Grove Collaborative said it has recovered more than 15 million pounds of single-use plastic directly from the environment since 2020 through partnerships with plastic recovery platforms.
The company, which offers environmentally friendly cleaning supplies and personal care products, said it has become the world’s first plastic-neutral retailer. Through a partnership with RePurpose Global, any amount of plastic shipped to Grove customers is then removed in equivalent amounts from India, Indonesia, and Colombia. RePurpose Global’s projects focus on collecting hard-to-recycle, low-value plastics, and the company has recovered over 59 million pounds of plastic to date.
With the plastic collection milestone, Grove also unveiled the implementation of a digital badging system to show which of its products meet its Beyond Plastic standard. Users will now be able to see which of the company’s products are plastic-free, 95% plastic-free, or contain durable, reusable plastic on its online platform.
“This is an incredible milestone worth celebrating as we strive to lead our industry to transformational change away from its reliance on single-use plastic, while providing our customers with the product assortment and information they need to adopt more sustainable routines,” said Grove CEO Jeff Yurcisin. “Eliminating single-use plastic from the products we use every day is critical to a sustainable future, but it is not entirely achievable today. We see plastic neutrality as a meaningful way to mitigate Grove’s plastic footprint as we continue to reduce the amount of plastic in our product assortment.”
According to RePurpose, plastic waste is the top environmental concern for consumers. The global scale of plastic pollution combined with increased awareness of microplastics and potential health hazards associated with plastic have driven consumer purchasing decisions, setting expectations for corporations to reduce plastic generation.
While using biodegradable materials, reusable containers, or other plastic alternatives are certainly viable pathways for avoiding the use of plastic, these options typically remain more costly than plastic at present. Companies that are currently unable to replace plastic with an alternative option may instead turn to programs like rePurpose to address their plastic footprint and meet consumer preferences.
Plastic diversion programs offer a short-term response for plastic waste, but ultimately, single-use plastics will have to be phased out, according to the UN and other world organizations.
