aiming for 100 percent. “The corporations announce that they want to switch to recyclate, but in fact they are trying to hold on to their already written-off production facilities for as long as possible,” he criticizes. “For them it’s a license to print money.”
However, Schneider, who mainly produces in Germany, has it easier than global corporations, which also need significantly more plastic. Thomas Müller-Kirschbaum, a former Henkel manager who now supports the industry in the transformation to a circular economy as an advisor, explains: “More high-quality recyclates are available in Europe and North America than in other parts of the world because there are often There are no collection systems at all.” Henkel, for example, mixes 18 percent recyclate in its packaging worldwide; in Europe, the proportion of detergents and cleaning agents is already 32 percent.
Manufacturers are increasingly forging alliances with waste disposal companies.
(Photo: dpa)
But Werner & Mertz also addressed the topic very early on. Since 2015, the Frosch brand bottles have been made exclusively from recyclate. At the time, many corporations had not even formulated any plans. Henkel, for example, will only present concrete packaging targets in 2018, Beiersdorf in 2019 and the cosmetics manufacturer L’Oréal will need until 2020 to publish more ambitious plans.
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While corporations complain about the lack of recyclate, Werner & Mertz uses plastic from the yellow bag. The company obtains half of the recyclate from this source – nobody in the industry has come that far. “What’s stopping the corporations from doing the same?” asks Schneider. “It’s just a matter of will.” A year ago, a new process was introduced to the market to use more plastic from the yellow bag in packaging.
Henkel now also relies on this for its Pril cleaning agent. Since the beginning of April, the bottle bodies have been made from 100 percent recycled plastic, 50 percent of which comes from the yellow bag. In the future, this will also be used for other products, says Thorsten Leopold, who heads global packaging development for cleaning agents at Henkel. “We are investing in the recycling infrastructure with our partners and building capacities together.” Switching to recyclate takes time because we only want to use high-quality material so that the products are safe.
Switching costs the industry hundreds of millions
In order for the manufacturers to achieve their goals, they depend on the cooperation of all actors in the cycle. Recycling companies have to invest in better sorting and processing plants, customers have to separate their waste better – this increases the amount of recyclable plastic. According to EU recycling expert Maurer, the reuse rate for recyclates in plastic packaging in Germany is only seven percent. Experts think it is conceivable that 70 percent of packaging plastics will be recycled in the future.
The old plastic is scarce.
(Photo: ddp)
L’Oréal’s goals are as ambitious as it is until then. The cosmetics manufacturer wants to make its packaging from 50 percent used plastic by 2025, and 100 percent by 2030. So far it’s 21 percent. L’Oréal points out that the values have been agreed with scientists. Expert Maurer is nevertheless skeptical: “It’s technically very challenging.” In addition, it requires a lot of effort in the manufacturing process, which is also associated with high costs.
Not only applies to L’Oréal: Switching to packaging with less new plastic will be expensive. Recycling expert Maletz assumes that the German economy will have to invest at least 100 million euros for every increase in the proportion of recyclates by one percent, with the majority of this going to the manufacturers. Ultimately, more packaging made from used plastic could also lead to higher prices for consumers. That’s what the frog manufacturer Schneider says: “Every innovation initially entails higher unit costs.”
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