At the 2019 Sustainable Brands Conference in Detroit, Olay executives Marc Pritchard, chief brand officer of P&G, and Virginie Helias, chief sustainability officer of P&G announced the brand will pilot a new way of shopping for skincare “that could dramatically reduce the amount of plastic used in the beauty category.”

Beginning in October 2019 and running through the end of the year, Olay will offer its best-selling Olay Regenerist Whip moisturizer with a refill pod that fits right in the jar. If adopted, and the brand moves “a significant portion” of Olay Regenerist moisturizer jars to refillable pods (e.g., 5MM jars' worth), this would save over 1,000,000 lbs. of plastic.
 
Consumers will be able to purchase the refillable Olay Regenerist Whip package that contains one full jar of Olay Regenerist Whip and one refill pod of moisturizer that can be placed inside the jar once it’s emptied (see rendering above).

The package will be sold and shipped in a container made of 100% recycled paper and will not contain an outer carton in order to reduce the use of paperboard. The pods themselves are also recyclable.
 
According to Olay, this breakthrough refillable product concept is just one step in the brand’s commitment to making more of its packages recyclable or reusable and is part of P&G’s larger sustainability initiatives. P&G was the first CPG company to respond to TerraCycle’s innovative Loop concept, where its leading brands will redesign packaging and supply chain processes.
 
Associate director of brand communications, Global Skin and Personal Care Brands at P&G Anitra Marsh, who leads the global sustainability task force for these categories, says: “The ultimate goal is to find and adopt many more sustainable packaging solutions, and the refillable Olay Regenerist Whip package is the first step of that journey. It’s really important for us to get it right because only then can we bring this concept to market at scale.”
 
Olay will test its refillable Olay Regenerist Whip moisturizer on Olay.com in the U.S. and UK and select retailers online for a three-month period (pricing TBC), then evaluate the learnings to inform future packaging.

Olay hopes to learn more about the way consumers interact with refillable products in beauty, e.g, whether or not consumers like the idea of refillable skincare products and whether or not Olay’s design is intuitive. Over time, the refills could be sold separately. The plastic pods are made of recyclable polypropylene.
 
“Every municipality has different recycling guidelines, so to be sure, we recommend that people check with their local recycling company on what is and isn’t accepted,” says Marsh.
 
IMAGE: A rendering of the refillable Olay Regenerist Whip package that contains one full jar of Olay Regenerist Whip and one refill pod of moisturizer that can be placed inside the jar once it’s emptied.