Ecodesign approach for plastic minimization in shampoo bottles

Abstract

Current shampoo bottles are oversized, using more plastic than necessary. In order to promote plastic minimization, the aim of this work is to determine how much it is possible to reduce the thickness of current shampoo bottles while maintaining their functionality and performance. In this way, a quantification of the maximum plastic material reduction in the manufacturing of bottles of massively consumed shampoo was assessed. Mechanical testing simulations of shampoo bottles with different capacities and shapes were performed for top load and squeeze load efforts. For these simulations, three different thicknesses were considered: original, 30% reduced and the minimum admissible for being considered as rigid packaging. From the simulations, it was corroborated that shampoo bottles are oversized, allowing them to reduce their amount of plastic by at least 30%. Also, it was found that bottle shape is crucial to its mechanical performance, being the simplest bottle the most resistant, when bottles with the same capacity and thickness are compared. When less material is used, less is discarded, and, consequently, less is turned into waste. Then, rethinking current bottles following ecodesign criteria seems to be the way for an adequate sustainable approach compatible with green marketing strategies and plastic waste minimization.