Packaging have an important role and function as a product component, such as providing information and instructions for use, protecting the contents, and preserving product quality during transportation.
Kao conducts R&D on materials used in packaging to enable fulfilling such roles and functions while minimizing the amount of resources required. Our R&D strives to decrease the environmental impact by adhering to the 4Rs: fundamentally "Reduce" the size of products and packaging, "Replace" to more sustainable materials, "Reuse" materials, and finally, "Recycle" materials for later use.
Detail information is as follows;
By boosting the performance of concentrated liquid laundry detergent Attack ZERO and reducing packaging size, we have been able to greatly reduce use of packaging material resources.
Compared to Attack antibacterial EX, our existing liquid detergent, the weight of plastic resins used has been reduced by about 54% for the plastic packaging and by about 64% for the refill pack (per one use).
In the case of Blauné foam hair color for gray hair, package modifications to make the foam easier to dispense have made it possible to reduce the weight of plastic resins used by about 34% and cut CO2 emissions for the package by about 35%.
In the case of Sofina beauté Lotion, we developed a refill that allows all the liquid to be transferred completely, without spills. Compared to the original container, use of refill packs has reduced CO2 emissions by about 67%.
Kao is converting raw materials from petroleum-based resins to plant-based renewable one.
Merit shampoo and conditioner (regular size bottle) uses approx.30% of the bottle weight bio-polyethylene and Essential, Asience, and Segreta shampoo and conditioner (pomp type bottle) uses approx. 20% of the bottle weight bio-polyethylene.
Raku-raku Eco Pack Refill uses approx. 50% of the spout weight bio-polyethylene.
Products such as Attack ZERO and CuCute use 100% recycled PET.