Environmental Awareness and Packaging

Whether it’s a matter of sourcing new materials, repurposing the old or redesigning your components, the upfront investment pays off in the long run.

By Maureen Kelly (L), creator and CEO, and Maria Sansotta (R), sales and marketing manager, Tarte Cosmetics. Kelly is also a member of Beauty Packaging’s Board of Advisors.

Color cosmetics brands base their final packaging on many factors and, as many brands strive to embrace eco-friendly practices, the list has been widened to include reusability and recyclability as equally important criteria. However, there are more inventive ways to “green” your packaging aside from these two factors alone. For brands like Tarte, this has created the opportunity to not only incorporate new technologies, recyclable and post-consumer recycled materials into packaging, but to also find ways to cut down on production material to reduce cost, energy usage and waste. It is this 360° way of thinking that will not only make your brand a more efficient one, it will help you embrace all elements of environmental awareness throughout your packaging process.

As mentioned, one option is to source new eco-materials to incorporate into packaging to speed up biodegrading and lessen environmental waste. This means partnering with your suppliers to source these new materials and to encourage your product development teams to research trends and new developments in other industries.This past fall, Tarte launched Lifted Natural Eye Primer with Firmitol in a dark purple, recyclable plastic tube, and saw this as an opportunity to incorporate a biodegrading agent to help speed up the breakdown of the component. After many months of research, it was determined that the only available

For its Emphaseyes Clay Liner, Tarte used a thick glass that not only beautifully displays the shades held within it, but it is completely comprised of post-consumer recycled material.

materials being used in the cosmetics industry were starch-based additives that only barely sped up the biodegrading process. Wanting a more advanced technology, our team then turned to research other industries and reached out to manufacturers that specialized in environmentally sound packaging. Their search led them to the food industry and specifically to the FDA approved EcoPure, a recyclable, non-toxic resin additive that allows plastics to completely biodegrade in less than 1-5 years. Unlike other starch-based additives, EcoPure has an indefinite shelf life and will only begin breaking down once placed in a landfill. After a year of testing, it was determined that the additive did not have any adverse effect on the end product and the component is just as functional and maintains just as well as using a plastic or polymer based material alone. Eco-friendly and environmentally conscious consumers can now rest assured knowing that by placing their empty component in the recycling bin they will not be adding to overburdened landfills and environmental waste. This is a testament to the fact that if you put the resources and development time into researching and testing new materials, you may find that you can seamlessly incorporate eco-friendly additives that are not only ground-breaking technologies, but that elevate your brand to leaders in the industry.

Using recycled and post-consumer recycled plastic material may be the easiest objective to achieve, but it is important to remember that there is more out there than just plastic! Glass, aluminum, fabric…the options for post-consumer recycled and re-purposed materials not only vary, they can add cost-effective richer design elements to your packaging. This spring, Tarte launched EmphasEYES Waterproof Clay Shadow/Liner, and as we know, pot eyeliner can dry up if not designed with the greatest detail to packaging and compatibility. Taking this into account, we began sourcing a wide variety of eco-friendly materials and noticed that recycled plastic alone did not prevent product dry-out, whether used as the base or the cap. This led us

Tarte’s Lifted Natural Eye Primer with Firmitol in a dark purple, recyclable plastic tube, incorporates a biodegrading agent to help speed up the breakdown of the component.

to test sturdier materials that were more likely to protect the fill while still allowing us to incorporate our colorful designs. For the pot itself, Tarte used a thick glass that not only beautifully displays the shades held within it, but is completely comprised of post-consumer recycled material. After successfully using re-purposed aluminum for Lash Hugger Eco-Friendly Natural Mascara, we looked to use this same material to accompany the glass jar. The rich finish enhances the colorful deco on the final packaging while the sturdiness of the material, particularly when partnered with glass in this instance, ensured an airtight fit that would keep product moisture levels intact. Combined, the overall design is sleek, seamless and upscale due to the richness of the materials while still being entirely environmentally friendly. The key lesson is that not only is there a bevy of recyclable, post-consumer recycled and repurposed materials outside of plastic and the creative mixing, but that matching and combining of these materials can often lead to a richer, stronger finished product.

At Tarte, our operations and product development teams have used the terms “material gluttony” and “packaging diet” to explain the next big undertaking for our brand. The concept is simple: Over-packaging leads to product waste and the unnecessary consumption of energy, not to mention unnecessarily inflated costs, especially if the component cannot be reused and repurposed. One of the best examples of this concept is plastic water bottles. We’ve seen that many companies have taken responsibility for their contribution to environmental waste and decreased the size or changed the shape of their bottles to reduce the amount of plastic used. We’ve embraced that same concept and over the past several years we’ve worked to not only incorporate eco-friendly materials, we’ve made it a priority to use less materials, period. Just this past spring we re-launched our Smooth Operator Natural Tinted Moisturizer in a clear, recycled plastic component that uses one-third less plastic than the original component. Not only does this lighter weight, clear plastic help showcase the product better, it uses less production material to reduce waste and energy consumption. We’re moving forward to create custom molds for many other products to achieve the same environmentally sound and cost efficient result.

As you work to make your packaging more environmentally friendly, it is important to remember that there are many more unique options out there that may suit your brand better if you are willing to put in the research and development time. The positive effect our industry can have on the environment, if we all made the extra effort, is too tremendous an opportunity to ignore. Whether it’s a matter of sourcing new materials, repurposing the old or redesigning your components, the upfront investment pays off in the long run—it’s pure eco-nomics.