When you have big news to share, you want to share it with as many people as possible. That’s what Unilever’s Dove brand will be doing this Friday when it sets up shop in an iconic—and highly trafficked—New York City transit hub.
 
Through the "Proud Of What We’re Made Of" interactive installation, Dove will be inside Grand Central Terminal on Jan. 31 handing out complimentary Dove Body Wash packaged in a bottle made from 100% recycled plastic.  Each passerby who donates a plastic item for recycling will receive a bottle. The effort is heralding a major shift in the company’s green packaging efforts, as bottle packaging across Dove, Dove Men+Care, and Baby Dove is moving to 100% recycled plastic, reducing the brand’s CO2 emissions by 27,265 tons per year. This alone will result in energy savings enough to charge 3.4 billion smartphones every year, boasts the brand.
 
The installation, which will be open from 11am - 9pm, maps back to Unilever’s pledge to make all its plastic packaging fully reusable, recyclable or compostable by 2025.
 
“As one of the world’s biggest beauty brands, we recognize the responsibility we have to set industry standards for sustainability. Our commitment to get to 100% recycled bottles is the latest in a long line of industry-leading initiatives we have in action for reducing plastic waste, and it will have an unprecedented effect on our carbon footprint. Through this initiative, Dove will reduce the use of more than 20,500 tons of virgin plastic per year,” said Amy Stepanian, brand director, Dove & Dove Men+Care
 
According to Stepanian, based on information publicly available, the company can “confidently state that the collective efforts of Dove’s ongoing initiatives contribute to one of the largest known reduction plans of its kind – and we hope these actions inspire others to do the same. To move towards a circular economy we need the whole consumer goods industry on the journey, which means moving from individual company efforts to joint industry action.”
 
The new Dove bottles feature a “100% recycled bottle” seal on the back to help consumers easily identify them.
 
Consumers with keen eyesight may notice slight differences in each bottle, too.
 
 “You may notice that our new bottles may vary slightly in color or feature dimples or specks based on whatever plastic was used to make them. Every bottle has its own story and is beautifully unique - just like the people that use them,” Stepanian told Happi in an interview ahead of the installation’s opening.
 
2020 marks the first major milestone in Dove's journey towards dramatically reducing and eliminating the amount of virgin plastic used in its products, Stepanian asserted, noting that Dove, Dove Men+Care  and Baby Dove bottles made with 100% recycled plastic began arriving on shelves this month. 
 
“We know that this announcement is a huge shift in the way we package our products with significant benefits to our planet and ultimately the people who use Dove, Dove Men+Care, and Baby Dove. The installation was designed to be striking and interactive, bringing the impact of our commitment to life,” Stepanian told Happi. 
 
Grand Central, which opened to the public on Feb. 2, 1913, sees approximately 750,000 visitors every day.