Studio Every Conversations: Amit Arora from Haleon, with Kelly from Studio Every.

We caught up with Amit Arora, Global Sustainability Design Manager at Haleon, to hear more about how sustainable design has climbed the agenda, and how planet health and people health are intrinsically linked.

1. Can you share a bit about your role in Haleon?

My role is Design Manager for Sustainability and Inclusivity - essentially, it’s responsible design. I support design and brand teams to think differently and consider the needs of excluded people much earlier on. Overall, it’s about providing the right tools to help people apply knowledge and operate effectively, to create more responsible products and experiences.

**2. How have you witnessed sustainability growing as topic for packaging and design?**

My career and background is in packaging, and from a sustainability perspective that’s where a lot of momentum kick-started. People now recognise that sustainability is more than packaging – it’s how the product and pack come together to create the optimum experience.
Net Zero has climbed the agenda, deservedly so, and it is forcing people to think end-to-end, beyond packaging. Investors are demanding more information about it – sustainability has become business critical. It’s treated with a high priority and requires a lot of rigour on reporting.

From a design perspective there now needs to be more breadth in your skillset. As previously mentioned, it requires you to focus beyond packaging, and give greater consideration on the total value chain. Often opportunities are across other teams and functions.

The skill of a designer now is to be curious and investigate broad areas of opportunity.

3. What do you think we could do to encourage people to make more sustainable choices?

I think there is an opportunity to simply make better products, that happen to be sustainable, rather than ‘sustainable products’. It’s not easy. Consumers often put the responsibility on manufacturers, but people are willing to change. It is our responsibility to provide those options for people.

It’s about providing benefits to people. Take for example, the weight of a product. If you can reduce that overall, then it can be a win-win for both sustainability and inclusivity, where it can help those with dexterity challenges, over just a better experience overall.

Healthcare has a big primary job to do, so motivating people to make a sustainable choice must balance this. And with so much on shelf, it’s hard to get people’s attention in that micro-moment.

There can be a lot we are doing behind the scenes that can go unnoticed, as consumers might not see it, but it’s the right thing to do to keep us heading in the right direction.

4. Planet health and people health are intrinsically linked - how are Haleon making strides towards delivering that?

Planet health and people health are most definitely interlinked. Take allergies for example and how the allergy seasons are changing, due to climate change. Or considering how many parts of the world are becoming more water stressed, how does that impact the products they can use for self-care? Many product formats that people use today require water – toothpaste, tablets or effervescent, how will future water shortages impact consumers ability to use these products?

We have a strong sustainability and inclusivity plan that focuses on access, inclusion, affordability, to ensure that we can support this through the development of our products and the work we do with communities.

“We captured the carbon in the air and turned this into over 10,000 pencils to help inform people about the importance of air pollution.”

Image Credit: Haleon, VML

Developing carbon awareness and the links to pollution is something that we have delivered educational programmes on in India, since it impacts children’s education attendance. A programme call ‘pollution pencils’ for the Otrivine brand at Haleon, turned classroom pollution into pencils as an ecosystem for change. By installing air purifiers in schools, we captured the carbon in the air and turned this into over 10,000 pencils to help inform people about the importance of air pollution.

Overall, as an organisation, we have clear commitments and roadmaps on carbon and plastic. For example, with our factories we’re converting to renewable electricity, scaling on-site solar energy and the use of renewable fuels.

5. What brands have caught your eye on being more progressive within sustainability? Are there industries that are making progress?

Consumer goods often lead the way. The new Wild Deodorant packaging is a great example – not just because it is a refill model, but primarily because they are bold enough to say not to buy a new version because it is another new item. They are saying, make the most of what you have, if you have the existing pack.

Vinted is a great service example, that has changed how we see and access the clothing industry. It’s a great win-win, for those looking to find an item or brand you would like, and for those people selling on unwanted products.

They’ve managed to change an industry where they have made it easier and more acceptable to buy second-hand items, often as a badge of honour!

“Net Zero has climbed the agenda, deservedly so, and it is forcing people to think end-to-end, beyond packaging. Investors are demanding more information about it – sustainability has become business critical.”

6. What excites you about the future of innovation for sustainability?

Collaboration as an opportunity is what excites me, and the internal collaboration between design and other functions at Haleon.

Sustainability has historically been making packaging lighter, and now we’re tackling big challenges toward Net Zero. So that requires distribution, supply chain, design, formulation etc to work together. It can be daunting with big ambitions and targets. Having the right information and knowledge is powerful.