Application Zero
Application Zero Compromise? Beautiful. In the beauty industry, consumers treat packaging as an extension of the product itself. Bottles, jars, tubes, and compacts must look and feel as luxurious as the products they hold. A growing number of consumers search for beauty that runs more than skin deep – in the form of products that are made and packaged with sustainability in mind. The consumer perspective As of 2019, more than half (54 %) of sustainablyminded U.S. consumers said they were much more likely to purchase colour cosmetics from brands offering recyclable or recycled content packaging [1]. This desire for sustainably packaged cosmetics has not abated with the global pandemic. Findings from a 2021 Eastman (Kingsport, TN, USA) global consumer survey suggest that it has grown even stronger, with 67 % of global skincare consumers indicating they would purchase products more often from brands that use recyclable or recycled content packaging [2]. There’s a catch, though. Eastman’s research also indicates that compromising on design, clarity and quality of packaging can reduce consumers’ likelihood to purchase skincare products with recyclable packaging by half [2]. So consumers want recycled content and recyclability, but that desire does not detract from their high expectations for aesthetics. These technologies create value from waste by using hardto-recycle waste plastic, instead of fossil fuels, as feedstock. Molecular recycling breaks down this waste plastic into its molecular building blocks, and these basic components are then used to produce new materials which are identical in structure to those traditionally manufactured from fossil fuels. The resulting products look and feel just like the traditional materials that beauty brands use, with no decrease in aesthetics or performance. Best of all, they generate significant sustainability benefits – not only diverting plastic waste from landfills and reducing reliance on fossil fuels but also, in the case of Eastman’s technologies, reducing greenhouse gas emissions associated with producing new plastic material when compared with traditional manufacturing processes. Switching to new materials often results in disruptive and expensive manufacturing changes, such as retooling and requalification. However, products made with molecular recycling – since they are structurally identical to their virgin counterparts – offer drop-in solutions which are compatible with existing moulds. They can therefore be adopted quickly and inexpensively, allowing brands to make rapid progress towards their sustainability goals. Brand impact No more compromise Exceptional clarity, brilliant colour and lustre, and worry-free durability are marks of luxury in beauty packaging. Molecularly recycled materials can meet these high standards while providing the luxury experience consumers expect. Traditionally recycled plastics often suffer from challenges in aesthetics such as poor colour or transparency. They look cloudy or limit brands to thin, flimsy, or simply shaped packaging. “At Eastman, we believe sustainability shouldn’t require a compromise. This is a primary reason we have embraced material-to-material molecular recycling technologies”, said Tara Cary, segment market manager for cosmetic packaging at Eastman. Beauty industry leaders are already introducing molecular recycled content into their packaging. Amorepacific (Seoul, South Korea), Clio Cosmetics Seoul (South Korea), and LVMH Perfumes & Cosmetics (Paris, France) are just a few examples of the companies now using materials like Cristal Renew to advance their packaging sustainability without compromising performance. As more players in the beauty industry embrace materials made with molecular recycled content, we can all create a greater positive impact on our planet. AT [1] Eastman U.S. Sustainable Leader Consumer Community, 2019, Color Cosmetic Survey [2] Eastman 2021 Global Skincare Study www.eastman.com 36 bioplastics MAGAZINE [03/22] Vol. 17
Protective furniture packaging from pyrolysis oil Application As of November 2021, Ekornes, a Norwegian (Ikornnes) manufacturer of high-end design furniture uses EPS (expandable polystyrene) protective packaging that has a lower carbon footprint than virgin material by safeguarding the same properties. This is achieved by replacing fossil resources with recycled raw materials at the beginning of production. BASF (Ludwigshafen, Germany) supplies Styropor ® Ccycled to VARTDAL PLAST (Vartdal, Norway), who converts the material into moulded packaging parts for Stressless ® furniture made by Ekornes. “We are really proud to be the first company to launch this project together with Vartdal Plast and BASF with regards to design furniture. We always strive to have the best packaging solution to protect our quality furniture, and Styropor Ccycled offers exactly what we want: same properties as virgin material but at the same time meeting the needs to reduce our carbon footprint, a perfect fit into our sustainability strategy”, says Solveig Gaundal, Compliance and CSR Manager at Ekornes. Virgin-quality packaging – smaller carbon footprint Due to its manufacturing process, Styropor Ccycled has the same properties as conventional Styropor. Maintaining excellent packaging properties such as outstanding impact absorption and high compressive strength, which are essential for the protection of sophisticated design furniture. In the production of the packaging foams that have become so well-known over the last 70 years, pyrolysis oil replaces fossil raw materials. BASF sources this oil from technology partners who use a thermochemical process called pyrolysis to transform post-consumer plastic waste that would otherwise be used for energy recovery or go to landfill into this secondary raw material. BASF then uses the oil at the very beginning of the value chain to manufacture new plastics and other products. Since recycled and fossil raw materials are mixed in production and cannot be distinguished from each other, the recycled portion is allocated to Styropor Ccycled using a mass balance approach. Both the allocation process and the product itself, have been certified by an independent auditor. Compared with conventional Styropor, at least 50 % of CO 2 is saved in the production of Styropor Ccycled. Also, for the converter Vartdal Plast Styropor Ccycled brings a lot of advantages as the product is identical to virgin material. Therefore, the production process does not have to be adjusted. The company and their products are certified according to the ecoloop certification programme, confirming that for the products 100 % recycled material was used as feedstock. “We are thrilled to be working together with BASF and Ekornes on this project. This is a testament of our mutual commitment towards a more sustainable future”, says Mounir El’Mourabit, product manager at Vartdal Plast. Contributing to the circularity of plastics “Current environmental policy focuses on reducing greenhouse gas emissions, conserving fossil resources, and avoiding or using waste. By using products from our ChemCycling project, our partner Ekornes is actively contributing to the recovery of plastics after their use phase and feeding them back into the materials loop”, says Klaus Ries, head of BASF’s Styrenics business in Europe. AT www.basf.com | www.vartdalplast.no | www.ekornes.com bioplastics MAGAZINE [03/22] Vol. 17 37
