A cleaning products company that positions itself as environmentally conscious plans to drastically cut the amount of plastics used in certain laundry detergent bottles.
Seventh Generation, based in Burlington, Vt., and part of the multinational consumer products company Unilever plc, will phase out all large-format laundry detergent bottles by 2030.
A switch to concentrated formulas means packaging of 90 ounces and larger will be eliminated, the company said.
"When you walk down the laundry detergent aisle it's evident that it's riddled with unnecessary plastic and very much in need of disruption," Seventh Generation CEO Alison Whritenour said in a news release. "We're focused on our concentration transformation."
Seventh Generation Chief Marketing Officer John Moorhead said a switch to more concentrated formulas across the laundry detergent industry could eliminate the use of enormous amounts of plastics.
"Collectively as an industry, we sell more than 680 million bottles of liquid laundry detergent to wash over 40 billion loads. If we could concentrate all of those to a 4x [concentrated] formulation — which is very much possible — we could divert over 2 billion pounds of excess materials waste each year," he said in a statement.
Seventh Generation has been around since 1988 as a brand and has been owned by Unilever since 2016.
"A shift to concentration in the laundry aisle doesn't only mean ease of use for consumers but allows for more room on shelves for retailers. In addition to changing consumer behavior, there is an opportunity for businesses to work alongside retailers to rethink the laundry aisle together and prioritize more concentrated formats," the company said.
Seventh Generation takes its name from an Iroquois philosophy requiring decisions be made while considering their impact on the next seven generations, the company said.