Clorox Joins U.S. Plastics Pact

The Clorox Company has joined the U.S. Plastics Pact, a collaborative initiative rooted in four  goals intended to drive significant systems change by unifying diverse cross-sector approaches, setting a national strategy and creating scalable solutions to create a path forward toward a circular economy for plastics in the United States by 2025. The first North American Pact of its kind, the U.S. Pact is a collaboration led by The Recycling Partnership, World Wildlife Fund (WWF) and Ellen MacArthur Foundation.

As part of the U.S. Pact, activators like Clorox recognize that significant, systemwide change is imperative to realize a circular economy for plastics. As such, the U.S. Pact will convene more than 60 brands, retailers, non-governmental organizations, and government agencies across the plastics value chain to bring one voice to U.S. packaging through coordinated initiatives and innovative solutions for rethinking products, packaging, and business models.

"Clorox's participation in the U.S. Plastics Pact is a testament to our strong commitment to plastic and waste reduction – a critical part of our IGNITE strategy's environmental, social and governance goals," says Ed Huber, chief sustainability officer of The Clorox Company in a press release. "We look forward to working in collaboration with other like-minded organizations that have signed on to this partnership to help accelerate our collective vision to drive systematic change across the plastics value chain."

As a founding activator of the U.S. Plastics Pact, Clorox has agreed to collectively work toward these four ambitious goals:

1. Define a list of packaging to be designated as unnecessary by 2021 and take measures to address by 2025.

2. By 2025, all plastic packaging is 100 percent reusable, recyclable, or compostable.

3. Undertake ambitious actions to effectively recycle or compost 50 percent of plastic packaging by 2025.

4. By 2025, the average recycled content or responsibly sourced bio-based content in plastic packaging will be 30 percent.

While the U.S. Pact is complementary to and follows the ambitious precedents set by the existing global network of Plastic Pacts, it will be tailored to meet the unique needs and challenges of the U.S. market. The Pact will reflect national priorities and realities, while still propelling the nation closer to other developed nations in its management of plastic waste.

"Together through the U.S. Plastics Pact, we will ignite system change to accelerate progress toward a circular economy," says Sarah Dearman, vice president of circular ventures for The Recycling Partnership. "The U.S. Pact will accelerate systemwide change by inspiring and supporting upstream innovation through a coordinated national strategy, creating a unified framework and enabling members to accelerate progress toward our ambitious 2025 sustainability goals. Members' full participation will be vital to reaching our shared goals."