The Need: Cleaning plays a critical role in people’s lives, but there are areas that could be improved. 130 million tons of single use plastic are produced every year[1]. In addition, 26% of home cleaning sales are now ecommerce[2]. Knowing this, traditional ready-to-use trigger sprays are a prime candidate for improvement.
The Solution: Clorox Concentrated Refillable Cleaners are a line of concentrated refill pods and durable bottles/triggers. The pod design delivers 1) an intentional design for material reduction, reuse, and recyclability, 2) retains Child Resistance (CR) and, 3) maintains the cleaning performance consumers expect from Clorox. The pod is optimized for recyclability through intentional sizing and labeling considerations that enable MRF sorting and utilizes highly recoverable HDPE (EBM grade). How2Recycle has recognized the packaging as curbside recyclable, as the PE closure has been designed to remain attached to the larger, sortable pod.
With each refill, 80% of plastic is saved compared to that of a traditional spray delivering the same amount of product when replacing thirty (30) Clorox 16 fl oz spray cleaners. The small pods maximize truck efficiency by cubing-out each load. A full truckload of refills can deliver 90% more finished product than a truckload of traditional sprays. The pods meet criteria for the Compact by Design badge through Amazon’s Climate Pledge program. Their small size requires less line time for production and can reduce manufacturing footprint.
Which of the Pact’s 4 Targets does your work help achieve? Clorox Concentrated Refillable Cleaners could help to achieve Target 2: 100% of plastic packaging will be reusable, recyclable, or compostable by 2025 and Target 3: Undertake ambitious actions to effectively recycle or compost 50% of plastic packaging by 2025 from the list below:
What makes it particularly smart or circular? With each refill, 80% of plastic is saved compared to that of a traditional spray delivering the same amount of product when replacing thirty (30) Clorox 16 fl oz spray cleaners. At the same time, How2Recycle has recognized the packaging as curbside recyclable. The small pods maximize truck efficiency by cubing-out each load. A full truckload of refills can deliver 90% more finished product than a truckload of traditional sprays. The pods meet criteria for the Compact by Design badge through Amazon’s Climate Pledge program, and their small size requires less line time for production plus they can reduce manufacturing footprint.
Results, Benefits, and Outcomes to Date: This product is currently available in many US Retail stores as well as E-commerce channels such as clorox.com
How are you communicating your success? The Clorox Company is investing in the circular economy space and refill models. As such, we engage with our internal business model innovation teams. This launch is still active, so our communication is mostly with internal stakeholders, retail partners and a few select public Press Releases.
What’s Next? Clorox aspires to leverage its experience and success in concentrated, dilutable product forms to grow refillable consumer behaviors. When done the right way, there’s value in doing so for the planet, the people we serve, our customers and our business.
Roadblocks & Lessons Learned: A key challenge is sales productivity. Foot Traffic and trial/repeat rates are both critical to growth and expansion.
Core Team, Partners, & Participants: Clorox has many passionate sustainability champions, but critical to this launch’s success was the leadership by diverse employees in the Clorox Cleaning Innovation team that are passionate about reaching consumers with affordable, more sustainable options.
Time Frame: This product platform was a multi-year product development.
Quote: “Clorox is in 9 out of 10 households and is committed to helping people thrive in a more sustainable world. We are always looking for new and innovative ways to offer our products in affordable, convenient ways that are also better for the environment – that’s why we are excited about Clorox Refillable Concentrate Spray Cleaners offering a platform of cleaning products with an innovative refill system that reduces plastic waste. We are excited to have commercialized this product line and to accelerate the future of retail.” Ryan Coonce, R&D Associate Director, The Clorox Company.
Company Information: The Clorox Company (NYSE: CLX) champions people to be well and thrive every single day. Its trusted brands, which include Brita®, Burt’s Bees®, Clorox®, Fresh Step®, Glad®, Hidden Valley®, Kingsford®, Liquid-Plumr®, Pine-Sol® and Rainbow Light®, can be found in about nine of 10 U.S. homes and internationally with brands such as Ajudin®, Clorinda®, Chux® and Poett®. Headquartered in Oakland, California, since 1913, Clorox was one of the first U.S. companies to integrate ESG into its business reporting, with commitments in three areas: Healthy Lives, Clean World and Thriving Communities. Visit thecloroxcompany.com to learn more.
[1] Source: Consumer Brands Association article titled “Reduce.Reuse.Confuse.” https://sourceofplasticwaste.org
[2] Source: IRiWinning in CPG eCommercereport dated March 26, 2021)