Circular Economy in action at Kiilto: Recycled plastic contributes significantly to making of canisters

Kiilto is boosting its efforts to pursue sustainability and best practices in Circular Economy. This year, Kiilto starts using a significant amount of recycled plastic in its five-liter plastic canisters in a major portion of its Professional Hygiene products.

Heidi Kähkönen, Packaging Development Manager at Kiilto, says that the new canisters will feature about 35% of recycled plastic which has been sourced from used consumer packages.

“This way, we’re able to reduce our need for virgin plastic by 20 tons each year,” she says, adding that the volume of virgin plastic now saved is equal to that of 100,000 five-liter canisters.

“With this move, the carbon footprint of the canisters is reduced significantly. Furthermore, for our customers this means that the over-all sustainability of their operations is improved, too, as they start using the canisters.”

The canisters have been manufactured in Finland and they fully comply with transport legislation and other regulations. Similarly, the functionality and safety aspects of the new canisters remain solid. 

Wanted: Sustainable solutions!

Kiilto expects to launch the first canisters with recycled plastic in April 2022, starting with Food Service products. “We will add new products gradually, and will introduce the new canisters to Professional Cleaning in the autumn,” Kähkönen says.      

According to Kähkönen, the idea to start using recycled plastic in the canisters had been discussed within the organization for a while. “We’ve been thinking about it for some time, and we’re very glad to make it a reality.”

The launch of more sustainable canisters is but one manifestation of Kiilto’s Promise to the Environment which dates back to 2018. The Promise to the Environment means, in essence, that the company is constantly seeking new ways to make its operations more sustainable.

Eye on 2025 – and beyond

Kiilto has set ambitious environmental targets to go with the promise: for instance, the company wants to make 70% of its packaging from recycled or renewable materials – as well as be recyclable themselves – by 2025.

“Our Promise to the Environment involves our entire organization and everything we do. Accordingly, we have several ongoing projects that relate to the Promise,” says Kähkönen.

There are new sustainable innovations coming down the “green pipeline” all the time. For example, Kiilto expects to see a major shift in the materials used in Personal Hygiene products quite soon:

“We’re going to switch some of the products to bottles which are made of recycled plastic,” reveals Kähkönen.

According to Kähkönen, the company is eager to keep on advancing on all areas of sustainability. “We are committed to constant development now and in the future.”

Video: Kiilto starts to use canisters containing recycled plastic

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