Dusseldorf Consumers see the beginning of the plastic revolution with every purchase. On many shampoo tubes or detergent bottles, manufacturers advertise that they use more recycled plastic in their packaging.
Brand manufacturers such as Henkel (Persil, Pril), Beiersdorf (Nivea) and Unilever (Dove, Axe) have committed themselves to strict sustainability goals. Most of them want to make their packaging from 30 percent recycled plastic, the so-called recyclate, by the end of 2025. However, a Handelsblatt evaluation of the new sustainability reports shows that companies are in danger of missing their plastic targets.
Henkel achieves a used plastic share of 16 percent – hardly more than two years earlier. Although Beiersdorf managed to more than double its rate compared to 2020, at ten percent it is still far from the targeted 30 percent. Cosmetics giant L’Oréal increased the number from 21 to 26 percent, but is aiming for 50 percent by the end of 2025, a goal that observers hardly seem achievable.
Cosmetics manufacturers face a dilemma. Plastic is well suited for packaging, unlike paper it protects against leakage and, unlike glass, cannot shatter. But brand new plastic pollutes the environment, two tons of oil are needed to produce one ton of plastic. Half a decade ago, when pictures of plastic-polluted seas shocked the public, the industry announced that it wanted to use more recycled plastic.
“Many companies have the honest intention of offering more sustainable packaging. But they underestimated how costly and complicated this process is in practice,” says packaging expert Sonja Bähr from the technical management consultancy Tilisco, which supports consumer goods manufacturers on the subject.
“Don’t switch overnight”
Henkel has also experienced this. Persil liquid detergents in packaging that contain more recyclate have been on the market since the beginning of April. They were originally intended to be launched earlier, but it took longer to adjust the production and bottling processes.
“Recyclate has different properties than new plastic and is much more difficult for the machines to handle,” says Henkel packaging expert Carsten Bertram. “The fully automated production lines cannot be changed over from one day to the next.” There were also problems with the availability of machine parts.
Because Henkel uses more old plastic for its core brand Persil, Bertram expects “that the proportion of recycled material will increase”. The fact that the rate is stagnating at 16 percent is due to the fact that in 2022 Henkel sold fewer detergents and cleaning agents whose packaging already had a high proportion of recyclate. Due to rising prices, many consumers have switched to cheaper private labels.
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Nivea manufacturer Beiersdorf was less affected by this effect. Nevertheless, the Dax group only uses old plastic in ten percent of its packaging. The Hamburgers were late on the subject, which is now taking revenge. “Besides us, many other companies are interested in recycled plastic. The quantities on the market are therefore still limited,” reports Beiersdorf. This applies in particular to high-quality recyclate.
Yellow sack packaging
Reinhard Schneider, owner of the family company Werner & Mertz, considers such arguments to be false. His recycled packaging is suitable for use with food, says Schneider, who makes, for example, Frosch brand cleaning products. The entrepreneur uses 60 percent recyclate and wants to be 100 percent by the end of 2025.
The Mainz-based company is considered a pioneer in sustainable packaging. Half of these consist of recycled plastic waste from the Yellow Bag. Schneider used this for the first time in 2014, while Henkel, for example, only brought such packaging onto the market in 2022.
Manufacturer Werner & Mertz as a pioneer in sustainable packaging.
(Photo: press photo)
Many companies use PET plastic from the returnable bottle cycle for this. Because the material is contaminated by creams or shower gels, it is no longer available for beverage bottles. This makes it difficult for companies like Coca-Cola to get recyclate.
Frog boss Schneider criticizes the companies: “The real and only reason to continue to rely on new plastic instead of recyclate is the low price.” Because old plastic has to be cleaned and processed extensively, it is significantly more expensive than new plastic.
A ton of PET recyclate costs around 2,000 euros, new goods around 1,300 euros, according to data from the industry service Kunststoff-Information. At the same time, branded companies are already suffering from high expenses, for example for energy. However, they affirm in unison that they will not save on their sustainability budget.
The European Union is also increasing the pressure. From 2030, Brussels wants to oblige manufacturers to use between 10 and 35 percent recyclate. The law could be passed in the summer. Many manufacturers welcome this: “The current patchwork of different and sometimes contradictory rules poses major problems for everyone involved,” says Procter & Gamble (Ariel, Head & Shoulders).
Hardly any progress on recyclable packaging
On the way to the circular economy, branded companies depend on support along the entire value chain. Consumers often do not separate their rubbish properly. When leftover food gets moldy in the trash, plastic takes on that odor and makes recycling more difficult. The manufacturers address this by writing disposal instructions larger on the packages.
Brand manufacturers themselves have an important lever to increase the amount of recyclate: they have to design packaging in such a way that it can be easily recycled. This is the case when they are made of only one material, are printed with few colors and the plastic is not covered by a large label. Digital watermarks can also help recycling companies sort more precisely.
But here, too, many manufacturers are making little progress – even pioneer Werner & Mertz is stagnating at a rate of 74 percent. L’Oréal is a long way behind: just like two years ago, just under 40 percent of the packaging is recyclable. The cosmetics journey wants to be at 100 percent by the end of 2025 – just like all the other competitors.
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L’Oréal does not give reasons on request. The group has recently avoided metallic labels on the packaging in order to improve recognition in the sorting centers. Unilever points out that in many countries the packaging recycling system is not as established as in Germany. That makes development difficult. In Germany the share is 72 percent, globally 55 percent.
Investments worth millions needed
For experts like Joachim Christiani, it is unlikely that manufacturers will be able to make their entire packaging recyclable in the short term. The managing director of the Cyclos-HTP consultancy supports branded companies on this topic. “Many manufacturers have found that they have to work on their packaging for several years to make it recyclable.”
Because some types of recyclate would contaminate the product or not protect it well enough from external influences, he explains. He sees a problem in the trend that companies are “increasingly relying on packaging that also contains paper because it creates a lasting impression for customers”. In fact, this makes it difficult to recycle.
Disposal companies only manage to process recyclate with great effort.
(Photo: picture alliance/dpa)
Because a lot of packaging is still made of different materials and colors, disposal companies are only able to provide pure, high-quality recyclate with great effort.
Waste and recycling expert Roman Maletz from the Technical University of Dresden sees slow progress: “Because the manufacturers are asking for large quantities, the local recycling industry has optimized every second sorting plant and was able to replace 400,000 tons more brand-new plastic with recyclate within a year.”
According to engineer Maletz, further investments worth millions in new technologies are necessary to improve sorting. Because of the high expenses along the entire value chain, Frosch entrepreneur Schneider prepares customers for the fact that sustainable packaging leads to higher prices. “Sustainability initially has a higher price until scaling thresholds are overcome – anyone who claims otherwise is fooling consumers.”
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