Membership status: Strategic Partner
SC Johnson is one of the world's leading manufacturers of household cleaning and other consumer and professional products. The privately held company was founded in 1886 and Chairman and CEO Fisk Johnson is now the fifth generation of the Johnson family to run the company. From its base in Racine, Wisconsin USA, the company’s brands include Duck®, Glade®, Mr Muscle®, Ziploc®, Ecover®, Method, Stasher®, Sun Bum® and more.
In October 2018, Fisk Johnson joined leaders from around the world to sign the New Plastics Economy Global Commitment, led by The Foundation and UNEP, at the Our Ocean Conference in Bali, Indonesia. SC Johnson became a Strategic Partner in 2019.
SC Johnson’s ambitions include reducing plastic packaging by 30% between 2018 and 2025 and making 100% of plastic packaging recyclable or reusable. The company’s actions focus on packaging design, post-consumer recycled plastic content, downstream waste collection, protecting forests, social work, and providing better choices to its customers.
Built upon their strong history as a family company and pioneering work on transparency, reusereuseThe repeated use of a product or component for its intended purpose without significant modification., and product circularity, SC Johnson is taking a leadership role to help redesign global systems according to circular economycircular economyA systems solution framework that tackles global challenges like climate change, biodiversity loss, waste, and pollution. It is based on three principles, driven by design: eliminate waste and pollution, circulate products and materials (at their highest value), and regenerate nature. principles and address major challenges such as plastic pollution.
- Andrew Morlet, CEO, Ellen MacArthur Foundation
Plastic pollution is an enormous problem, and it is going to take businesses, governments, consumers, and civil society working together to solve it. We're all going to have to come together, and Ellen and the Foundation have done an excellent job creating an opportunity for partnership and progress.
- Fisk Johnson, Chairman and CEO, SC Johnson
The circular economy in action at SC Johnson: Refill solutions
One million plastic bottles are bought around the world each day. To address the issue of plastic waste, it is essential to go upstream and design out the problem so that waste is not created in the first place.
In 2011, SC Johnson released its first concentrated refill for its Windex® brand, estimated to reduce plastic waste by 80%. The company has continued to develop its concentrated refill offerings, including developing DISSOLVE™ Concentrated Pods in its Windex® , Scrubbing Bubbles® and fantastik® brands in the U.S. in 2022.
Brands Ecover® and Method® are also working to redesign their packaging options. Method® sells reusable and refillable aluminium hand soap dispensers and has moved away from unrecyclable refill pouches to recyclable plastic bottles. Ecover® originally launched its refillable system in 1989 and has since continued to innovate its formulas and packaging. Launching a new eco-surfactant in 2009 (developed with sugar fermentation instead of petroleum), and its first 100% recyclable, plant-based plastic bottle in 2011. In 2018 Ecover® launched its newest bottle, made from 100% post-consumer recycled, and 100% recyclable plastic.
