Care for the Planet: Our plastic mission

We are committed to a landmark new initiative as part of our 2025 commitment to reduce plastic waste – reducing our use of virgin plastic by 50% (against a 2019 baseline) saving at least 9,000 tonnes a year.

To date, more than 8.3 billion tonnes of plastic have been created, and most of this has been discarded. If current rates continue, 12 billion tonnes will be in landfill or our natural environment by 2050.¹ That’s why we at Dove, one of the largest beauty brands in the world, are revealing an agenda-setting commitment to tackle the global beauty industry’s plastic waste issue.

This extensive and exciting strategy will generate a massive impact, and will significantly reduce our use of virgin plastic. We have opted for a long-term initiative to ensure a greater and sustained impact.

Dove is one of the most trusted and loved beauty brands across the globe. Plastic waste is one of the biggest environmental threats our planet is facing – and reducing it is a priority for both people who use our products and business as a whole. That’s why we are paving the way with industry-leading innovations, eliminating the use of virgin plastic where possible, and using alternative materials and packaging innovations that are setting the agenda for the beauty industry.

We are now following the NO│BETTER│LESS PLASTIC framework:

We are committed to investing in more sustainable plastic choices to reduce the use of virgin plastic. This included the launch of 100% recycled plastic (PCR) bottles where technically feasible in North America and Europe across all ranges (Dove, Dove Men+Care and Baby Dove).³ We continue to search for solutions where recycled plastic is not currently technically feasible, including for caps and pumps.

We’ve been leveraging the technology behind our reusable, refillable, stainless steel format deodorant sticks: minim™. The technology minimizes waste by radically reducing the amount of plastic required. It was trialled as part of the LOOP™ platform initiative: a first-of-its-kind, minimal waste, direct-to-consumer shopping system, and was launched fully in 2020.

Plus, in 2022, we launched a dilute-at-home formula for Dove body wash in the US, designed to reduce the need for more plastic by using refill bottles made from recyclable and 100% recycled materials.

The new initiatives expand on Unilever’s industry-leading commitment to make all its plastic packaging reusable, recyclable or compostable by 2025. They build on a long history of industry-leading action on plastic alternatives, which saw Dove avoid the use of more than 10,000 tonnes of virgin plastic in the last decade.

Marcela Melero, Dove Global Skin Cleansing Vice President, explains: “At Dove, we believe in care that goes further: for our consumers as well as our planet. We are passionately committed to being one of the brands making the biggest impact against plastic waste. We know we’re not perfect, but we can’t afford to wait. We’re working to have the biggest positive impact we can, as quickly as we can, and empowering others to do the same.”

We are committed to leading the fight against plastic waste, and catalyzing change within the industry and beyond. Through these initiatives, we call for collaborative, accelerated action to help resolve the world’s plastic problem, shifting both commercial and consumer behaviour to turn the tide against plastic waste.

Science Daily - More than 8.3 billion tons of plastics made: Most has now been discarded
Production timing pending on development test results.
There are only a few exceptions within the whole portfolio that are not fully 100% recycled bottles but still present a very high percentage in certain specific markets, and the plan is to achieve 100% very soon. These exceptions are:
Deodorant packs are made mainly of polypropylene. Currently, there is not enough reliable, good quality recycled polypropylene available to allow for 100% application. So we have started with as much recycled plastic as we can incorporate, without negatively impacting the functional properties of the pack. The percentage of recycled plastic differs, depending on the structures (for example, sticks versus roll-ons) and the pack colours.
Certain types of colour-vignetted bottles in our Hair range in NA and EU where no technical solution yet exists, but we are exploring ways to make a similar move.

We shake, squeeze and slice them open to get that very last drop – but if you ask us, it’s time to show those empties some love. Find out more about sustainable beauty, what pre-loved packaging can be recycled and how to prepare it for its next life.

Being kind to the planet is more important than ever – and we need to work together to create the change we want to see. Even the smallest sustainable beauty steps can make a huge impact. Discover how you can reduce, reuse and recycle your product packaging.