Method Switches to 100 Percent Recycled Bottles

By Jonathan Bardelline
Published August 13, 2008

Packaging

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OAKLAND, Calif. -- Method is extending its commitment to greener products by packaging its cleaners in recycled bottles.

The San Francisco-based company has been shipping various items packaging in PET plastic bottles made of 100 percent post-consumer recycled content.

The first products to make the switch are the 28 ounce all surface cleaners, 25 ounce and 14 ounce floor cleaners, and 12 ounce specialty sprays for granite, wood and steel

"Many of them are clear PET bottles, which has made the transition a little more difficult," said Don Frey, vice president of product development.

Recycled plastic contain impurities, he said, but Method worked with its bottle molder and resin vendor to create packaging with recycled content that looks and performs the same as bottles made of virgin plastic.

"We believe that if we don't make a product that is a good consumer experience, then we don't drive sales and don't drive change in the world," Frey said.

By blending recycling steams, Method and its suppliers were able to avoid discolored plastic as well as make bottles that are the same weight and thickness of its virgin plastic bottles.

Now that the company has found that fully recycled and recyclable bottles are possible, it's planning to switch the rest of its PET bottles, for products like hand soap and dishwashing liquid, to recycled content by next spring. The company's resin vendor had installed new equipment to blend the resin for the bottles, and is ramping up production to provide enough materials for the switch.

"Our vendors understand our reason for being and when they work with us, because we're able to devote time and work with building technology out, we act as a proving ground for them," Frey said, adding that their work will help make options like recycled-content bottles for cleaning products commercially-viable.

Method is also better prepared for remaking bottles. "Each bottle mold has its own idiosyncracities," Frey said. "It's just a matter of going through and qualifying each different shape and size we have in the process."

In addition to the work involved in developing new bottles, Frey said Method is taking on an additional expense by using recycled plastic, since it costs more than virgin plastic.