Kicking off in early 2011 Proctor & Gamble is going to start packaging some of their products in a polyethylene derived from sugarcane. Flagship brands such as Max Factor, Pantene Pro-V and Covergirl will see a selection of their products manufactured in this stuff. This high density plastic-look packaging is made by a Brazilian company called Braskem from sustainably-grown sugarcane. It’s chemically the same as the crude oil-based plastic so the quality and level of product protection doesn’t suffer, but is 100% recyclable.
In their statement P&G didn’t specify exactly what % 
of their products they will be packaging with this brilliant stuff, so I’m hoping this isn’t just a greenwash maneuver. These new technologies do take a while to put into production and servicing the packaging needs of such a massive company will take a while to build up on Braskem’s part. So moving my natural corporate skepticism aside, this is a hugely positive move on P&G’s part and definitely time for their competitors to step up. L’Oreal? Estee Lauder? alexia inge