Microplastic

Several years ago, we stopped using microbeads in hair and body care products, and detergents and cleaning products, which were used as exfoliating or abrasive particles in certain products. In addition, we have been dealing more closely with solid synthetic plastics. These solid synthetic plastics are used as opacifiers in consumer products to give them a creamy white appearance. 

In our hair and body care products, the switch to opacifiers that have a natural origin or are biodegradable was fully completed in early 2022. For our laundry and home care products, we replaced those opacifiers with poor biodegradability with a newly developed opacifier with improved biodegradability in 2021. We are always in search for a fully biodegradable solution that meets our technical requirements. 

Certain types of perfume encapsulation are also under discussion because they are considered as microplastics. These encapsulated perfume oils are used in fabric softeners and certain detergents to provide a long-lasting scent with significantly less perfume than would otherwise be required. We are committed to replace all synthetic perfume encapsulations with biodegradable materials. Working together with our technology partners, we managed to fully replace them in Europe already and have made good progress in other regions of the world. Due to specific product use and performance expectations by consumers in some regions, we still face technical challenges for full replacement in certain product categories, but we continue to work on it.  

We are already using biodegradable material for other encapsulations. For example, the water-soluble shells of our pre-dosed detergent capsules, tabs and bars are biodegradable and consist of soluble polyvinyl alcohol.  

To prevent improper disposal of our plastic product packaging from contributing to ocean pollution, we are striving for a circular economy for plastics.  For example our membership in the Global Commitment Initiative of the Ellen MacArthur Foundation, which brings together different stakeholders in the plastics chain to shape the future of plastics and create momentum for a circular economy, is an important example of our engagement in this area Henkel also actively supports the “Business Coalition for a Global Plastics Treaty” of the UN Treaty on Plastic Pollution. We will continue to increase the recyclability of our packaging, while also increasing the percentage of recycled material in our packaging.