This is Mission Possible: How P&G is achieving a sustainable future for resources

This video series is part of Mission Possible, edie’s new campaign for 2018 which seeks to empower and inspire sustainability, energy and resource efficiency professionals to achieve a sustainable future for their business.

The five-part video series hears from a selection of sustainability leaders from some of the world’s biggest businesses. Each leader discusses exactly how they and their team are taking bold actions in one of the five Mission Possible campaign pillars: Energy, Resources, Mobility, The Built Environment, and Business Leadership.

In the above video, Helias explains how and why P&G is putting the circular economy at the centre of its business strategy, at a time of critical global resource challenges.

MISSION POSSIBLE: Five ways P&G is achieving a sustainable future for resources

1) P&G has ramped up efforts to tackle ocean plastic waste. Since the start of the year, P&G has made its iconic Fairy washing up bottles out of 90% post-consumer recycled (PCR) plastic and 10% repurposed ocean plastic after overhauling its supply chain. This was followed by an announcement that the manufacturer has modified its Head & Shoulders shampoo bottles to be made from 25% PCR plastic.

2) It is constantly aiming higher with new packaging targets. P&G has been gradually increasing the amount of recycled material used in its packaging for 25 years, but scaled this action up in January 2017 with a bold pledge to double the quantity of recycled material in its packaging by 2020 against a 2016 baseline. The firm then went one step further, announcing in April its intention to ensure all packaging is 100% recyclable or reusable under its Ambition 2030 strategy.

3) It is striving for zero manufacturing waste. At the start of 2017, P&G announced is aim to effectively eliminate all manufacturing waste from its global network of more than 100 production sites by 2020. When it made this announcement, 56% of P&G’s production sites already held zero-waste-to-landfill status, with the proportion reportedly rising to 72% as of November 2017. To reach its desired status, P&G will ensure all incoming production materials are either converted into finished products; recycled internally or externally or re-used in alternative ways through partnerships.

4) The company maintains transparency about its resource supply chain. P&G has tracked the environmental, social and ethical performance of itself and its partners since 2010 using a Supply Chain Environmental Sustainability Scorecard, available to the general public on its website. In 2017, it built on this by launching its inaugural Supplier Citizenship Scorecard. The new scorecard measures ethics and corporate responsibility; community impact; diversity and inclusion; gender equality and environmental sustainability.

5) P&G is willing to collaborate for the greater good. As Helias states in the above video, P&G is one of the 42 businesses signed up to WRAP’s new Plastics Pact and has partnered with recycling experts TerraCycle to create viable solutions for the plastics it collects from oceans and consumer recycling. It also works with non-profits in South East Asia while collecting these plastics. Through these partnerships, P&G is able to avoid harming native locals while collecting PCR plastic, to use the plastic in a way that doesn’t impact the performance of its packaging, and to ensure packaging can be recycled again at end of life.

Achieve YOUR Mission Possible at edie Live 2018

edie’s Mission Possible campaign will be brought to life on the Sustainability Keynote stage at edie Live 2018. Taking place on 22-23 May 2018 at the NEC Birmingham, visitors will be inspired by thought-leaders, coached by industry experts, encouraged to collaborate with your peers, and shown the way by hundreds of innovative suppliers and solutions providers.

Find out more about the show and register for your free pass here.

Luke Nicholls & Sarah George