Olay Regenerist Whip moisturiser will be available in refillable pod, as P&G launches three month trial
Consumer goods giant Procter & Gamble has become the latest big brand to trial refillable packaging, with the launch today of an Olay moisturiser that will be sold with a refillable pod.
The Olay Regenerist Whip package contains a jar of branded moisturiser alongside a refill pod that can be placed inside the jar once it's empty.
It will be sold on a trial basis for three months in the UK and US, with results providing insight on whether consumers respond positively to refillable skincare products, the firm said, adding that the aim was to inform Olay's future packaging designs.
The pods themselves are recyclable, while the package will be shipped in a container made of 100 per cent recycled paper. In time, the refill pods could be sold separately, the company suggested.
If the trial proves successful and the brand moves a significant portion of Olay Regenerist moisturiser jars to refillable pods, then there is a potential saving of more than a million pounds of plastic, according to the firm.
"The ultimate goal is to find and adopt many more sustainable packaging solutions, and the refillable Olay Regenerist Whip package is the first step of that journey," said P&G Beauty associate director of sustainability Anitra Marsh. "It's really important for us to get it right because only then can we bring this concept to market at scale."
The trial forms part of Procter & Gamble's Ambition 2030, a sustainability strategy which aims to slash packaging waste and power the firm's manfucaturing sites with renewables. It joins the introduction of reusable, refillable packaging for a range of the manufacturer's other products, including Pantene, Gillette, Cascade and Oral B.
In January, P&G announced that it will partner with recycling innovator TerraCycle to develop new "collect and recycle" circular solutions through the TerraCycle's recently launched e-commerce platform Loop.
The news also comes in the same week as UK supermarket Waitrose launched a major new trial at one its stores, which will see it offer a raft of products, including wine, beer, cereals, coffee, and cleaning products, in refillable packaging.