5. Sustainable materials in cosmetics package – PCR PET

5.1. The needs of sustainable materialsin the cosmetics packages

Sustainability is now an important factor in all consumer product markets, including cosmetics. The cosmetics packages must be considered the environmental impact throughout their lifecycle, from raw materials, through the manufacturing process, to how the finial beauty products will be used and disposed of by the consumers. Applying the fundamentals of sustainability to the cosmetic industry is not only good for the planet, but it also builds competitive advantage in markets with environmentally aware consumers.

Plastics materials are used widely in cosmetics packages, primarily attributed to:

Safety, like food grade PET, PP, PE, etc.
Light weight and high strength characteristics. Compared with traditional materials such as metal and glass, plastic maintains a certain strength while significantly reducing its weight;
Excellent corrosion resistance
Good processing and molding properties. Through molding processes such as injection molding, blow molding and extrusion, plastics can be easily processed into products of various shapes and sizes to meet different usage requirements.

But the plastics packages are also raised the concerns of sustainability. Due to non-degradable, there are significant tons of 'White Pollution Garbage' generated on the earth every year. And according to the Ellen Mac Arthur’s Foundation, extensive recycling and reuse of plastic packages can reduce GHG (Greenhouse Gas) emissions by 35% to 69%, water consumption by 45% to 70%, and material usage by 45% to 76%.

In cosmetics industry, the trends of committing

to making the products safe and contributing to the circular economy:

① Reduce: Saving finite resources and reducing carbon impact across the supply chain

② Reuse: Saving resources, by providing longer use of products

③ Recycle: Keeping plastic packaging in the economy

④ Post-Consumer Recycled (PCR): Creating demand for PCR is the only way to support the recycling of consumer products

⑤ Bio-based: When we still need to use virgin plastic, we will consider bio-based alternatives to fossil-based

Fig 4. Trends of making the products safety and sustainability in cosmetics package industry

2. Post-Consumer Recycled (PCR) in cosmetics package

What does “RECYCLE” mean?

According to the Ellen Mac Arthur’s Foundation, a packaging is recyclable if its post-consumer collection, sorting and recycling is proven to work in practice and at scale.

Fig 5 What does “RECYCLE” mean in cosmetics package industry

What does “Post-Consumer Recycled (PCR)” mean?

According to ISO 14021, a PCR material is generated by households or commercial, industrial and institutional facilities in their role as end-users of a product that can no longer be used for its initial intended purpose.

Materials diverted from the waste stream during a manufacturing process (called PIR – Post-Industrial Recycled or pre-consumer recycled).

The common methods of PCR materials are the Mechanical recycling and Chemical recycling. See Figure 6 and Table 1 below.

Fig 6 The production processes of mechanical recycling vs chemical recycling.

Table 1 the Pos and Cos comparison of mechanical PCR and chemical PCR

Where is “Post-Consumer Recycled (PCR)” for cosmetics package industry from?

Since safety is always the top priority for cosmetics package, same as food/drink package, the PCR plastics for cosmetics package are also requested high level of “Safety”. The “safety” request those post-consumer plastics products to be recycled, typically mechanical PCR need to be “food grade”, resource transparence, and trackable. Currently in China, the PCR plastics for cosmetics package are from:

PCR PET: water bottles, drink bottles;
PCR PE: milk bottles;
PCR PP: drink bottles, food boxes;

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