SC Johnson buying Method Products

Racine, Wis. — Consumer products company SC Johnson & Son Inc. announced Sept. 14 that it is buying Method Products pbc, a Chicago-based company that makes soap and laundry products.

Terms were not disclosed. The deal is subject to regulatory approvals.

As part of the deal, SC Johnson also will acquire Ecover, a European-based cleaning products brand. Both Ecover and Method are currently owned by San Francisco-based People Against Dirty.

"Method and Ecover have a strong tradition of innovation and delivering on consumers' needs. They are a great complement to SC Johnson's trusted lineup of iconic brands," said Fisk Johnson, SC Johnson's chairman and CEO, in a statement.

Both companies have plastics connections. Racine, Wis.-based SC Johnson's plastics operations include Saran and Ziploc film products. Method Products has in-house plastics operations at its factory on Chicago's South Side.

Since 2015, Amcor Ltd. has operated an on-site blow molding facility in Method's facility in Chicago. According to Method, the in-house operations keeps more than 600 truckloads of finished bottles off the road before they are filled, eliminating more than 200 metric tons of carbon-dioxide equivalent emissions.

Method's 500-person Chicago factory opened in April 2015, and was financed through a mix of public and private funds. Method invested at least $30 million into building the Chicago plant; the city invested $8 million in tax-increment financing funds to lure the factory to Chicago.

SC Johnson was not immediately available for comment on the future of the Chicago plant.

Method and Amcor have partnered on some innovative packaging, including some that use post-consumer plastics.

Most recently, Method's Power Dish dishwasher cleaner switched to a reclosable stand-up pouch developed and produced by Amcor. The package also contains 20 percent post-consumer recycled resin.

"One of Method's core values is to pioneer the future, and this new, more sustainable monofilm pouch is another step in that journey," said Joe Hunter, Method's director of packaging development.

Using post-consumer PE, plus making the package recyclable, makes the overall carbon footprint 64-percent smaller than the package it replaced, when it is recycled at store drop-off points, according to Alex Hayden, vice president of research and development for Amcor's flexible packaging business in the Americas.

"Our global expertise with [post-consumer recycled plastics] in flexible and rigid packaging is producing new forms that not only work well and look great, but also help Method and Amcor meet our growth and sustainability goals by being better for the planet," Hayden said.

Method describes its relationship with Amcor as a long-term partnership. In 2016, Amcor earned a Diamond award from the DuPont packaging innovation awards for a 53-ounce PET bottle for Method that uses 100 percent post-consumer PET.