Achieving Sustainable Development On Packaging

The beauty industry is shifting towards sustainable packaging, driven by environmental goals and consumer demand.

Table of Contents

Accelerating Corporate Efforts

Sustainability in packaging and corporate practices is still one of the key themes in the beauty industry and many other industries. It is mainly driven by consumers and the government’s attention to the environment-especially the 2025 target set in the past few years. Close to the situation.

Announcements issued by retailers, manufacturers, brands and industries in 2020 indicate that many companies are stepping up efforts to protect the planet. For example, in March of this year, Giles Hurley, CEO of Aldi’s grocery chain, told suppliers who wish to sell products to Aldi that by 2025, products must be packaged in 100% recyclable, compostable or reusable materials. Future purchase decisions” will be based on the leadership and adaptability of our supply partners in this field. “

Earlier this year, Delta Air Lines announced that it would invest US$1 billion in the next ten years to reduce its environmental impact and strive to become the first carbon-neutral airline, including the use of sustainable fuels. Amazon’s Jeff Bezos also announced a plan to achieve carbon neutrality by 2040…

Beauty Industry’s Sustainable Practices

In the 29th Sustainability Report, it was ranked No. 13 in the list of the top 20 global beauty companies for beauty packaging, Henkel announced ambitious plans for sustainable packaging and climate protection. The new packaging goals for 2025 include avoiding plastic waste and achieving a positive impact on the climate in 2040.

Henkel’s goal is to reduce the carbon footprint of its production by 65% by 2025. The company hopes to have 100% recyclable or reusable packaging, reduce fossil fuels by 50%, and achieve zero waste. Henkel CEO Carsten Knobel said: “As one of the drivers of competitive advantage, sustainability has been firmly embedded in our new strategic framework.”

In view of the sometimes difficulties in ensuring the quantity of quality and sustainable materials, L’Oréal, ranked number one in the list of the top 20 beauty companies in the world for beauty packaging, announced a multi-year agreement with Loop Industries to purchase 100% recycled PET resin materials. To meet the packaging needs of the next few years. Loop said its low-energy technology can depolymerize waste PET plastic and polyester fibers and convert them into original quality PET resin.

Rising Consumer Interest

Sustainable packaging far surpassed the trend of the beauty industry many years ago, but even though many brands now advocate sustainable development, they are still a minority. So far, ecologically responsible secondary packaging claims have taken precedence over primary packaging — but innovative suppliers are stepping up efforts to introduce new materials and forms — and focusing on 3Rs (reduce, reuse, recycle).

David Luttenberger, global packaging director, said that more and more beauty brands are trying to convey ecological information through their packaging, but said that some of these claims may be misleading, mainly focusing on the secondary packaging of products.

According to Luttenberger, during the period from January 2015 to December 2019, global new product database records that among the beauty and personal care (BPC) products launched in North America, there were 89% additional declarations on packaging related to environmentally friendly packaging. “However,” Luttenberger said, “this data point requires context, and in 2019, there is only slightly more than one context that contains this statement in every ten introductions.”

Although “recyclable” may still be the most popular term in terms of packaging (but still very dependent on individual community facilities and capabilities), refill and reusability have recently become more mainstream possibilities.

He told beauty packaging: “We see that beauty brands are increasingly accepting challenges and transcending the concept of waste in packaging-the good intentions of incorporating 3 R. Many people also realize that what the packaging is made of is essential to ensure that we It is more important not to reuse or recycle toxic materials, but to design packaging that is safe first and then recycled.”

For example, Bolus cites the British brand Beauty Kitchen, which uses MBDC to evaluate its products from cradle to cradle certification. These products not only use reusable packaging, but also have an “organized recycling system.”

When advising brands that want to have an ecological impact through their packaging, Bolus said: “The first step is to ensure that the packaging is safe and healthy, because when we spread harmful materials, the situation will be worse. This is what we call retox. In order to make the circular economy a good system, we need to circulate goods-materials optimized for human and environmental health. Then, qualified packaging can be designed to be reusable, recyclable, compostable and recyclable.”

The Realities of Sustainable Packaging

Choosing the “right” packaging involves many factors—from sensitive formulas that require airtight containers to luxury perfumes in high-quality bottles, speed to market to cost-efficiency considerations—it is not easy to assemble a fully sustainable packaging. Many Brands find that a step-by-step approach works best.

At MakeUp in Los Angeles in February, Jill Tomandl, VP of Product Development and Innovation at Estée Lauder Companies Smashbox Cosmetics, and Beauty Packaging discussed the many sustainable cosmetic packaging options displayed at the show and the dilemmas involved. She said: “Brands are trying to figure out how they want to achieve sustainable development.” In response, she said, “What I want to say is that we should achieve sustainable development as soon as possible.”

