For years, conversations about packaging sustainability have focused on recyclability. While recycling remains essential, there are opportunities to reduce packaging waste from the outset. That’s where concentrated product formulations can help.

Across home and personal care categories––from cleaners and laundry detergent to shampoo, hand soap and beyond––concentrated formulas represent one of the clearest opportunities to lower greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and dramatically reduce packaging, while addressing California’s regulatory plastic waste reduction targets. The logic behind concentrates is simple. Many household and personal care products today are made up primarily of water. Concentrates in tablet and powder form, which are diluted at home and dispensed from a reusable container, reduce water weight compared to traditional liquid formulas, enabling more efficient transportation and storage. Liquid concentrates also reduce overall packaging volume by delivering more uses per package.

For retailers, concentrates can mean less space dedicated to bulky packaging. For consumers, they can mean products that are lighter to carry, easy to store, and convenient to use. Environmental benefits include significantly reducing packaging material volume and subsequent waste, lowering transportation emissions and costs, and enabling refill and reuse systems.

Yet despite their promise, concentrates remain a niche offering in the U.S. Many consumers aren’t clear on exactly how or why to use them. Adding water to a tablet or powder formula can create a friction point for customers, and changing habits on how much of a liquid concentrate to pour per use can be a challenge. Many consumers still remain unaware that concentrates offer a convenient alternative to traditional product and packaging options.

However, now, with California’s ambitious packaging legislation, SB 54, concentrated solutions offer a promising opportunity for brands and retailers to achieve the regulations’ packaging source reduction targets.

The Opportunity to Support SB54 Source Reduction Targets in California

California’s SB 54 is already reshaping how brands think about packaging responsibility, as the most ambitious law of its kind in the U.S. SB 54 requires companies to reduce the sale and distribution of single-use plastic packaging by 25% by 2032, relative to 2023 levels. This focus on source reduction signals an important shift: we cannot recycle our way out of the packaging waste crisis alone. We need upstream innovation too. Concentrated formulas in reduced packaging for appropriate products offer one of the most direct pathways to source reduction because they fundamentally reduce the amount of packaging entering the system in the first place.

If Concentrates Make So Much Sense, Why Has Adoption Been Slow?

Despite years of innovation, concentrates still represent a relatively small share of cleaning and personal care markets. We believe there are various barriers to adoption that could be tackled through concerted efforts. Some of the key challenges include:

·      Consumers Are Being Asked to Learn New(ish) Behaviors

Concentrates often require consumers to mix, refill, reuse or rethink routines they’ve followed for decades. Even small behavior shifts can create friction if consumers do not immediately understand the value proposition.

·      Messaging Across the Market Is Fragmented

Today, many brands are trying to educate consumers independently, each using different language, instructions and benefit claims. This creates confusion rather than familiarity.

·      Retail Environments Aren’t Yet Designed for Concentrates

Most retail systems were optimized for traditional packaged products. Shelf placement, merchandising, pricing structures and category organization often leave concentrates overlooked.

·      The Benefits Aren’t Always Visible

One of the greatest strengths of concentrates––reducing packaging volume, waste and emissions––can also make the consumer value harder to communicate instantly. Consumers can immediately see a larger bottle. It takes more intentional storytelling to communicate the benefits of removing unnecessary water and packaging.

Join Us in Collaborating to Advance the Uptake of Concentrates in California

No single brand can make concentrates a widespread norm. That’s why Closed Loop Partners’ Center for the CircularEconomy has developed an initiative to advance the uptake of concentrates in retail in California, with a focus on consumer insights, clear messaging and collaborative activation strategies to accelerate uptake.

California has long served as a proving ground for environmental innovation. With SB 54 creating both urgency and opportunity around source reduction, the state is uniquely positioned to catalyze broader market transformation. If concentrates can scale successfully in California, the lessons learned could help accelerate adoption nationally and globally.

The opportunity ahead is not simply about redesigning packaging. It’s about redesigning how value is delivered to consumers in ways that are lighter, smarter, more efficient and more circular.