Tag: Recycling

Australia – ACCIONA, an infrastructure company dedicated to the development and management of infrastructure and renewable energy, has tapped DDB Group Melbourne for the launch of its campaign ‘Turbine Made’, aimed at ransforming retired wind turbine blades into innovative new materials and products for a better Australia.

For the launch of the initiative, ACCIONA has broken down a decommissioned blade from its Waubra Wind Farm in Victoria into a versatile particulate that can serve as a raw material for sustainable product manufacturing. 

Like the turbines themselves, the products will help power a more sustainable Australia and could include applications such as protective gear for firefighters, highway crossings for endangered koalas, concrete for sustainable buildings and equipment for playgrounds.

To bring this initiative to life, ACCIONA engaged DDB Melbourne off the back of a competitive pitch process to conceive and develop the ‘Turbine Made’ idea, brand identity, marketing and PR strategy. Leveraging DDB’s creative expertise, the initiative aims to engage industry, sustainability advocates, and other potential partners to identify new applications for the material.

The ‘Turbine Made’ launch has been supported with an integrated campaign, including an online film, social, PR, press and out-of-home.

Caroline Pinter, general manager brand and marketing at ACCIONA, said, “Turbine Made demonstrates our commitment to sustainable innovation. We are working to transform one of the industry’s most complex environmental challenges into a solution that enables the development of new, forward-thinking products.”

She added, “By collaborating with DDB Melbourne, we have been able to effectively communicate the opportunities of this initiative. We’re excited to see how this material could be used and look forward to working with our partners to bring these ideas to life.”

Meanwhile, Giles Watson, executive creative director at DDB Group Melbourne, commented, “Turbine Made is about reimagining what’s possible. In doing so, we’re not just giving turbine blades a second life–but also inspiring industries to see that waste doesn’t have to be the end of the story, it can be the start of something remarkable.”

The project is already well and truly underway, with the first Turbine Made prototype launching in early March, and ACCIONA is now seeking partnerships with more industries, businesses, researchers and students.

Hong Kong – To further raise public awareness of environmental protection, Colgate is launching the ‘Small Act–Big Smiles’ initiative with Watsons Hong Kong, which aims to collect used tubes of any brands from consumers at nearly 180 Watsons stores in Hong Kong and transform them into valuable resources. 

This initiative encourages consumers to become more mindful of their recycling habits and take proactive steps.

Starting today, nearly 180 Watsons stores across Hong Kong are now equipped with collection stations where consumers can drop-off their used toothpaste tubes from any brands and they further will be sent for recycling. To incentivise this program, MoneyBack members who purchase Colgate selected range of recyclable toothpaste tubes with the recycling logo at Watsons stores will earn double MoneyBack points, making it easier than ever to support sustainable practices. 

Additionally, customers who bring back a used toothpaste tube of any brands to Watsons will receive a HK$10 Colgate voucher, which is redeemable upon purchase of HK$99 or more on Colgate products in any Watsons store. This incentive structure is a token of appreciation for consumers demonstrating mindful recycling behaviour. This small act of returning toothpaste tubes can initiate a chain of significant impacts on society.

The collected tubes will further be segregated into recyclable and non-recyclable tubes. All used recyclable toothpaste tubes will be handed over to Colgate’s green partners, The Loops and Gaau1Up, who specialize in recycling plastic waste into useful products with injection molding technology. The non-recyclable tubes collected will be repurposed into building materials. This way the collected materials will be reused again. 

Once recycled, these tubes will be upcycled into stationery items, which will be distributed to the underprivileged children through the Hong Kong Young Dentist Federation. To maximise the reuse of plastic waste and instill the principles of upcycling in the next generation, Colgate will also organise workshops for the underprivileged children as part of their ‘Bright Smile, Bright Futures’ program, which aims to provide oral health education, free dental screenings, and referral services to these children. 

These workshops will also raise awareness about the current plastic waste challenges in Hong Kong and inspire students to take small steps toward it. Colgate strongly believes these small steps will lead to a future everyone can smile about. 

Meenakshisundaram Chandrasekar, SVP customer development for Asia-Pacific at Colgate, remarked, “Plastic waste mismanagement is a major challenge for our generation, and we are all part of it. Although we have developed a recyclable tube, it is essential that we as a society embrace more mindful recycling habits to make these innovations more impactful. Through the ‘Small Act- Big Smiles’ program, we strive to influence positive behaviors and make meaningful societal change and we are very optimistic that people will fully support and make it a consistent habit.”

Meanwhile, Samuel Lee, managing director of Watsons Hong Kong, said, “Watsons has been driving sustainability consistently. Over the past decade, we have implemented numerous recycling initiatives and actively partnered with business partners and recycling organizations. In the past four years, we have successfully recycled 1.2 million empty bottles for recycling, including beauty & cosmetic, personal care and healthcare products, as well as milk powder tins. This achievement is equivalent to the height of 1,060 buildings of Cheung Kong Center. We are thrilled to collaborate with Colgate to extend our recycling efforts to toothpaste tubes of any brands. With our reward incentives, we aim to encourage greater customer engagement. Together, let’s ‘Look Good, Do Good, Feel Great’.”

