Goodbye dandruff, hello clean ocean

Procter & Gamble (P&G) has announced that, as of 2017, its Head & Shoulders shampoo bottles will be graded recyclable and comprise up to 25% ‘beach plastics’ – trash removed from beaches, oceans, rivers and other waterways. According to the company, this will be the first shampoo bottle in the world made from recycled beach plastics.

With ocean plastics proving to be an environmental and health hazard, P&G has partnered with TerraCycle to make shampoo bottles from ‘beach plastic’. While most shampoo and conditioner bottles already can be recycled and some are made of recycled plastic, this is the first time bottles are being made using recycled ocean plastics. According to a report from the World Economic Forum, the oceans will contain more plastics than fish by 2050. At least 8-million tons of plastic end up in the ocean each year. That’s the equivalent of tossing the contents of one garbage truck into the ocean every minute.

Getting plastics from beach to bottle is a process that requires both organisations and volunteers to collect plastics from beaches, harbours and other waterways. TerraCycle takes the collected plastic, sorts it and sends some of the high-density polyethylene (HDPE) to P&G for use in the production of their shampoo bottles.

P&G isn’t the first company to try to tackle the problem of ocean plastics in its products: Method has been making hand soap bottles out of ocean plastics for years, and Adidas launched a sneaker line made with recycled ocean plastics in 2016. And when it comes to removing plastics from our oceans, anyone can play a role just by recycling and participating in clean-up efforts.