The Clorox Company
Packaging producers and users
Key Metrics
Plastic packaging weight
115,433 metric tonnes
Total and/or virgin plastic packaging reduction target
25% virgin reduction compared to 2020
Reusable plastic packaging
Reusable, recyclable or compostable plastic packaging
100
75
50
25
%
Post-consumer recycled content
100
75
50
25
%
* Aligned: in assessing the recyclability of their portfolio this signatory has aligned with the New Plastics Economy 2021 Recycling Rate Survey results and/or the Global Commitment methodology of recyclability ‘in pratice and at scale’. This means their recyclability percentage is comparable to other signatories that also aligned with the above.
Company Details
Description
Manufacturer and marketer of consumer and professional products. 85% of FY20 sales in the US. Majority of US plastic packaging in cleaning; food; natural personal care; vitamins, minerals, supplements; professional products (63% of US sales). Majority of international plastic packaging in cleaning.
Revenue band (USD)
$1 billion - $10 billion
Headquarters location
United States
Regions active
Africa: Northern Africa, Southern Africa
America: Caribbean, Central America, Northern America, South America
Asia: Eastern Asia, South-eastern Asia, Southern Asia, Western Asia
Europe: Eastern Europe, Northern Europe, Southern Europe, Western Europe
Oceania: Australia and New Zealand, Melanesia, Micronesia and Polynesia
Products sold in plastic packaging
Chemicals in a B2B context (for example for industrial or agricultural use), Cleaning products, Cosmetics & personal care, Food & nutrition, Furniture, furnishings & household items, Pet & animal supplies
Reporting details
Data verification/assurance status
No third-party verification or assurance in place
Scope of reported data
Does not cover the full scope of activities (see endnotes for more information)
12-month quantitative data time frame
From December 2019 to December 2020
Joined the Global Commitment
September 2019
Ellen MacArthur Foundation's Plastics Pact Network membership (as of 18/05/2021)
United States
Webpage or report addressing progress
https://www.thecloroxcompany.com/corporate-responsibility
Plastic packaging portfolio details
See endnotes for more information on quantitative data
Plastic packaging weight (new packaging)
115,433 metric tonnes
Reused plastic packaging weight
0 metric tonnes
Plastic packaging categories in portfolio
| Type | Category | Proportion |
|---|
| Rigids | PET bottle | 10% |
| PET thermoforms | 1% | |
| Other PET rigids | 4% | |
| HDPE bottles | 58% | |
| HDPE other rigids | 5% | |
| PP other rigids | 11% |
| Flexible | >A4 mono-materials PE in B2C context | 1% |
| Other >A4 flexibles | 5% | |
| <A4 flexibles PP | 2% | |
| <A4 multi-material flexibles | 3% |
Plastic packaging design assessment
Reusable, recyclable and/or compostable
77%
Reusable
1%
Recyclable
76%
Compostable
0%
Material sourcing
Virgin fossil-based content
89%
Post-consumer recycled content
11%
Pre-consumer recycled content
0%
Virgin renewable content
0%
Commitments
Plastic and/or virgin plastic packaging reduction target
2025 target
25% virgin reduction compared to 2020
Plastic packaging weight baseline
103,000 metric tonnes - same scope as the reporting scope (see endnotes for more information)
Additional information about the target
Clorox embedded ESG goals in its corporate strategy, called IGNITE, launched in 2019. This includes a goal to reduce virgin plastic and fiber packaging (combined, per case of product sold) by 50% by 2030 vs. a 2018 baseline. As an absolute target focused solely on virgin plastics, this new target uses a more recent baseline year of 2020 and reflects current growth projections and plans for reducing our virgin plastic packaging by 2025.
Eliminating problematic or unnecessary plastic packaging
Progress made over the reporting period
Examples of materials / formats / components eliminated or reduced
| Proportion eliminated % of weight | Weight eliminated metric tonnes | Quantity eliminated units | Primary means of elimination | Other details | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| PVC | - | - | - | - | Conversion out of PVC packaging in International completed in 2020 |
Activities and progress made on elimination
Rolled out a new, concentrated and compacted version of our flagship bleach products. Compared to our bleach cleaning products previously available on the market, our current bleach products require 15% less plastic resin for its primary packaging and 25% less fiber for its corrugated shipping cases, helping advance progress against our IGNITE ESG goal to reduce our combined virgin plastic and fiber packaging by 50% by 2030. In addition to using less packaging, this innovation uses 33% less water and reduces its weight and associated distribution carbon footprint, making the new version a triple win for the environment. Created a 10-year packaging pipeline to enable Clorox to reach our IGNITE goal of 50% virgin packaging reduction. This pipeline has a multiple vector approach which includes significant plastic reduction, replace virgin plastic with PCR/PIR/ Bio resin where possible with our products, reduction of virgin fiber and create more reusable packaging and to achieve 100% RRC.
Planned actions by 2025
Plastic packaging to be eliminated or reduced
| Proportion eliminated % of weight | Weight eliminated metric tonnes | Quantity eliminated | Year Achieved | Other details | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Multilayer materials | 100% | 9.5 | - | 2025 | Evaluating material options to replace non-recyclable multilayer flex pack films with recycle-ready monolayer films to make them Recycle ready. |
| Other: Silicone valves | 100% | less than 1 | - | 2025 | Remove silicon from valves |
| PS | 100% | less than 1 | - | 2025 | Evaluating the conversion of PS shrink to PET |
| PVC | 100% | 1 | - | 2023 | Rainbow Light Counter Attack blister and travel packs |
Planned actions on elimination
Actively working on technical discovery projects to identify technical solution to design our multilayer films to be recycle ready. Identifying problematic or unnecessary plastic packaging once the US Plastic Pact material list is published. Evaluating material options to replace non-recyclable multilayer flex pack films with recycle-ready monolayer films. Adding perforations to shrink wrap labels to enable consumers to more easily remove labels that inhibit the recyclability of HDPE bottles. Progressing development of PET compatible labels to replace non-compatible paper labels on PET bottles.
