Forty-eight tonnes of plastic removed from a single brand’s packaging line annually is the kind of number that moves a sustainability claim out of the press release and onto the shelf brief. For Finish and its parent company Reckitt, that figure now has four years of engineering behind it — and more than 55 production trials to show for it.
Reckitt has launched paper-based, kerbside recyclable packaging for its Finish dishwashing tablets, rolling out across selected ranges in major supermarkets nationwide. The projected plastic reduction equates to more than 1.8 million plastic water bottles removed from the brand’s annual packaging output. With one in two Finish tablet packs expected to transition to the new format, this is a structural shift — not a limited-run trial or a marketing-quarter experiment.
What Paper-Based Packaging Means for Home Care FMCG
The home care category has historically lagged behind food and beverage in packaging sustainability, and dishwashing tablets present one of the harder technical problems in that space. The active chemical compounds inside are hygroscopic — they absorb atmospheric moisture — meaning any move away from plastic demands a water-resistant solution that doesn’t compromise recyclability at the other end.
That specific tension between product protection and end-of-life recyclability has stalled similar moves by other brands in the category for years. When a volume player like Finish — with significant distribution running through Coles and Woolworths — cracks that problem at commercial scale, it shifts the benchmark for every competitor on the home care aisle.
I’d argue this is the kind of launch that quietly resets category expectations. Retail buyers and sustainability leads at the major banners will be watching, and brands that cannot demonstrate a credible packaging roadmap may find themselves in harder ranging conversations as supplier reviews tighten.
The Finish Paper Packaging Launch — What’s Confirmed
Reckitt confirmed the new format is kerbside recyclable, meaning shoppers can dispose of it through standard household recycling collections rather than requiring specialist drop-off facilities. That distinction matters enormously for compliance: convenience is the single largest barrier to consumer recycling participation in Australia.
Laurie Ferland-Caouette, head of sustainability at Reckitt Australia, confirmed that approximately one in two Finish tablet packs sold is expected to be in the paper-based format going forward. “This launch represents a real step forward for the entire home care category in Australia,” Ferland-Caouette said. “We anticipate it will make it easier for Australians to make a more sustainable choice as part of their everyday routines.”
The rollout covers selected ranges at launch. Reckitt has not publicly disclosed which specific SKUs are transitioning in the first phase, and the 48-tonne annual plastic reduction figure is a projected estimate contingent on distribution achieving anticipated scale.
Four Years of R&D — How the New Format Actually Works
The engineering challenge Reckitt’s team faced was not creating paper packaging — it was creating paper packaging with a moisture barrier robust enough to protect tablet chemistry throughout the full retail supply chain. Standard paper offers no meaningful protection against humidity, and most paper-based formats in the market that do carry a moisture barrier use plastic or foil laminate coatings that effectively render the pack non-recyclable despite the paper exterior.
Reckitt’s solution, developed across more than 55 production trials over four years, was designed specifically to achieve kerbside recyclability while maintaining the barrier performance needed for a chemically active product. The result is a pack that sits in the standard paper recycling stream rather than requiring consumers to strip or separate components.
| Feature | Previous Plastic Packaging | New Paper-Based Packaging |
|---|---|---|
| Primary material | Plastic | Paper-based with moisture barrier |
| Kerbside recyclable | No | Yes |
| Development investment | — | 4 years, 55+ production trials |
| Projected annual plastic reduction | — | Up to 48 tonnes |
| Consumer disposal pathway | General waste | Household kerbside recycling bin |
What This Launch Does Not Change for the Category
The paper-based outer packaging is one part of the picture. It does not address the individual film wrapping on each tablet inside, which in most dishwasher and laundry formats is made from polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) — a water-soluble material that dissolves in the wash cycle but whose fate in wastewater systems remains an area of ongoing environmental scrutiny.
The rollout also covers selected ranges, not the full Finish portfolio. Shoppers wanting the paper-based format across every Finish product will need to wait for a broader transition, the timeline for which has not been publicly confirmed. The projected 48-tonne annual figure also assumes retail distribution and consumer uptake hit the anticipated volume targets.
Who Benefits — and When
Retailers gain an immediate sustainability crediting opportunity. Both Coles and Woolworths carry public packaging reduction commitments, and a verified kerbside recyclable format from a top-selling home care brand strengthens their own reporting position. For Reckitt, the benefit is concrete differentiation at range review — a claim backed by engineering investment that rivals without equivalent packaging cannot match in the near term. Suppliers in adjacent home care segments watching this rollout should expect the conversation to land at their door within the next ranging cycle.
Sustainable Packaging Is Now a Ranging Criterion, Not a Bonus
The broader shift underway is the hardening of packaging sustainability from a preferential criterion into a functional requirement for shelf access. The Australian Packaging Covenant Organisation has set sector-wide targets for recyclable, reusable or compostable packaging, and both major supermarkets have progressively tightened their supplier packaging guidelines in response. Home care is arriving at this reckoning later than food, but the velocity is accelerating sharply.
Finish’s paper-based packaging launch — backed by verifiable development investment and a genuine kerbside recyclability claim — signals that the category has moved past internal feasibility studies into commercial execution. For brands in home care and personal care still assessing the technical viability of similar moves, the window for a first-mover position on shelf is narrowing with each ranging review.
If you’re a brand manager or packaging lead reviewing your own sustainability roadmap, I’d encourage you to look closely at how Reckitt navigated the moisture barrier challenge here — the approach offers a useful technical reference point for your own supplier or R&D conversations. The baseline has shifted, and the next retailer sustainability audit may well ask whether your outer packaging can meet it.