Supply Chain & the Circular Economy

Global Recycling Day: Advancing Circularity With The Recycling Partnership

Apr 6, 2023 1:00 PM ET
Campaign: P&G | Environmental Sustainability
A 2D digital drawing of a street with buildings, trees, a wind turbine and recycling cans. "Today and every day, keep it clean and green to give back to the planet."
"The Recycling Partnership solving for circularity" and logo
A basic digital drawing of a person putting something in a green bin with a recycling logo on it.

For Global Recycling Day this year, P&G brands, suppliers and partners continue to collaborate on a range of sustainable solutions so that more material, including plastic, is collected, recycled and reused.

Global plastic production has doubled over the past 20 years, and global consumption has quadrupled over the past 30 years. But what if more packages are recycled, keeping items in use? That advances a circular system where materials have lasting use instead of becoming waste. At P&G, we believe we can help unlock more worth from the materials we use every day, long after their first use.

Partnering for Progress 
For almost 10 years, P&G has been partnering with a US-based NGO, The Recycling Partnership, to help advance a circular economy by building a better recycling system. Packaging is made of different types of materials, and not all of them can be recycled together. P&G is working with experts at The Recycling Partnership to recycle more types of material, improve collection with more access to recycling and increase amounts of recycled content. And with programs like The Recycling Inclusion Fund, we are helping provide equal access to recycling services and education to improve collection rates.

Did you know many of your kitchen, bathroom, and laundry packages can be recycled? Simply check the recycling instructions on the packaging.

Your recycling adds up and…

  • becomes new things.
  • protects natural resources and reduces waste
  • benefits future generations
  • reduces litter and keeps communities clean

TIP: Keep a recycling bin next to each trash can.

Our History with The Recycling Partnership

  • 2014 — P&G becomes an early member of The Partnership.
  • 2017 — P&G contributes to outreach campaign, along with Ohio EPA, to work on infrastructure, optimization and education project with many Ohio communities and Materials Recovery Facilities.
  • 2019 — P&G is an early supporter of The Recycling Partnership’s Film and Flexibles Task Force, which ultimately became Film and Flexibles Recycling Coalition. P&G remains a steering committee supporter of the Coalition to date.
  • 2021 — P&G makes a two year commitment to support the Recycling Inclusion Fund to provide grants to improve recycling infrastructure and education, offer training and leadership through its Fellowship Through Partnership program and research the challenges that prevent a more equitable recycling system.
  • 2021 — P&G joins the Polypropylene Recycling Coalition. Polypropylene plastic (#5) is used in many deodorant packages and bottle caps. These coalitions help improve collection, sorting and recycling of polypropylene.
  • 2022 — P&G is a founding steering committee member of the PET Recycling Coalition. P&G uses PET plastic (#1) — Polyethylene Terephthalate — in many packages in our Beauty and Oral Care business.

For more information about our packaging and waste sustainability program, progress and goals, please visit our 2022 Citizenship Report Environmental Sustainability section.