Procter and Gamble expands 2020 sustainability goals

Procter and Gamble has announced that it will be expanding its sustainability goals for 2020 to include a new emphasis on water conservation and product packaging.

The firm has pledged to reduce water usage in its manufacturing facilities by an additional 20 percent per unit of production, with a specific focus on facilities located in water-stressed regions, while also providing one billion people with access to water-efficient products.

Meanwhile, it will be doubling the use of recycled resin in its plastic packaging, while ensuring 90 percent of its packaging is recyclable, or that programmes are set up to create the ability to recycle it.

Finally, new efforts are being made to across the company's supply chain to develop the capability by 2020 to replace top petroleum-derived raw materials with renewable materials, as cost and scale permit.

Martin Riant, Procter and Gamble executive sponsor of sustainability and group president for the firm's global baby and feminine/family care division, said: "We continue to improve the environmental sustainability of our products across all aspects of their life cycle – from manufacturing, packaging and delivery through to consumer use."

This comes after the company's Pampers brand allied with musician Emma Bunton last month to launch a vaccine donation campaign aimed at helping to eliminate maternal and newborn tetanus.