With a wild variety of choice when it comes to product containment, each brand works excessively on their packaging designs to ensure proper customer targeting.
But beyond the factors of material, size, texture, color, shape, etc, the conventional cosmetic industry has a bad reputation of using unsustainable practices and compounds in their packaging.
Fortunately, the modern-day consumer is environmentally aware and prone to make purchase decisions based on more than just their basic beauty needs.
Thus, the introduction of eco-friendly packaging into a cosmetics brand’s production strategy encourages brand awareness and is a crucial step to a sustainable future.
Excessively looking for a solution to the plastic pollution and waste management problems, manufacturers and cosmetic users are slowly changing the industry’s bad habits together.
The Sustainability Trends in the Cosmetics Industry
Why choose sustainable packaging? Packaging is the key to a customer’s heart because it is the first thing a consumer sees when they look at a certain product.
Its design represents the core values of the label and should not be neglected, especially if a company wants to position itself on the market as a “green” brand.
More Statements from More Brands
The personal care industry is evolving and slowly embracing the benefits of biocosmetics and eco containers.
But even though the right decisions in product design and packaging preserve and enhance brand image, many of the beauty conglomerates still depend on unsustainable compounds.
Plastic remains a dominant material in the world of cosmetics, despite the rapidly increased interest in sustainability in recent years.
Backed up by the fact that plastic is cheaper and liquid product storage is challenging, conventional beauty brands justify their in-house decisions on the matter.
Thanks to innovative technologies and recognition of ecological materials, sustainable pack solutions are starting to catch up on their plastic predecessor!
Every day, more and more world-recognized brands release statements about their strategic plan to embrace eco-friendly practices and contribute to the well-being of the environment.
People Become More Conscious
A raise in the public consciousness on the topic of environmental awareness is just the wake-up call all cosmetic companies needed.
Consumers are more prone to follow, analyze and scrutinize brand promises about sustainability and make purchasing decisions based on their authenticity.
The accessibility of social media and the availability to leave business reviews in search engines and websites gives consumers a strong voice and great influence.
Catching up with expectations is not an easy task, as it requires cosmetic brands to set realistic and clear-cut goals towards the integration of eco-friendly practices.
Any failure to achieve sustainability objectives might turn into a hugely controversial case, and lead to consequences concerning and affecting the brand image.
Sustainable Cosmetics with Sustainable Packaging
Along with the advancement in the production of eco-friendly cosmetics, consumers anticipate receiving sustainable packaging that would match their expectations of product substance, its type, and its properties.
Eco-friendly bags and containers offer a long-term benefit for the well-being of the Earth as they are recyclable, reusable and/or biodegradable.
Introducing a bio beauty product of the highest quality into a plastic container is illogical and unreasonable, as it ruins the basic concept of sustainable cosmetics.
And honestly, it makes a brand look completely unreliable and deceptive.
Investment in natural compounds, bio practices and lack of animal testing, would not be completely justified in case the manufacturer is ready to produce tons of plastic containers that are non-recyclable and will pollute nature for hundreds of years.
If sustainable cosmetics does not come with sustainable packaging, is it really sustainable?
How to Make Packaging More Sustainable
Eco-friendly packaging is the future of the cosmetics industry, according to Forbes.
In order to fully embrace and explore the advantages of sustainable containers, bottles, bags, and boxes, keep on reading.
Design for Refill and Reuse
Environmental problems start with human carelessness.
That is why cosmetic brands that fail to identify and address the plastic pollution issue are at risk of losing their loyal customer base and wreck their image.
The nature damage caused by unsustainable practices in the industry is out of scope, so consumers are on a desperate lookout for plastic packaging alternatives.
At its core, re-usage is a process that is harder to comprehend and envision compared to recycling.
It is also more difficult to actually apply in everyday lives because the mass of people have a certain established way of handling empty bottles, boxes, and containers – throwing away or recycling them.
But can we change our habits? What are the factors that could help us “Refill and Reuse”?
In order to integrate this concept into their lifestyle, consumers have to find the right cosmetic item that has an implemented working system in product collection, sterilization, refill and return.
Refillable goods solve waste issues, decrease production costs and encourage lower purchase pricing.
Such a business model is commonly applied to liquid beauty products like shower gel and shampoo.
Replace Plastic with Sustainable Materials
Another ongoing tendency in sustainable packaging encourages the usage of plastic-alternatives.
The most common solutions include glass jars, wooden containers, cork labels and caps, paper wrappings and bags, cardboard boxes.
There are also bioplastics, recycled packaging, compostable shrink wrap, as well as innovative biodegradable materials (made out of cornstarch, seaweed, bamboo, whole-wheat, banana peels, mushrooms, etc).
It is good to know that there are so many alternatives to fossil-fuel-based plastics, however, most of those solutions are still not widely available.
Thus it is up to each brand to do their research, make their own impact and find potential partners, like Offset Group, that could innovate their packaging into being eco-friendly.
Reduce Packaging
Along with the concepts Reuse, Refill and Recycle, comes another important step towards sustainable branding. Being eco-friendly equals being able to make decisions with a positive impact on nature.
There is barely anything that promotes sustainability as much as reducing future waste through reducing present packaging.
Eco-oriented companies work on their own strategies on reducing the amount of packaging on their cosmetic products.
That includes removing any excessive pack features that are not essential to containment of beauty items.
And sometimes means embracing the other two main eco strategies (Reuse and Recycle), and losing the whole package.
REFS
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Eco-Friendly Packaging for Cosmetics: A Step to a Sustainable Future