Dove, the Unilever-owned beauty brand, has announced that its iconic soap bar will no longer be wrapped in plastic.
Next year, all of the brand’s beauty bars sold globally will be plastic-free.
Meanwhile, by the end of this year, Dove plans to launch new 100% recycled plastic bottles across all of its ranges in Europe and North America, including Dove, Dove Men+Care and Baby Dove.
Through its ongoing initiatives, Dove hopes to save enough virgin plastic globally per year to circle the Earth 2.7 times.
Marcela Melero, Dove Global Skin Cleansing Vice President, said: “At Dove, we believe in care that goes further: for our consumers as well as our planet.
“We are passionately committed to being one of the brands making the biggest impact against plastic waste. We know we’re not perfect, but we can’t afford to wait.
“We’re working to have the biggest positive impact we can, as quickly as we can, and empowering others to do the same.”
Dove is also working on replacing the outer-wrap of its beauty bar multipacks with a zero-plastic material, and plans to leverage the technology used in its new deodorant stick minim, which is reusable and refillable.
Helen Bird is the Strategic Engagement Manager at WRAP, which leads The UK Plastics Pact, an iniative aimed at creating a circular economy for plastic.
She said: “As a founding member of The UK Plastics Pact, Unilever continue to work at pace on their commitment to eliminate unnecessary plastic, make plastic packaging recyclable, reusable or compostable and increase the use of recycled content, thereby reducing the need for new plastic production.
“Making these initiatives a success also rests with citizens; using refill and concentrate options, and also recycling the packaging so that it can be remanufactured.
“Our research shows that while we are well accustomed to recycling items from the kitchen, there is often valuable plastic packaging missed from the bathroom.”
The new commitments are part of Dove’s 2025 commitment to reduce plastic waste, which will see the brand avoid the use of more than 20,500 tonnes of virgin plastic globally per year.
Dove’s initiatives will contribute to Unilever’s recently announced new commitments on plastic, which include halving its use of virgin plastic and reducing its absolute use of plastic packaging by more than 100,000 tonnes.