Gillette’s new packaging for its Fusion ProGlide Power Razor reduces plastic use by 79 percent, according to packaging design company Burgopak USA.Burgopak and Gillette parent Procter & Gamble redesigned the razor packaging using fiber-based material from molded plant fiber company Be Green Packaging. The new packages reduce gross weight by 17 percent and improve pallet density by 16 percent.
This was all achieved without any cost increase or detriment to the aesthetics of the pack, Burgopak said.
Procter & Gamble’s long-term sustainability goals and strategies, unveiled in September, call for zero consumer and manufacturing waste sent to landfills, and designing products that conserve resources while meeting consumer needs.
More specifically, the goals include replacing 25 percent of petroleum-based materials with sustainably-sourced renewable materials, and reducing packaging 20 percent per consumer use, both by 2020 from a 2010 baseline.
These sustainability goals are in addition to the company’s existing 2012 goals.
One of the company’s recent moves toward sustainable packaging is a pilot project to use renewable sugarcane-derived plastic on selected packaging for its Pantene Pro-V, Covergirl and Max Factor brands, starting in 2011. The packaging also is 100 percent recyclable.
Earlier this month P&G released the second version of its environmental sustainability scorecard, moving from benchmarking suppliers to rating and rewarding them.
Burgopak and Be Green Packaging have been collaborating on the development of Cradle to Cradle certified packaging solutions for about a year. The two companies say they are among only five firms or partnerships to pass P&G’s global supplier audit.
Other Burgopak work for P&G include structural design projects for the Art of Shaving and ZIRH brands.