Response to Consumer Needs

As consumers become more aware of the environmental impact of their cosmetic packaging, ICS stated that as brand requirements and feedback continue to increase, they will continue to develop more sustainable packaging options.

Marketing manager Eleanor Bunting said: “The PCR materials and single recyclable materials we developed, such as packaging that only uses PP and PET, have caused an increase in brand demand.” She said that single materials can be easily sorted and recycled, thereby extending The life cycle of the product.

“The concept of recycling and reuse has also contributed to the increasing popularity of PCR materials, although the idea of ​​refillable packaging is not new,” Bunting said. “At ICS, we have also seen a recent surge in demand for some refillable packaging. Packaging options. The simple concept of refilling and reusing packaging is a great alternative to single-use plastic and helps reduce waste on our planet.”

However, she said: “The current refillable packaging must do more. In order for consumers to reuse their refills consistently, it must be both beautiful and easy to use. Sustainable materials (such as our ICS exclusive biodegradable packaging) makes refillable packaging to further increase its value.”

ICS has recently developed a unique biodegradable refillable lipstick. CEO Sue Nichols described it as “fashion, innovation, and of course sustainability.” The refillable lipstick has a biodegradable cap and base. The inside of the lipstick is refillable; when you are ready to change the lipstick, you only need to remove the lipstick device from the base, and then reinsert the refill into the biodegradable outer packaging. The bottle cap and base are 100% biodegradable, 100% compostable, and 100% made of natural plant-derived materials that are sustainably grown in industry. Nichols added: “Our ICS biodegradable refillable lipstick is very suitable for cleaning and beauty masters, because it does not have one, but two environmentally responsible properties, with zero waste on the outer layer and a refillable inner layer.”

Reduce Carbon Footprint

Hicos’s Catharine recommends that brands choose packaging with a lower carbon footprint. Hicos uses polypropylene (PP) to inject the tube and manufactures polypropylene (PP) bottle caps and in-mold labels in-house.

Catharine said that pipes and caps made of mixed resin cannot be recycled. It is recommended to use a single material tube, cap and label to achieve recyclability. Another option is to add post-consumer recycled materials (PCR) to plastic packaging. Hicos can provide up to 100% PCR in test tubes, bottle caps, jars and deodorant sticks. The in-mold labels in the PP tubes and rods cover any color limitations of PCR. PP PCR is also recyclable. Of course, lightweighting is another option—use less plastic, Catharine said.

Reducing the carbon footprint is the basic principle of Hicos. Jea suggests that brands should pay more attention to the carbon dioxide associated with packaging, rather than just “recycling old back-up locations for content.” He said: “Recycled components in luxury packaging can damage the strength and aesthetics of the packaging, and the cost and carbon footprint are higher than virgin fiber. Virgin fiberboard and paper are absolutely necessary in the blending to keep recycling feasible.” According to the report, the fiber can only be recycled six times before it disappears.

The Future of Sustainable Packaging

An organic additive called EcoPure provides a different approach to environmentally friendly plastic packaging. It was recently introduced to Garrett Hewitt International in the cosmetics industry.

According to Jason Clerke, President of Garrett Hewitt, when EcoPure is added to any type of plastic resin that is made into products by extrusion, injection or blow molding, EcoPure will dramatically increase the biodegradability of the plastic. Landfill or marine environment. Clerke said that compared with many other plastic solutions, its biggest advantage is that it does not change the color, transparency, compatibility, shelf life or decorative capabilities of plastic packaging. It can also be added to PCR plastic.

But the biggest advantage, Clerke said, “you don’t need special tools to use it, so you can produce packaging as usual, just add EcoPure 0.5% of the total volume of plastic.

Clerke further explained: “We discovered EcoPure last year and found that no one in the cosmetics, skin care, or perfume industries uses or understands the product. Other industries have been using it, but the plastics world is so big that our industry has not yet found it. We immediately contacted Bio-Tec Environmental, the parent company in Albuquerque, New Mexico, and became a distributor in our industry. It has received incredible praise and the company started using EcoPure to make their plastics Products.”

Shannon Payne Vice President of Sales Garrett Hewitt added that EcoPure addresses the reality of recycling in the U.S. “It is estimated that we only recycle about 20% of the plastic that is put into the recycling bin, so we need to ensure that it ends up in landfills and the marine environment. It does not take hundreds of years for the plastic to be biodegradable.”

Toxicologists at Heriot-Watt University in Edinburgh have revealed a new packaging made of polylactic acid (PLA), which can be obtained from renewable resources such as corn starch or sugar cane, and is compostable and biodegradable.

In order to improve the performance of this plastic and extend the shelf life of cosmetics, the researchers added nano-clay, which they said can improve the barrier properties of the product, and rosemary extract, which acts as an antioxidant to protect cosmetics from degradation. The team stated that it believes that the new biological packaging has great potential in the cosmetics industry and is undergoing testing.

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