Henkel Using Ocean Plastic Litter to Create Laundry Bottles
Henkel (henkel.com) is partnering with Waste Free Oceans to remove plastic waste from oceans and rivers, and transform it into bottles for its Lovables laundry brand. The collaboration will run for at least three years. Together, the partners aim to remove enough plastic from rivers, lakes, seas and oceans to produce 100 metric tons of usable recycled material each year.
Waste Free Oceans was founded in 2011 with the mission of partnering with businesses and other organizations to remove plastic from the world’s oceans and rivers—and transform it into new items. “Oceans and rivers are among the most expansive and diverse resources on Earth, but we don’t protect them as well as we should,” said Bernard Merkx, co-founder of Waste Free Oceans. “An estimated 8 million metric tons of plastic end up in our oceans every year, which is the equivalent of 15 grocery bags filled with plastic for every meter of coastline in the world. At Waste Free Oceans, our answer is to enter into partnerships to tackle this problem together. We’re now delighted to be working with Henkel and organizing remediation actions together: It’s our largest and most ambitious partnership with one unique partner so far—aiming to remove enough marine litter from the environment to produce 100 metric tons of usable recycled material every year for at least three years.”