Ecover Bottles Feature 'Green' HDPE And Some Post-Consumer Recycled Material

With a focus on furthering sustainability beyond the use of recycle-content material, along with efficacy and best-practice manufacturing, Sonoco and Ecover are in a packaging partnership for the latter’s cleaning products that uses plant-based HDPE.

 

One of the largest diversified packaging companies in the world, Sonoco, Hartsville, S.C., has begun producing the new extrusion blow molded bottles for the home-care products line from global ‘green’ cleaning products manufacturer Ecover. With the 2012 acquisition of San Francisco-based Method Products, Ecover Belgium NV made its entry into the North American market and became the world’s largest company of ‘green’ cleaning products, including domestic detergents, cleansing agents, and personal care.

 

The two companies partnered in the development of Ecover’s Plantplastic blend of bio-sourced HDPE and post-consumer recycled HDPE. Brett Turner, senior marketing communications specialist at Sonoco, confirmed yesterday that 75% of the molecular weight of the bottles comes from the sugar-cane-derived ‘Green’ HDPE produced by Braskem, Philadelphia, and 25% from post-consumer recycled material.

 

The resin blend is said to use up to 90% less energy, to emit 75% lows greenhouse gases compared to petroleum-based virgin resin, and is recyclable in most curbside recycling programs.

 

Want to find or compare materials data for different resins, grades, or suppliers? Check out Plastic Technology’s Plaspec Global materials database.