GSK Consumer Healthcare, the maker of Advil, today announced its commitment to reducing the plastic in more than 80 million Advil bottles by 20%, which will result in a reduction of nearly 500,000 pounds of plastic in the environment. By 2022, Advil will have reduced the plastic in nearly all bottles available in stores and online.
How They’ll Do It
GSK says the initiative is a first-of-its-kind sustainable plastic technology for over-the-counter (OTC) medicines. This new barrier resin technology reduces the amount of resin required to mold and craft the bottles, while maintaining the same barrier protection properties. It allows for a 20% reduction in material usage for high-density polyethylene (HDPE) bottles that will never enter the environmental waste stream, without a reduction to critical performance characteristics of the bottle.
The new sustainability goal set by Advil is part of GSK’s ambition for all consumer product packaging to be recyclable or reusable, including eliminating all problematic and unnecessary plastics when permitted, by 2025.
The focus on plastics and packaging is informed by the requirements set by the Ellen Macarthur Foundation. GSK joined the Ellen MacArthur Network in 2020 and is committed to playing its part in mobilizing a shift towards a circular economy for plastics. Other large consumer brands have also joined the Foundation. In 2019, SC Johnson formed a multi-year partnership with the Ellen MacArthur Foundation to help accelerate the transition to a circular economy. The company became the charity’s 10th global partner.