P&G develops child-resistant closure for tubs of laundry pods

Efforts to prevent poisonings related to Proctor & Gamble’s liquid laundry pacs continue with the company’s latest packaging innovation: a harder-to-open Child-Guard closure on tubs of Tide PODS and Gain Flings.

The previous triple-latch closure was already a child deterrent, but the new child-resistant closure makes it even more difficult for children to open the tub to gain access to the laundry pods, according to the company.

This is just the latest packaging improvement to help reduce the number of ingestion accidents and ensure product safety. In 2016, P&G introduced the first child-resistant pouch with a Child-Guard zipper, added a bitter-tasting substance to the outer film as a deterrent and beefed up the strength of the pac's film to delay product release.

The packaging improvements are working: P&G reports a 39% reduction of incidences related to its liquid laundry pacs in the last available 12 months compared to the baseline set by ASTM Intl. (baseline is from the period of July 2012 through June 2013).

In a press release announcing this new closure, Sundar Raman, North America vp of fabric care for P&G, said: “Nothing is more important to us than the safety of the families who use our products. Since last year’s launch of the innovative Child-Guard bag for liquid laundry pacs, we’ve been working hard to launch this same technology for our tubs. Knowing that access is a key factor in accidental exposures, we’ve made the new Child-Guard tub easy to close, but harder to open so parents and caregivers can both conveniently and safely store the product, further driving down accidents. With this key change, child-resistant packaging will now be available for all of our laundry pac products.”

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