Skin care specialist Beiersdorf wants to break new ground when it comes to the circular economy. In collaboration with the drugstore chain dm, the company is now trialling refill stations for its Nivea brand products.
Nivea and the drugstore dm are offering their customers in three dm stores the opportunity to refill the Nivea Creme Soft and Nivea Creme Sensitive care showers themselves. In two dm stores in Hamburg, a dm store near Karlsruhe and in the Nivea stores, specially developed Nivea care shower refill stations are available for this purpose. The first Project phase is scheduled to last six to eight months.
„Everyone is on board with our initiative - we as producers, dm as retailers and, most importantly, our consumers. With this collaborative approach, we can gather the experience we need to find out which solutions are sensible and practicable to promote a circular economy.“ Iain Holding, General Manager Beiersdorf Germany/Switzerland
As dm Managing Director, Sebastian Bayer is responsible for Marketing and Procurement. He explains: „At dm, we realise that our customers are shopping more consciously and are prepared to do so, to try out more sustainable alternatives. By testing a refill station, we want to do our bit to raise awareness of reuse and recycling. Depending on how our customers accept this offer, we will take further steps.“
Refill stations to promote reusable use
As part of the newly launched project, Beiersdorf is Exclusively developed refill stations in the participating stores. There, dm customers can collect empty bottles of the popular Nivea care showers Fill up to three times and pay at the till. After the third filling, consumers can exchange the bottles during the test phase. These are then tested for quality and hygiene standards. In return, the consumer receives a new bottle and a refill free of charge.
„With Nivea, we want to promote reusable use and, with innovative packaging alternatives further increase consumer acceptance of sustainable consumption,“ says Iain Holding. With the Nivea care showers, a product was selected at the start of the project that is based on a 96 per cent biodegradable formula (according to OECD 301/302 or equivalent methods). It is free of solid microplastic particles according to the UNEP definition. In addition, the bottle (without cap) is made from 96 per cent recycled plastic.
[infotext icon]In May 2020, Beiersdorf committed to the Global Plastic Pledge. The company has set three targets across all brands. By 2025, 100 per cent of packaging should be refillable, reusable or recyclable. The proportion of recycled plastic packaging is to increase to 30 per cent. The amount of new, petroleum-based plastic used is to be reduced by 50 per cent.Beiersdorf will also switch 90 per cent of all PET bottles in Europe to recycled plastic (rPET) by the end of 2020. This individual measure alone is expected to save more than 1,200 tonnes of new plastic per year. [/infotext]
Source: Beiersdorf AG
