Personal Care packaging concept “Design4Circularity” is the recipient of this year’s Sustainable Packaging Award, announced at the 2022 Sustainable Beauty Awards ceremony on November 7.

Resulting from a value chain collaboration between Beiersdorf, Borealis, Siegwerk, and Clariant, the concept centers on giving packaging waste a second life in Personal Care applications suitable for multi-loop recycling.

“Packaging made from recycled plastic is playing an increasingly important role in cosmetic products. But for us and our peers to push on and achieve the target of viable, fully circular solutions, it is vital to consider the entire lifecycle when creating a new design. This includes polymer production, polymer additivation, printing and design, alongside sorting and recycling. By bringing the expertise of all four partners to the table, the team has successfully created a blueprint for the rest of the industry that enables fast adoption and scale up. We’re honored to have its potential recognized with the Sustainable Packaging Award,” comments Stefan Rüster, a packaging sustainabillity expert at Beiersdorf on behalf of the collaboration team.

The award-winning packaging consists of an uncolored HDPE (or PET) bottle made from 100% recycled polymers, with a fullbody sleeve printed with de-inkable inks which deliver the superior aesthetic quality demanded for personal care. 

Borealis brought its expertise in advanced, transformational mechanical recycling technology by offering high quality PCR based on proprietary Borcycle M technology. Additionally, Clariant brought expertise in designing additive solutions to ensure targeted stabilisation and high protection of PCR quality by preventing polymer-resin from degradation and by maintaining good performances at each recycling step.

Ink manufacturer Siegwerk was able to provide ink systems, which, in collaboration with Beiersdorf and a sleeve manufacturer, enabled printing of the sleeve to achieve a full body, colored and appealing cosmetic sleeve. The idea behind this being a modular system shifting the decoration to a sleeve and keeping the bottle transparent for better quality recyclate.

First sorting trials in existing recycling infrastructure proved the sortability of the full body sleeved HDPE bottle, achieving a high recovery of the bottle’s material. Additionally, the project team conducted trials with full body sleeved, transparent PET bottles and achieved similar results.

“We’re excited to be joining with the industry to pave the way towards more sustainable packaging and ultimately greater sustainability in beauty. We’re proud to bring progress through our additives that support PCR use in durable, recyclable packaging, as well as advancing products themselves via science-backed active ingredients and naturals for the cosmetic market with a positive sustainable and socioeconomic impact,” comments Bettina Siggelkow, head of sustainability affairs, Clariant.

The aim of the Sustainable Beauty Awards is to give recognition to those who are pushing the boundaries of sustainability in the beauty industry. The Sustainable Packaging Award is given to a new packaging format that has low environmental footprint, which can be in terms of materials, design and/or end-of life.