Packaging Innovation: Sustainable Trends Revolutionizing the Beauty Industry
Further to a recent article published by re-sources (the reference platform for sustainability and beauty news), ten trends have been identified when it comes to sustainability and beauty.
In the following article we will focus on 5 of the 10 trends released by re-sources with:
Upcycled Beauty
Refill & Reuse
Plastic Free
Easy to Recycle
Biodegradable
We believe these trends relate or are influencing the way we produce packaging and we will give you our expression of these trends in packaging innovations.
Upcycled Beauty
Upcycling is gaining interest with a 2019 report - from Brightly - finding Gen Z and Millennials were more likely to purchase upcycled products than any other generation.
“The concept of upcycled beauty is simple. Brands incorporate repurposed ingredients—food scraps, coffee grounds, and beyond—into their formulas that would typically be sent to the landfill. The more ingredients we keep out of landfills, the fewer greenhouse gases will be released that contribute to global warming” explains the report.
We can see that this concept is also moving into packaging. At mPackting, we work with our parent company Minelli to reuse any waste of the wood used in the manufacturing of their products. Minelli materials has built competencies over the years to take their own waste stream in order to develop materials, compounds, blends, and other upcycling streams to make new products again. not compounders, but reuse waste to make products… their are
At mPackting, benefiting from this background knowledge and material source we are able to input upcycled wood content into new packaging.
Refill & Reuse
“ The beauty industry is moving away from single use to multi-use packaging. According to the latest research from The Pull Agency,15% of consumers want in-store refill stations so they can re-use existing containers and 11% want to see more in-store recycling bins. However, only 9% have sent a jar back to the manufacturer for refills and only 14% have used a refill service - which shows that there is still an action-gap from the desire to have more sustainable practices and to actually purchasing more sustainable beauty products.” says re-sources
We believe that developing attractive and easy to use products is the key to increase the adoption of refillable products. That’s why we have developed all our products in the standard range to be refillable, and yet have a sleek design.
Refillable packaging can be a bit “chunky” to make if you want all the parts to insert and work well together. We worked with luxury designer Thierry de Baschmakoff to ensure we were developing designs that resonate with beauty and luxury.
In the end we have developed a refillable jar for skincare application, as well as a lipstick for make-up or lip care and make-up compact. The line can be made of wood or using other materials from our library like mBlack™.
“ The design objective was to make wood disappear, thanks to mPackting's expertise in woodworking and finishing. Everyone must interpret wood differently, as it is a noble material. The secret to luxury lies in the details, that's why we achieved amazing results through customised decoration using different finishing techniques," explains Thierry de Baschmakoff.
Plastic-Free
At mPackting thanks to our family roots, we understand the importance of working with wood. It is a versatile and yet a green material “by essence”.
The “demand for plastic-free products is on the rise as eco-ethical consumers look to decrease their plastic consumption. A recent study conducted by Acala - a zero-waste beauty brand - found that over 70% of consumers are buying more zero waste or plastic-free personal care products now compared to two years ago,” explained re-sources
Plastic is not the problem but waste is. The use of plastic has evolved so rapidly that infrastructures to manage its end-of-life have not been built with the same speed. We don’t think that plastic is the enemy but we believe that we should offer alternatives.
With the development of our mBlack proprietary materials for instance, we are able to only use wood transformed into biochar and a bio-compound to create amazing packaging.
mBlack™ is a proprietary material made using biochar, which is derived from the wood waste generated by our manufacturing activities. Biochar is a carbon sink because it absorbs more carbon from the atmosphere than it releases. Biochar is blended with a biopolymer to generate mBlack™, which is biodegradable and does not leave any microplastics behind at the end of its life cycle.
Easy to Dissemble & Recycle
Another survey shows that “67% of consumers say it is important that the products they buy come in packaging that is recyclable, while 64% said it is important that the products they buy come in packaging that contains recycled content (Trivium Packaging’s Global Buying Green Report 2021). However, according to Amcor’s research, which surveyed consumers in Australia, Brazil, Germany, China, the US and UK, 83% of consumers from these countries want more clarity from brands on how to recycle packaging at home. This confusion is leading brands to create easier to recycle packaging solutions at-home.” indicates re-sources
The above information tells us that it is complex to understand what to do with the packaging once the product is finished. We think that creating easily identifiable and usable packaging is paramount to ensure a sustainable life for all the beauty products.
We have made all of our refillable products with a standard insert so whatever the outside design the insert will remain the same and the gesture is easy to grasp, with just a clip and turn of the refill cartridge in the jar or lipstick.
The outer packaging made of wood or biocompound like are easily discardable at the end of life into compostable bins, and the inner component - the cartridge - is made of a common use material like PP for full recyclability in current recycling streams.
Biodegradable Beauty
The latest trend that we want to touch on is Biodegradable packaging. Even though it is a technical challenge, it is achievable today.
“ 92% of consumers now say that minimalist, eco-friendly, or biodegradable packaging is important to them. Beauty brands are answering consumer’s demand with new biodegradable packaging.” explains re-sources.
We are incorporating Wood and mBlack in most of our solutions.
Our material mBlack™ stores carbon in a stable form in the long term, reducing the amount of CO2 in the atmosphere and effectively acting as a Climate Cooling Service.
Not only mBlack™ is a nature-based, cost-effective, scalable carbon sink, but it is also biodegradable, food-grade, it decompones without leaving microplastics behind, and it does not interfere with the food supply chain.
What’s next in beauty:
We strongly believe that biodegradable holds great hope for the future and we think that innovative solutions in that field will keep being developed in the coming years.
These trends show us how the market is evolving and we hope to be part of the solution to build a better future for the beauty industry.
Get to know our sustainable solutions, contact us!
