Veolia – Finish Quantum product

Based on an ongoing collaboration, Veolia and Reckitt Benckiser (RB) have been working on increasing the use of postconsumer recycled plastic in RB’s packaging. One of the projects is the new packaging for the Finish Quantum product (dish-washer tablets) and can be seen as a showcase of the circular plastics economy. The use of recycled polypropylene (rPP) was a challenge due to its colour, odour and the demand which is lower than for recycled PET and polyethylene. Veolia helped the RB to overcome these obstacles, both by developing a tailor-made material that met strict aesthetic and technical requirements and by guaranteeing the supply.

The partnership between Veolia and RB brings together their complementary capabilities to drive a positive contribution to the circular economy. The end-to-end recycled plastic expertise of Veolia has streamlined the obstacles of feedstock sourcing, processing and sustainable supply. Veolia developed tailored rPP to the required material grade that meets several strict technical criteria. After successful trials and material fine-tuning from Veolia – RB was able to launch the new tubs with a 30% recycled content.

Both Veolia and RB hope that the tubs will ultimately have a much higher rPP content but acknowledge that there is work to be done. Creating new products from 100% rPP is more challenging as there are no uniform colours available. You have to create a “new” colour from the input mix.

This collaboration goes further than Veolia bringing its technical expertise in producing and supplying rPP to the requirements of RB. The two companies have also joined forces putting together a team of 20 experts to work on improving the recycling collection systems so that recycling at home is made easier and more practical for the end consumers. With this partnership, Veolia helps RB to progressively fulfil its pledge to make 100% of all their plastic packaging recyclable and to contain at least 25% recycled content by 2025.

Veolia and RB