Industry collaboration

In 2019, Clorox became a signatory of the Ellen MacArthur Foundation’s New Plastics Economy Global Commitment, which unites businesses, governments and others behind a clear vision of a circular economy for plastic in which it never becomes waste or pollution. 

As a member of the Sustainable Packaging Coalition, we helped to bring standardized recycling labeling instructions to packaging. We’ve also been active participants in efforts by the American Society for Testing and Materials (ASTM) to develop and test biodegradable plastics.

We have ongoing partnerships with major retailers in both the U.S. and Europe to promote more sustainable packaging. The work involves sharing data annually to measure it against their indexes assessing sustainability progress and meeting their requirements for sustainable ingredients. Through The Sustainability Consortium, a global nonprofit dedicated to using science to help consumer goods companies make their products better and more sustainable, we’ve provided industry leadership in the development of KPIs for these indexes. We’re involved with in-store promotions highlighting the sustainability of our products as well.

We helped to develop an industry-wide labeling tool, giving consumers easily accessible, detailed information on a wide range of food, beverage, supplement, household, pet care, personal care and over-the-counter U.S. retail products in a single place, using a consistent digital format. SmartLabel launched in 2016, and today it houses ingredient information for more than 80,000 products, including over 1,000 brands from more than 60 different companies.

To explore new product designs and commerce models based on a circular economy, Clorox disinfecting wipes joined TerraCycle’s Loop pilot program in 2019 and Glad food protection recyclable food bags joined in 2020. In 2020, we launched a Clorox cleaning concentrated spray refill pilot with a major retailer and launched a market test with Algramo to sell several products, including Clorox Splash-less Cleaning Bleach and Pine-Sol Multi-Surface Cleaner, at three refill station test sites in New York City. In 2021, Burt’s Bees began a pilot program through Loopstore.com and LoopbyUlta.com.

In 2015, Clorox became a signatory to the United Nations Global Compact (UNGC), the world’s largest organization that brings companies, NGOs, governments and other stakeholders together to advance the most important sustainability issues in the world as reflected in the organization’s Ten Principles. We report our progress against the Ten Principles annually.

Clorox has collaborated with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) for many years to advocate and support its programs including Safer Choice, a voluntary program that brings together stakeholders to advance the use of safer chemicals and promote sustainability in products. In 2020, Clorox was the Safer Choice Partner of the Year Award winner for outstanding achievement in the manufacturing of products that are safer for families, pets, workplaces, communities, and the environment. We are also a part of the EPA’s Waste Wise program, a multi-stakeholder group focused on reducing waste, and its Smart Way program, which helps companies advance supply chain sustainability by improving freight efficiency.

In 2020, we became a founding member of the U.S. Plastics Pact to create a path toward a circular economy for plastic and amplify our IGNITE strategy commitment to reduce plastic waste. The U.S. Plastics Pact uses a cross-sector approach and is part of the Ellen MacArthur Foundation’s Plastics Pact network.

We participate in AIM-Progress, a forum for leading consumer goods manufacturers and suppliers that drives collaboration to positively impact people’s lives and ensure respect for human rights by improving responsible sourcing practices, building supply chain capabilities, sharing ethical sourcing audits and collaborating on human rights.

Through our Burt’s Bees Global Supply Chain Investment Program, we actively partner with our ingredient suppliers for Burt’s Bees products in collaborative partnerships that help safeguard access to clean water, support women’s and children’s empowerment and promote health, safety, and biodiversity. As of 2020, we’ve partnered with nine ingredient sourcing communities impacting more than 18,000 people in 10 projects. We aim to double our projects and grow our impact as we look toward 2025.

We are committed to ending animal testing in our industry. As a board member of the Center for Alternatives to Animal Testing (CAAT) at The Johns Hopkins School of Public Health, we collaborate with a community of scientists in industry, government, and academia to further the development of alternative product testing methods to reduce or wholly eliminate the usage of animals in the process of product safety testing.

We work closely with the Earthworm Foundation (EF), a non-profit organization driven to positively impact the relationship between people and nature. Our work with EF is primarily focused on traceability, enhancing our suppliers’ commitments and on-the-ground transformation activities within palm oil value chains.

In an effort to advance collaboration in natural ingredient supply chains, we are founding members of the Global Shea Alliance and Responsible Mica Initiative.  We partner with the Global Shea Alliance to design, develop, and deliver strategies that drive a competitive and sustainable shea industry worldwide and to improve the livelihoods of rural African women and their communities. In collaboration with the Responsible Mica Initiative, we are committed to establishing a fair, responsible and sustainable mica supply chain in the states of Jharkhand and Bihar in India that will eliminate unacceptable working conditions and eradicate child labor.

As a member of the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO), we are dedicated to the principles and criteria focused on eliminating the negative impact of palm oil cultivation on the environment and communities in palm oil-producing regions.

As a member of Sedex, we use Sedex Member Ethical Trade (SMETA) Audits and self-assessment questionnaires for collecting and analyzing information on ethical and responsible business practices in the supply chain. Through our mutual recognition approach, our selected business partners complete one self-assessment and/or audit that may be shared with multiple customers. By doing this, manufacturers and suppliers can focus their efforts on improving responsible sourcing practices rather than preparing for duplicative audits.