RPET clamshells deliver eco-friendly laundry detergent 6110

Taking what it claims is another step toward ensuring that its product packaging fully supports its commitment to the environment, Cot'n Wash, Inc., Ardmore, PA, has adopted new, recycled polyethylene terephthalate (RPET) clamshells from Placon (www.placon.com) for its dropps™ super-concentrated, eco-friendly liquid laundry-detergent pouches. When first introduced (see PD, June '06, p. 8), dropps enzyme- and phosphate-free detergent in Dissolvable, Ready-to-use, Organic, Premeasured Packets, used secondary packaging made from polyvinyl chloride. Last January, Cot'n Wash switched to clear, RPET clamshells, “because they are made from 100-percent recyclable packaging,” says Jonathan Propper, Cot'n Wash president.

“Protecting our environment and conserving resources is a top priority for Cot'n Wash, and everything we do as a company is representative of this,” he says. “dropps conserve our planet's precious natural resources and help sustain the environment. dropps is phosphate-free, and its organic surfactants are biodegradable. It is super-concentrated, so we don't waste water that you don't need in manufacturing and transport, and we don't waste energy in transporting mostly water-filled laundry-detergent jugs, either.

“We use as little packaging as possible, and dropps is the only liquid laundry detergent that is packaged in recyclable RPET packaging.”

Cot'n Wash selected the packaging for its 15- and 20-load and 1-oz trial-size packages from Placon's variety of 125 stock clamshells, relates Placon's director of marketing and product development, Laura Stewart. “We feel RPET is the best option available today, because we are using recycled [material] to start,” she adds. “Placon incorporates both post-consumer recycled PET, as well as post-industrial PET in its blend, resulting in at least seventy-percent recycled PET in our material.”

Propper relates that dropps, available at retailers such as Wal-Mart, Target and select Whole Foods stores, and at Amazon.com and dropps.com, meets Wal-Mart's Sustainability 360 efforts, representing the store's first eco-friendly laundry detergent offering. “Wal-Mart aims to work with suppliers to take nonrenewable energy off of its shelves, reduce the size of packages, increase the use of recycled materials and the efficiency of trucks, and reduce overall energy consumption,” he explains. “While we have not yet filled out a Wal-Mart scorecard for this product, we should score pretty high based on dropps' ability to protect and conserve resources.”

The average retail cost for dropps is $6.94 for a 20-load clamshell.