Henkel introduces 'Social Plastic' in its packaging value chain

Social Plastic is a project introduced by the social enterprise, Plastic Bank, in a view to monetise plastic by turning it into a source of income for impoverished people, by returning of the collected plastic waste in exchange for money, goods, or services.

Vineet Varman, packaging manager- laundry care department, Henkel said, “We are very pleased with the initial pilot projects of integrating Social Plastic in our packaging. The packaging fulfilled all quality criteria and thus, the products successfully entered the market.”

As part of the partnership of Henkel and Plastic Bank in 2017, three plastic collection centres were opened this year in Haiti, where the collected plastic is sorted, processed and then integrated into recycling value chains as Social Plastic material. 

The material is then verified by the Plastic Bank in order to indicate that the collectors received an above-market price for the plastic waste.

This initiative is in tandem with Henkel’s objective to promote a circular economy and its aim to use 35% recycled plastic for its consumer goods products in Europe by 2025.