Following the launch of our Own Brand Health and Beauty Plastic Reduction Strategy, our team has continued to find more ways to offer high-quality, good-value products that utilise less plastic.

To achieve this goal, DFI has formulated five workstreams to reduce plastic usage across our Own Brand product Health and Beauty lines:

• Refuse: Removing plastic shrink wrap.
• Replace: Replacing HDPE plastic with widely recycled PET plastic, or replacing virgin plastic with materials made with plant-based fibres.
• Reduce: Redesigning products to use less plastic.
• Reuse: Introducing refill pouches so bottles can be reused.
• Recycle: Using recycled materials in place of virgin raw materials. We are also working to maximise the recyclability of all our packaging.

Within our Own Brand Health and Beauty range, we continue to look for innovative ways of reducing plastic usage in all product lines following the five workstreams, including the following examples:

Refuse:

Starting with body and hand wash products, we redesigned Mannings and Guardian’s Own Brand anti-bacterial and 24-hour moisturising body and hand wash bottles in 2022 and expanded to more product lines in 2023. By replacing the HDPE bottles with lighter-weight PET bottles that are more easily recyclable, we were also able to reduce the weight of plastic used by around 15%.

Replace:

Mannings and Guardian stores in Hong Kong, Macau, Malaysia and Singapore launched the NUMBER eI8ht Moisturising Sheet Mask made of Veocel; a plant-based material that is biodegradable and compostable.

Meanwhile, during 2023, Mannings in Hong Kong and Macauand Guardian in Singapore and Malaysia introduced anti-bacterial, multi-surface cleansing wipes made from 100% natural plant-based fibres. By replacing polyester fibres with plant fibres, we expect to avoid 58 tonnes of plastic waste per year.

Reduce:

Mannings in Hong Kong and Macau has reduced the amount of plastic used in packaging across our Own Brand cotton products. The redesigned packaging was introduced to stores in late 2023, and the annual plastic reduction is forecast at 2.9 tonnes. The initiative will roll out to Guardian stores in 2024.

Reuse:

In Malaysia, Guardian launched refill pouches for popular Own Brand body and hand wash products in late 2022. The refill pouches are available for up to 10 types of body and hand wash.

In 2023, Guardian stores in Singapore and Malaysia also introduced refill pouches for our Own Brand Kids Head to Toe Wash in Strawberry Yoghurt and Orange Yoghurt varieties.

For all these hand and body wash products, the refill pouches reduce the use of plastic by almost 80% compared to the original bottles.

Recycle:

Since 2022, we have used 50% recycled plastic for our Own　Brand dental care accessories, which were previously 100% virgin plastic. We have also reduced the amount of plastic outer packaging on dental care accessories by 23% to 45% through design innovations such as using paper packaging where possible. By using 50% recycled plastic for accessories, and switching to paper wrapping, we saved 50 tonnes of virgin plastic throughout 2023.

Through these initiatives, we reduced annual plastic usage by 110 Tonnes in 2023.