Sustainable plastic packaging & packaging recycling commitments

ONE SKIN. ONE PLANET. ONE CARE.

“By 2050, there will be more plastic than fish in the sea.” – Ellen MacArthur Foundation Report 2016

This outlook, in addition to pictures of polluted waterways and oceans, has left us all deeply concerned about what we are leaving behind for future generations. And the exponential increase of plastic production not only pollutes the environment; it also amplifies climate change. At the same time, there are some good reasons to use plastic: it is very lightweight, durable, and safe for application across many industries. Humanity is faced with the question of how to solve the global plastic problem.

At NIVEA, we are on a mission to use plastic responsibly within our product packaging, guided by the principles of the circular economy. Our approach is straightforward: we reduce plastic wherever possible, we recycle plastic as much as we can, we replace it when it makes sense to do so - to create plastic-free packaging - and we enable you to reuse our packaging. To underline our commitment, we are pursuing ambitious targets:

By 2025, we want to reduce the fossil-based virgin plastic we use in our packaging by 50 percent (base year 2019).
We are following this objective by reducing the weight of our packaging, integrating recycled content and replacing fossil-based plastic with plant-based alternatives.

By 2025, we will have 30 percent recycled material in our plastic packaging.
Using recycled plastic is key in counteracting the exploitative use of natural resources and plastic pollution. By giving packaging material a second life, we prevent further extraction of fossil resources for virgin plastic production as well as environmental pollution by generating a demand for secondary materials.

By 2025, we will ensure that 100 percent of our plastic packaging can be refillable, reusable or recyclable packaging.
Of course, our responsibility does not end on the shelf. Instead, we are working to make all of our plastic packaging either recyclable, refillable or reusable. That is how it can have a second life, or even many more.

All our efforts towards more sustainable plastic packaging not only contribute to preventing pollution, but also lead to reduced CO2 emissions and therefore contribute to fighting against climate change.

REDUCING PLASTIC WITH NIVEA

Of course, to generate zero waste, no packaging would be the best solution for our planet. However, unfortunately this approach would not protect our skincare products all the way from our production sites to your home. Still, when it comes to plastic, less is more! To reduce our overall plastic consumption, we are looking at each type of packaging we produce and challenging ourselves to only use as much material as necessary. This is also the most effective way of reducing the CO2 emissions associated with packaging.

RECYCLING PLASTIC WITH NIVEA

The use of recycled material is key in counteracting the exploitative use of natural resources and plastic pollution. By giving packaging material a second life, we prevent the further extraction of fossil resources for virgin plastic production, as well as environmental pollution, by generating a demand for secondary materials.

Depending on the type of plastic used (PET, PE, or PP), the integration of recycled material can be a technical challenge, as the availability of high-quality recycled plastic is still low. It is very important for us that the recycled plastic packaging material does not harm the safety or efficacy of our skincare products.

IS NIVEA’S PLASTIC PACKAGING RECYCLABLE?

Whether packaging can be recycled depends on the local recycling infrastructure. So, check with your local waste disposal provider about how you can best contribute to the recycling of packaging.

At NIVEA, we carefully evaluate each product packaging in collaboration with an external institute in order to find out how much of the packaging’s material can already be detected, sorted and recycled in practice and at scale. Sometimes the changes we need to make to increase recyclability are small, but impactful.

Another example of an action we took to increase the recyclability of our packaging was to use new color pigments in our black packaging. Previously, black plastic packaging was often not detected during the automated sorting process in recycling plants and was therefore incinerated. The newly developed color particles are correctly detected by today’s sorting technology and channeled accordingly for recycling. Since 2020, we only use these new color pigments in our NIVEA MEN DEEP Body Wash.

WHERE DOES THE RECYCLED PLASTIC FOR NIVEA’S PACKAGING COME FROM?

At NIVEA, we use so-called post-consumer recycled (PCR) plastic. Through the use of such secondary raw materials in product packaging, these help to protect natural resources, and the use of fossil-based virgin plastic is avoided, therefore CO2 emissions are reduced.

ONE SKIN. ONE PLANET. ONE CARE.

We want to be 100 percent transparent and answer all your questions about sustainability at NIVEA. If you could not find all the answers you were looking for on this website, or are looking for more detailed information, please visit the sustainability website of NIVEA’s parent company, Beiersdorf.