When I buy a lovely new moisturizer, the first thing I do is get it home and take it out of the box and use some. The bottle goes onto my dresser and once I have reviewed the ingredients for the 3rd or 4th time (ingredients are my obsession and I get immense pleasure knowing what I am actually putting on my skin) the box goes in the recycling bin. I cannot bear to think how many boxes I have chucked in the recycling over the years and in my opinion there is too much packaging in the beauty industry. Apparently I am not alone in my opinion. Research conducted by Choice indicated that Beauty items are amongst the most frequently cited for excess packaging by consumers. What’s more most Australians don’t think enough is being done to get rid of unnecessary packaging.

Eco Tools

PCR Aluminium & sustainable Bamboo

In defense of beauty packaging, in many cases, the actual product bottle is too small to list the ingredients and so they are listed on the outer packaging. Add to this that many of us that buy organic and natural skin care do not want home-made looking bottles on our shelves, we want products that are good for us, good for the planet and that look good (Green Glamour!). Fortunately, given the growing eco consciousness, the beauty industry is responding with post-consumer recycled packaging, new packaging methods and materials such as bamboo products, bio plastics and use of soy ink instead of traditional petrochemical based products.

Devita's new PCR packaging

Post-consumer recycled content (PCR) is basically any material previously used by a consumer and generally includes paper, plastic, steel and rubber. A prime example of this is Eco Tools brushes which use PCR aluminium for the ferrule (the bit that joins the handle to the bristles) on their brushes. Eco Tools also use fast growing bamboo for the brush handles, replacing less sustainable slow growing timber or plastic. A new company on the market, Pure & Green Organics set out with the aim to not only produce an ACO certified organic range but also to minimise any environmental impact from the product packaging and as such was the first company in the world to use 100% PCR cardboard caps on their products. In a recent change to their product packaging, Devita have changed the exterior packaging to 100% PCR cardboard with recyclable glass bottles replacing plastic product packaging.

BIOpack - made from PLA resin

Bioplastics are a growing market in the packaging and not just for beauty products. Organic materials such corn or sugar resins are being used as an alternative to petrochemical based plastics. Apart from not requiring non-reusable materials, plant resins require 33% less fossil fuel resources and emit 42% less greenhouse gases than bottles made from PET (petrochemical plastic) 1. Pure & Green Organics use BIOpack bottles from renewable plant sugar resources (PLA – short for Polylactic Acid). PLA is compostable and biodegradable in industrial composting conditions, but it will not degrade or disintegrate on shelves.

I would love to hear your thoughts on product packaging and any stories you have about the worst offenders, be they beauty products or others. Noodle packages come to mind. I buy noodles for my dogs sometimes and they are individually wrapped noodle blocks and then have an additional layer of plastic around the whole lot. What a waste! And individually wrapped tea bags, in cardboard boxes with more plastic on the outside! Enough – let’s hear from you!

Reference:

1.  Natureworks LCA Consultants Report

Be Sociable, Share!
4 Comments