Trends of Green Materials for Cosmetic Packaging

The cosmetics industry is accelerating sustainable growth. Procter & Gamble's Beauty Business Division promotes the five guiding principles of safety, quality and effectiveness, continuity, equality and inclusiveness, and transparency; L'Oréal declares every link in the value chain from R&D to operation. The strategic commitment of Shiseido's “Meticulous Innovation to Make the World Better” focuses on sustainable development in the three fields of environment, society, and culture... However, the reality opposite to the trend is that challenges are equal to opportunities, and the growth path of the cosmetics industry is full of many Obstacle factors, sustainable packaging is one of them.

Need for a more mature material recycling system. In the past 10 years, more and more packaging manufacturers have joined the ranks of practicing '3R' (Reuse recycling, Reduce energy saving and emission reduction, Recycle recycling), but in While factory production technology advances and concepts are updated, the sustainable packaging industry still faces an unavoidable pain point-most of the recyclable packaging has not been recycled. The imperfection of the recycling system causes a certain scale of resources to be wasted or polluted, and remanufacturing costs increase.

Take cosmetic plastic packaging as an example: only 9% of the plastic products produced in the world are recycled (United Nations survey data in 2018). About 90% of the world’s waste plastics go to the ocean (a report by Standard & Poor’s research company Trucost) to produce the same amount. PET, raw materials refined from petroleum, etc., cost nearly 80% more energy than recycled plastics (New Retail Business Review). Back to China, after the introduction of plastic restrictions and garbage classification regulations, although the overall domestic Plastic recycling has improved, but there is still room for improvement in the recycling rate of waste with a high degree of recyclability. About 30 million tons of recycled waste plastics are used throughout the country each year, accounting for more than 30% of plastic consumption. Among them, the recycling rate of EPS plastic (foamed plastic) reaches about 90% (data from China Plastics Processing Industry Association). The degree of recyclability of plastic waste varies depending on the composition. For example, PET in plastic bottles can be better shredded, melted, and reprocessed for use in other products, but EPS foam plastics require more complicated processing (the Greenpeace research result) in addition to recycling from garbage to improve the With the recycling rate of recycled materials, cosmetics stores have become another recycling channel to be tapped. Many brands have set up a packaging recycling mechanism, reusing empty bottles or transforming them for scenarios that require lower levels of plastic particles.

The realization of the sustainability of cosmetic packaging materials is inseparable from the integration of design and manufacturing. Although sustainable creativity can come from different types of consumer insights, sustainable performance can only come from a steadfast landing.

In terms of process, from a concept to a product in the hands of consumers, packaging has gone through different stages of research, conception, design, finalization, plate making, printing, and finished products. The design team pursues aesthetics and innovation in packaging marketing. Manufacturers care about product quality and production capacity, and there is a 'natural' gap between the two.

Breaking the status quo of separation of cosmetic packaging design and manufacturing, reducing the loss of brand information and communication costs, effectively controlling the overall budget and product packaging costs, and improving the management and control of product quality have become a new strategic logic, which is also in the industry. Few, the most core value of cosmetic packaging service providers represented by Lisson cosmetic packaging factory.

Returning to the production of sustainable packaging for cosmetics, the mature entire industry chain needs to more acutely capture this logic. Take the choice of pigments for cosmetic packaging as an example. The value of recyclable cosmetics packaging gradually decreases with the number of reuses. An important reason behind this is the limitation of the available pigments: after a red cosmetic bottle is recycled, if it needs to be reused Dyeing can only become black, which is not conducive to sales. Therefore, recyclable packaging needs to choose transparent packaging in the early design to increase the recycling rate of post-consumer cosmetic packaging.

At present, in the short term, many brands themselves are digesting some of the costs of sustainable packaging because it is impossible to pass it on to consumers. Moreover, at this stage, consumers have not been able to pay too much premium for the use of environmentally friendly materials, but are more willing to choose environmentally-friendly cosmetic products at the same price. Under such a consumption trend, sustainable cosmetic packaging can develop infinite possibilities: guide consumers to learn more about the development and application of environmentally friendly cosmetic packaging materials. The relationship between the promotion of consumer behavior and environmental protection effects is affected by the promotion of consumers' environmental behavior. Their consumption behavior changes in a more sustainable direction.


This will not only cultivate consumer groups with the 'three views' for companies, but also encourage companies to think about: What impact will cosmetic plastics have on the entire environment and society after they are discarded? Is it possible to make production and consumption more sustainable through recycling? How to work with the industry to expand recycling packaging and reduce the cost of recyclable packaging? For cosmetic packaging service providers such as ANC, this is the next step in the strategic layout. Product development and technological innovation are the core driving forces of enterprise development. Based on the research and development and practical application of green packaging materials, this is the next step. To the integrated development process of structure and function verification, to ensure innovation, but also to ensure the reliability of production, to provide professional technical support for the brand to create green packaging.


The growth path of the cosmetics industry is full of many obstacles, and sustainable packaging is just one of them. Challenges are equal to opportunities. From the perspective of sustainable packaging application scenarios, manufacturing costs, recycling mechanisms and channels, and consumer awareness, the road to sustainable growth is just beginning to accelerate.