Kao accelerates initiatives to reduce plastic use as it pioneers new technology

Japanese beauty group Kao Corporation has strengthened its focus on sustainability, outlining key strategies and milestones to achieve net zero plastic packaging waste by 2040 and negative waste by 2050.

The owner of Molton Brown will accelerate its reduction and recycling efforts, including new sustainable packaging initiatives to support both the reduction of fossil-based plastic and increased use of recycled material for packaging.

Thinner containers and packaging, as well as increased packaging capacity and higher concentrated products will also be a priority for Kao.

By 2030, the company aims to have overcome its peak use of fossil-based plastic and have boosted the recycle rate for plastics it uses to over 50% (by weight).

By 2040, Kao plans to have the quantity of plastic recycled equivalent to the amount of plastic packaging produced by the company. By 2050, the quantity of plastic recycled is planned to be greater than the amount produced.

To achieve its circularity goals, Kao is also introducing a newly developed technology for film-to-film recycling to transform used refills into new refill packs.

While only limited quantities of the product using this packaging will be available initially, Kao hopes to bring more to the market, with the goal of launching products of innovative film-based packaging made from collected refill packs by 2025.

The company intends to disseminate its technology within the consumer products industry to "promote recycling as widely as possible" across the industry and the public.