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Kimberly-Clark partners with RWDC Industries on bioproducts to replace single-use plastics

Kimberly-Clark is partnering with biotech company RWDC Industries to develop sustainable technology for consumer products that help eliminate single-use plastics.

The partnership draws on Kimberly-Clark’s nonwoven technologies and resin development with RDWC’s biopolymer solutions. Kimberly-Clark will receive RWDC’s polyhydroxyalkanoates (PHA) source material, Solon, to develop additional products that are marine degradable.

This new source material for Kimberly-Clark’s personal care products is one of the strategies the company is developing as part of its recently announced sustainability ambitions for 2030, which include a transition away from traditional fossil fuel-based plastics toward more renewable and regenerative materials.

The company is working to launch products featuring this innovation over the next five years, focusing first on product categories that address global demand for more sustainable products.

RWDC is based in Athens, Ga. and Singapore and combines expertise in PHA properties and applications with engineering to reach industrial scale.

RWDC uses plant-based oils to produce its proprietary PHA, which can be composted in home and industrial composting facilities.

Should products or packaging made with PHA find their way into the environment, they biodegrade in soil, fresh water and marine settings, preventing persistent plastics from accumulating in the environment.