The initiative has been running for the past two years, starting with the recycling of the glass container of TRU NIAGEN – a nicotinamide riboside (NR) supplement manufactured by US company Chromadex.
Last year, Watsons Hong Kong also began to recycle the aluminium bottles of Life Nutrition – also a US supplement brand which sells a range of products for different age groups.
This year, the newly launched TRU NIAGEN Beauty was also included in the project, where consumers can return the used glass container to Watsons. Targeted at young women interested in managing physical signs of ageing, it was launched about three months ago.
In response to queries from NutraIngredients-Asia, Renee Chan, customer director of Watsons Hong Kong said over 47,000 glass and aluminium containers of the above health supplements have been collected over the past two years.
However, the company was unable to offer figures on the total number of products sold.
Under the recycling projects, consumers can bring the empty bottles to all Watsons stores and be rewarded with membership points from MoneyBack – the retailer’s customer loyalty program.
At present, Watsons is only running the supplement bottle recycling program in Hong Kong.
Prior to this initiative, Watsons Hong Kong has been running a plastic container collection programme since 2015 and has collected and recycled 450,000 bottles of Watsons Water till date.
Joining global efforts
In June this year, A.S Watsons became the first health and beauty products chain to join the New Plastic Economy Global Commitment.
The commitment advocates the vision of a circular economy for plastic, where plastic will not end up as waste. Other retailers and brands involved in this project included Walmart, Mars, Danone, and Nestle.
“A.S. Watson Group is committed to the sustainable development of our businesses in every aspect of our operations.
“We are delighted to take the lead in our industry to become the first health and beauty retailer to join the New Plastic Economy Global Commitment,” said Malina Ngai, Group COO of A.S Watson Group and CEO of A.S Watson, Asia & Europe.
