S.C. Johnson reaches 1B bottles recycled through Plastic Bank

A consumer picking up a Windex bottle in the United States can directly trace the package's roots back to a widescale effort to combat ocean-bound plastic waste in Asia.

It's a bit of a circuitous route for the PET involved, but one that makes environmental sense, according to S.C. Johnson & Son Inc., the owner of Windex and a slew of other famous household brands.

S.C. Johnson is a major consumer of used PET collected through hundreds of coastal community collection sites in Asia operated by Plastic Bank. Since Plastic Bank's launch, S.C. Johnson has consumed about 1 billion of the 2 billion bottles collected in Asia. The PET ends up in Windex bottles in the United States and Mr. Muscle-brand bottles in the United Kingdom and Ireland.

"Since we started that partnership in 2018, we've operationalized 380 collection points in Southeast Asia. And we've got a goal to get to 500 by the end of this calendar year," Alan VanderMolen, chief communications officer at S.C. Johnson, said in a recent interview.

Local residents receive electronic payments for the plastic they bring to collection points and the recycled resin is branded as Social Plastic by Plastic Bank. While S.C. Johnson uses PET, Plastic Bank also offers Social Plastic in both high and low density polyethylene.

The benefits to both the company and the environment are pretty clear, he said. "Just to capture ocean-bound plastic, which helps to decrease plastic pollution in the ocean and also starts to give us a supply of post-consumer recyclable plastic to put in our packaging."

Working with Plastic Bank is helping S.C. Johnson make progress on what VanderMolen calls a "pretty aggressive goal" to have 100 percent recyclable or reusable packaging by 2025.

"That's up from 55 percent in 2019 and I think we're on track for that. Right now, almost 20 percent of our packaging is [post consumer] and that's up from 6 percent in 2019," VanderMolen said.

"The challenge in all of this is having the capacity and the supply to meet all of our demands. They [Plastic Bank] are terrific partners and we're working hand in hand with them. But we're also certainly looking for other sources of [post-consumer resin] that can help us across all of our brands," he said.

Bottles collected though Plastic Bank are sent to the Philippines, where they are cleaned and flaked before being shipped to Verdeco Recycling in Terre Haute, Ind., for pelletizing. Those pellets move to S.C. Johnson's manufacturing site in Racine, Wis., where the company blow molds and fills the Windex bottles.

"There are environmental trade-offs with all packaging and all shipping. So I'd start with that, right? I'd say we believe in the economics and the environmental impact of focusing on [post-consumer] plastic," VanderMolen said.

"We're pretty comfortable with our model and we're pretty comfortable that that model is yielding a greater environmental impact than using virgin plastic or using alternative packaging materials," he said, such as glass and aluminum.

The 2 billion bottles collected equals about 88 million pounds, or 40 million kilograms, of plastic that is considered ocean-bound, which is defined at material collected within 30 miles of oceans or waterways in countries that do not have formal waste collection infrastructure, S.C. Johnson said. The two companies also work together to collect plastic bottle pollution in Brazil.

The Windex bottles, which have a slight grayish tint, have labeling that indicates they are made from ocean-bound plastics. Brand owners, in general, have been cautious about adopting recycled plastics in clear-bottle applications out of concern that consumers will turn away due to a change in color, but VanderMolen said the switch has not impacted Windex sales.

"Plastic pollution and its impact on our oceans is one of the world's most significant challenges," Plastic Bank CEO David Katz said in an announcement regarding the 2 billion bottle milestone.

S.C. Johnson, over time, has been one of the more vocal consumer packaged goods companies regarding the need to address plastic pollution and is in favor of creating extended producer responsibility regulations.

"Our partnership with Plastic Bank is one of the many actions we are taking around the world to reduce waste, increase our use of recyclable plastic in our products and support underserved communities," CEO Fisk Johnson said in a statement.

S.C. Johnson's stable of brands also includes Ziploc, Raid, Glade and, outside of the United States, Mr. Muscle.