Plastic Strengthens Position in Beauty Packaging

While glass, metals and paperboard play important roles in beauty packaging, plastic is the dominant material and is expected to continue to grow its market share.

In the United States, demand for cosmetic and toiletry containers is expected to reach 23 billion units in 2007, a growth rate of 2.6% per year, according to The Freedonia Group Inc., a Cleveland-based industrial research firm. In its study Cosmetic & Toiletry Containers, Freedonia stated that the growth will be fueled by healthy cosmetic and toiletry shipments, new products aimed at males, teens and younger adults and the upscaling of mass market brands. Freedonia predicts that the categories of skin care and liquid soap will have the most growth and that plastics, as a material of choice, will outpace other materials.

Freedonia looked at a wide variety of materials and containers that are used in the $2.8 billion U.S. cosmetic and toiletry container industry, including plastic bottles, tubes, blister packs and jars; folding paper cartons and set-up boxes; glass bottles and jars; and metal cans, bottles and tubes.

Plastics are expected to lead growth and expand into some areas such as fragrance bottles as new resins are engineered to perform in new ways, but primarily due to its cost advantages. Of all types of plastic containers, Freedonia expects squeeze tubes to grow the most.

Freedonia expects the use of paperboard to decline as more secondary packaging is eliminated, especially for many personal care products. Paper­board cartons are also expected to be subject to increased competition from plastic boxes and blister packs.

Glass cosmetic and toiletry prospects are expected to be essentially flat as plastic resins that resemble glass gain acceptance in the market. Glass in beauty packaging is expected to benefit from the shift to natural as well as active ingredients, according to the Glass Packaging Institute (GPI), Washington, DC. Brands such as Aveda, Origins, Dr. Perricone and Jurlique, choose glass for many of their skin care products because glass protects the product inside. “Because glass is inert and 100% non-porous, there are no ingredients that could affect the ingredients inside,” noted Jung Weil, spokesperson for GPI. “These products are also sensitive to light and oxygen, and glass is the best packaging material to protect these products from those elements,” she added.
Metal containers will also be hampered by lower cost of plastic and better ways to decorate plastic to have the look of metal.

Eastman Reintroduces Tenite

The continued growth of plastic in beauty packaging got a boost last month when Eastman Chemical launched Material Difference, the first phase of its new material sampling strategy at Material ConneXion in New York City.
Aimed at giving designers and manufacturers something new to consider, Eastman showed off palm size “pebble” samples of its Tenite cellulosics material in scented and unscented versions as well as a variety of bright, transparent colors.

“The choice of material has a bearing way beyond cost and formability. The right choice can propel a product from the mundane to the exceptional,” said Gaylon White, manager, design industry programs, Eastman. “Eastman’s Tenite cellulosics is one of our most enduring materials and an appropriate choice to be at the forefront of our roll-out. However, the ‘pebble’ samples are just the beginning. Samples of other materials will follow to support our commitment to inspiring the design community and encouraging the development of new products and materials.”

Tenite was developed by Eastman in the 1930s, but the company thinks it has great potential in today’s market. The pebbles are a vivid way to show the material’s clarity, toughness and versatility.

Eastman sees added potential for Tenite for two other qualities: essentially created from wood pulp, it has the environmental advantage of being made from a renewable resource; its ability to encapsulate fragrance gives it potential in packaging for personal care and household products where communicating scent without opening the container is desirable. The scented pebbles were developed in collaboration with Rotuba Extruders Inc., Linden, NJ.

More information on the first phase of Eastman’s Material Difference sampling program can be accessed at the Eastman Innovation Lab website, www.EastmanInnovationLab.com.