Henkel announced a new partnership with Waste Free Oceans to remove plastic waste from oceans and rivers – and transform it into over a million bottles used for its Lovables laundry brand. The collaboration is the largest that the non-governmental organization has agreed so far and will run for at least three years. Together, the partners aim to remove enough plastic from rivers, lakes, seas and oceans to produce 100 metric tons of usable recycled material each year.

Waste Free Oceans was founded in 2011 with the mission of partnering with businesses and other organizations to remove plastic from the world’s oceans and rivers – and transform it into new items.

“Oceans and rivers are among the most expansive and diverse resources on Earth, but we don’t protect them as well as we should,” said co-founder Bernard Merkx. “An estimated 8 million metric tons of plastic end up in our oceans every year, which is the equivalent of 15 grocery bags filled with plastic for every meter of coastline in the world. At Waste Free Oceans, our answer is to enter into partnerships to tackle this problem together. We’re now delighted to be working with Henkel and organizing remediation actions together: It’s our largest and most ambitious partnership with one unique partner so far – aiming to remove enough marine litter from the environment to produce 100 metric tons of usable recycled material every year for at least three years.”

The partnership between Henkel and Waste Free Oceans will begin by collecting plastic waste from the Danube River in spring 2018. Activities will target locations ranging from Bulgaria through to Hungary and Romania that were selected based on a detailed analysis of the way the currents and geography of the river cause plastic to accumulate at certain points. Volunteers will gather plastic waste from the river banks and beaches, while teams of fishermen will trawl the river using a special device that removes floating plastic waste from the water. The trawlers are able to collect between two and eight metric tons of marine litter on each journey. The collections along the Danube will be followed by activities at several locations in the Mediterranean Sea during the summer.

Once recycled, the plastic will be included in bottles for the Lovables laundry brand. Launched in 2018, Lovables offers special gentle cleaning that preserves consumers’ favorite clothing by protecting the quality of the fabrics and colors. Lovables bottles are made from 100 percent recycled material – and the brand aims to include recycled marine plastic litter from Waste Free Oceans in over a million bottles.

“Our partnership with Waste Free Oceans is another step forward in our commitment to promoting sustainable packaging and recycling,” said Prof. Dr. Thomas Müller-Kirschbaum, head of Global Research and Development in Henkel’s Laundry & Home Care business unit. “Together, we can remove a meaningful amount of plastic from the environment, while also raising consumer awareness of marine plastic litter and the need to better protect our oceans and rivers.”

In 2017, Henkel used recycled plastic in the packaging for more than 1.2 billion detergent, household cleaning and beauty care products globally.