United States – Popular soft drinks brand Sprite is ditching the iconic green look across its plastic bottles in favour of a much clearer one that is more eco-friendly. This will start on August 1 this year.

According to the Coca-Cola Company, while green plastic polyethylene terephthalate (PET) is recyclable, like the ones used in the old bottles, the recycled material is more often converted into single-use items like clothing and carpeting that cannot be recycled into new PET bottles. 

During the sorting process, green and other coloured PET is separated from clear material to avoid discolouring recycled food-grade packaging required to make new PET bottles.

Julian Ochoa, CEO at R3CYCLE, said, “Taking colours out of bottles improves the quality of the recycled material. This transition will help increase availability of food-grade rPET. When recycled, clear PET Sprite bottles can be remade into bottles, helping drive a circular economy for plastic.”

In addition to transitioning to clear bottles, Sprite is introducing a new visual identity system featuring a revamped logo and packaging design to provide a consistent look and voice around the world. Sprite’s packaging graphics will retain the brand’s recognizable green hue and include prominent ‘Recycle Me’ messaging.

Hong Kong – A.S. Watson Group’s flagship health and beauty brand Watsons has announced the rollout of its region-wide recycling programme with cosmetics company L’Oréal in Hong Kong. This rides on the hugely successful launch of recycling programmes in Taiwan, Thailand, and Indonesia.

Through the programme, Watsons Hong Kong has partnered with L’Oréal to roll out the ‘Beauty for the Future’ recycling campaign. From now on, customers can recycle the cleaned containers of any beauty brand, including foundation bottles, mascara wands, skincare tubs, and lipstick tubes at around 170 Watsons stores across the city in exchange for rewards at loyalty platform MoneyBack.

Once collected, its partner V Cycle will break down the wastes, separate them by materials, and work with local partners to transform them into new raw materials. The scaled-up campaign goal is to collect 250,000 containers in the 12 months following the official launch.

Malina Ngai, CEO of A.S. Watson for Asia and Europe, said, “At Watsons, we believe Going Green is The New Beautiful. We made it our purpose to do the right things for our customers and the planet. Sharing a common sustainability vision with L’Oréal, we appreciate this Beauty of Recycling partnership in the region to educate customers as well as engage them in action so that together we can create a bigger impact to the planet today and tomorrow.”

Meanwhile, Eva Yu, president and managing director of L’Oréal Hong Kong, commented, “Pre-loved beauty packages have their place, but that place is not in landfills. Our goal is to meet it head-on with the first cross-brand recycling programme involving 18 of our beauty brands in 2021. Today, we are thrilled to work with partners along the value chain to expand the programme and positively impact people’s lives while preserving the planet.”

She added, “With the scaled-up recycling campaign as part of our ‘L’Oréal for the Future’ sustainability programme, we want to further inspire and influence how our consumers think and what they do about packaging wastes – not as something to toss out, but as a resource that can be recycled and used again, and sustainably, reducing the impact on our environment. Our partnership with Watsons and V Cycle will help make this a reality.”

Australia – As plastic waste continues to damage the environment, global packaging company Amcor has decided to release soft plastic food wrapper made with recycled content, to be the first of its kind in Australia.

The initiative aims to keep waste out of landfills and meet consumer demands for more sustainable packaging. Amcor has collaborated with several companies such as Nestlé and Viva Energy Australia and also with similar environment advocate organizations like CurbCycle and REDcycle to leverage each of their expertise to create the prototype wrapper which is for Nestle’s KitKat. The project will be collecting and processing soft plastic waste, and turn it back into oil using advanced recycling technology. 

According to the packaging company, the prototype wrapper demonstrates the opportunity to close-the-loop on recycling soft plastics.

Simon Roy, the vice president, and general manager of Amcor Flexibles in Australia and New Zealand, said that this is an exciting time for Amcor, as this project is fully aligned with the commitment to ensure all packagings be designed to be recyclable or reusable by 2025. 

“Soft plastics create a strong consumer-friendly packaging solution with great barrier properties and are lightweight and cost-efficient. This collaboration shows how soft plastics can be part of the circular economy when stakeholders across the entire value chain work together and is a fantastic outcome for the environment and our communities,” said Roy.

Meanwhile, Sandra Martinez, CEO of Nestlé Australia, commented, “Between us, we have shown there’s a pathway to solve the soft plastics problem. Manufacturers like Nestlé will have a key role in driving demand for food-grade recycled soft plastic packaging and creating market conditions that will ensure all stakeholders throughout the value chain view soft plastics as a resource and not waste.”

Last year, Nestlé’s KitKat and RED Group have similarly teamed up to launch the recycling program ‘REDcycle’, in an aim to collect soft plastics, including KitKat wrappers, to be turned into new materials such as benches and fences. The campaign also saw KitKat transforming its logo, shaping its chocolate wafers to take the form of the recycle symbol.