Extending Material Life Through Higher
Purity Recycled Polypropylene

CHALLENGE

When P&G set a sustainability goal of reducing the use of fossil-sourced plastics and incorporating more recycled content into packages, we knew enabling effective recycling of polypropylene (PP) would be an important step toward achieving this goal. That’s because polypropylene is one of the most commonly used plastic materials, and it has been challenging to recycle and reuse. Why? Ridding PP of its original color and smell isn’t easy and there is limited interest to reuse material for new items if it looks or smells of its past life.

Enter P&G’s proprietary Circular Polymer Purification Process: Verso Vita™. This process was developed by a team of P&G scientists and engineers who wanted to get more recycled PP back into P&G products. This process purifies used polypropylene plastic all the way down to the molecular level, leaving only purified recycled polypropylene resin behind. This material is very close to virgin-like aesthetic quality and can be pelletized for use in making new items. Additionally, it uses significantly less energy versus making new polypropylene. Many of our top product packages are made with recycled content and are working to increase their use of recycled content to meet our goal of having packaging that is 100% recyclable or reusable by 2030 while reducing the need for new fossil based resins.

By sharing the Verso Vita™ Polymer Purification Solutions with producers who are focused scaling this process to recycle more materials, like PureCycle Technologies, we’re helping to provide important alternatives for handling plastic waste by driving the industry toward circular solutions.