The concentrate in each refill packet reconstitutes, with water, to make 7.5 fluid ounces of foaming hand wash. The refills come in three formulations: Aloe-Scented, Lavender-Scented, and Sea Breeze-Scented. Each refill carton contains two packets.
According to Dial, each packet uses 95% less plastic than a single-use, 7.5-oz Dial Foaming Hand Wash bottle. In addition, the packets are recyclable through TerraCycle.
The refills also help reduce transportation-related carbon emissions by 85%, based on truck weight and product uses per truck.
Augmenting the refillable packaging news, Dial emphasized its support for a circular economy and sustainability-minded supply chain interventions via partnerships with Plastic Bank Recycling, TerraCycle, and Solidaridad.
Dial estimates that its collaboration with Plastic Bank will keep more than 30 million plastic bottles out of oceans in 2022 (a projection based on shipments over the 52-week period ending September 1, 2021.) Henkel plans for most Dial Liquid Hand Soap Refills and Foaming Hand Soap Refills to be made from Social Plastic from Plastic Bank by the end of 2022.
Social Plastic is "reprocessed ocean-bound plastic feedstock that’s transformed and reintroduced into the global supply chain.”
Plastic Bank describes Social Plastic as “reprocessed ocean-bound plastic feedstock that is transformed and reintroduced into the global supply chain, demonstrating environmental, social, and economic impact.” This feedstock is available as polyethylene terephthalate (PET) and low- and high-density polyethylene (LDPE and HDPE); it comes in bale, flake, and pellet form.
“We are excited to extend our partnership with Henkel and launch our first North American product program with Dial, a brand that is committed to the regeneration of the world’s oceans,” said David Katz, founder and CEO of Plastic Bank. “By integrating Social Plastic into its products and packaging, Dial is creating lasting environmental, social, and economic impact.”
Taking a different tack, the new, free Dial Recycling Program with TerraCycle enables consumers to recycle Dial packaging components that cannot be recycled through traditional curbside recycling. These include not only Dial concentrated refill packets but also the caps on Dial body washes and hand soap refills, hand soap and body wash pumps, exterior plastic wrap on bar soap, and interior waxed wrapping for bar soap.
“By encouraging consumers to rethink what is waste, the Dial Recycling Program helps build awareness that solutions do exist for items that may seem otherwise unrecyclable,” said Tom Szaky, founder and CEO of TerraCycle.
Dial’s third partnership, with international nonprofit Solidaridad, focuses on a different part of the supply chain — palm oil, for product manufacturing. Dial will provide a three-year grant for a project in Colombia, providing tech support, training, and financing to help farmers boost Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO) certified production.
The partnerships, together with Dial’s refillable foaming hand wash packaging, underscore the brand’s focus on “making sustainable, innovative personal care products while addressing both environmental and social challenges,” said Randi Melton, VP of marketing beauty care, activation, at Henkel.