Moving from single-use towards reuse models
Progress made over the reporting period
Share of plastic packaging that is reusable (2020)
Availability of reuse models today
Recent or in-progress pilots of reuse models for new products or packaging, Reuse models in place for consumer facing products or packaging
Product line(s) with reuse model(s): 7
Market(s) where reuse models are available today: Central America, Northern America, South America (19% of total)
Product applications and reuse model types
| Reuse model types | Markets | Other details | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Chemicals in a B2B context (for example for industrial or agricultural use) | B2B | Global | T360 Sprayer |
| Cleaning products | Refill at home, Return from home | North, Central and South America | Cleaning products with Triggers, Loop Clorox Disinfecting Wipes |
| Cosmetics & personal care | Refill at home, Return from home | Global - Burt's Bees | Phone pop socket lip balm refill, Loop facial cleanser |
Pilots launched
3
Activities and progress made on reuse
Piloting a refill/ reuse model for Clorox bleach and Pine Sol multi-surface cleaner in New York CIty with Algramo. Piloting a Clorox cleaning concentrated spray refill model in Walmart. Extending our refill products like T360 in our professional products division. Extending our Loop product lines with a Burts Bee’s facial cleanser pilot.
Planned action by 2025
Product applications and reuse model types to be introduced or expanded
| Reuse model types | Markets | Other details | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cleaning products | - | North America, Central America, South America | Spray, dilutable, laundry additives, wipes. |
| Cosmetics & personal care | - | Global - Burt's | Lip balm and face care |
| Food & nutrition | - | North America | Hidden Valley B2B RPC’s |
Other 2025 reuse goals
Piloting reuse models for new products or packaging: 5 pilots
Introducing or expanding reuse models for non-consumer facing packaging
Introducing or expanding reuse models for consumer facing products/packaging
Planned actions on reuse
Evaluating and expanding current reuse pilots. Identifying business model opportunities to enable new reuse models. Looking for opportunities to explore pilots enabled by U.S. Plastics Pact.
100% reusable, recyclable and/or compostable plastic packaging
Progress made over the reporting period
Share of plastic packaging that is reusable, recyclable or compostable (2020)
Actions and progress made to make packaging recyclable or compostable (see previous section for progress on shifting to reusable packaging)
Identified impacted SKUs and making progress to make them recyclable or certified by 3rd party (e.g. APR, etc.) for recyclability in the U.S. 4 technical discovery efforts staffed to further progress against this goal
Actions and progress made on collaborating towards increasing recycling and composting rates for plastic packaging
We are a US Plastics Pact Activator and working with them on possible pilots
Additional details on recyclability
Share of plastic packaging that is recyclable (2020)
Alignment with the New Plastics Economy 2021 Recycling Rate Survey results
Yes
Planned actions by 2025
2025 target
100% reusable, recyclable or compostable
Planned actions to make packaging recyclable or compostable
Identify in CY21/22 possible materials for flexible packaging which are recycle ready.
Planned actions on collaborating towards increasing recycling and composting rates for plastic packaging
Our Glad® business, the nation's leading household waste solutions brand, and Recyclops, a technology-enabled sustainability and recycling startup, joined forces to expand access to recycling for consumers throughout the U.S. This partnership will expand recycling access to more than 1,000 cities within three years, part of Glad's commitment of doing more to waste less. https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/glad-teams-up-with-recyclops-to-bring-recycling-to-100-000-new-households-301292941.html
Increasing post-consumer recycled content in plastic packaging
Progress made over the reporting period
Level of post-consumer recycled content in plastic packaging (2020)
Activities and progress made on post-consumer recycled content
Identified technical opportunities to meet with high confidence the PCR goal for Clorox. Identified also technical limitations to using PCR on Clorox products, because of product compatibility and consumer safety. Initiated 3 technical pilots for implementation of higher PCR where we have technical limitations.
Planned actions by 2025
2025 post-consumer recycled content target
17%
Planned actions to increase post-consumer recycled content
Over the next two years, Clorox is initiating pilots to increase PCR and is working to execute against an impactful PCR strategy that will require significant changes to manufacturing plants over the next 4-8 years. We have developed a plan and the technology to implement high levels of PCR in our packaging. The main challenge is securing enough PCR supply to meet our needs. Clorox is working on a supply strategy for PCR.
Investments
Total invested/committed over the reporting period towards achieving the commitments
None reported
End notes
Scope of reporting
International packaging is based on our purchases of packaging for international operations, and excludes data for packaging procured by contract manufacturers on our behalf. Other International data limitations: CY20 data is estimated based on CY18 or CY19 purchases of packaging, adjusted to account for sales growth in CY20. Recyclability reporting is based on CY20 US sales data and is representative of our global CY20 results for this metric.
Interpreting the quantitative data submitted
Calendar year 2020 saw significant growth in our disinfecting products which drove our total plastic packaging weight greater than 5% of prior year. However, our company’s plastic packaging content per case of product sold decreased by 2.4% despite sales growth of more than 20% in CY2020 vs. CY2019.