Consumer goods giant to start selling Windex Vinegar home cleaning products in 100 per cent recycled ocean plastic bottles
SC Johnson has unveiled plans to start producing one of its top home cleaning products in bottles made entirely from recycled plastics collected from the world's oceans.
The 100 per cent recycled ocean plastic bottle will house the consumer goods giant's Windex Vinegar home cleaning products, with as many as eight million units set to hit the shelves of retailers such as Target and Walmart in spring 2019, it announced yesterday.
Windex bottles have already been made from 100 per cent post-consumer plastic since 2015, but SC Johnson claims the new glass cleaner bottles will be the world's first of their kind made entirely from recycled ocean plastic, adding that they will also be "non-toxic and cruelty-free".
The company is eyeing a launch date for the new bottles at North American retailers in the coming months.
The initiative forms part of SC Johnson's commitment to triple post-consumer recycled plastics in its packaging as well as make all its plastic packaging recyclable, reusable or compostable by 2025.
"With over five trillion pieces of plastic debris in the ocean, conditions are continuing to get worse and worse," said Fisk Johnson, chairman and CEO of SC Johnson. "The Windex bottle is just one of the many ways we are not only providing solutions to combat ocean pollution but taking action to make these solutions a reality."
In addition, SC Johnson said it was also planning to launch a 100 per cent 'Social Plastic' Windex bottle in partnership with non-profit Plastic Bank by autumn 2019. That bottle would be made solely from ocean-bound plastic sourced by Plastic Bank from Haiti, the Philippines, and Indonesia, with some of the proceeds used to provide social benefits to people living below the poverty line in those regions, it explained.
To date, SC Johnson has sponsored the construction of eight recycling centres in Indonesia.
The firm has also launched a social media campaign to raise awareness of the issue of ocean plastic pollution, promising to fund an additional recycling centre in Indonesia if it counts at least 20,000 tweets or retweets on Twitter that include the hashtags #SocialPlastic or #SCJRecycles over the next week.
Kelly Semrau, senior vice president for global corporate affairs, communication and sustainability at SC Johnson, said social media could be a great motivator for green consumer action. "Plastic pollution has become a critical issue around the globe, especially where recycling infrastructure is not in place," she said. "We believe the more people are talking about this issue, the more government, businesses, NGOs and communities will work together to address it."