How to Choose Earth-Friendly Cosmetic Packaging

by Vikas Yadav Blogger

Overuse of packaging is something that organic and synthetic skincare brands are equally guilty of. Some better brands, like UK-based REN, are ditching cardboard packaging all together. Their lotions come in airtight pump recyclable plastic bottles shrink-wrapped in recyclable plastic. I also admire Canadian makeup brand Cargo for creating a lipstick range packed in tubes made of corn and sold in boxes that contain real plant seeds. Take out the product, soak the box in water, and plant it to see a new green living creature emerging in a few days. Very smart and very green. Pangea Organics also infuses their cardboard boxes with flower seeds. Joshua Scott Onysko says that the idea came to him during a “psychedelic journey” in Joshua Tree National Park in California.

Most often, excessive cosmetic packaging is used to protect the bottle from breakage and leakage during the storage and transportation. Still, many cosmetic brands do not pack their products in boxes, and their products look just fine and work just as well. While wrapping is basically a matter of vanity that adds weight and importance to an otherwise humble jar or tube, packaging is important to keep cosmetics fresh and stable. Sophisticated, technologically advanced airtight pump-style bottles can eliminate the need of preservatives and stabilizers.

When the time comes to buy a new shampoo, conditioner or a cleanser, ask yourself, would you be proud of yourself if this particular bottle was buried with tons of other plastic bottles somewhere between Bahamas and Bermudas? Most likely, you won’t be. That’s why choosing cosmetic packaging made of better plastics, ideally of soya and corn, or at least degradable (that decomposes faster than ordinary plastic) and biodegradable (that can be decomposed even sooner) is important.

“Glass packaging ensures not only a sophisticated, sensual experience, but a healthier planet,” says Suki Kramer of Suki Naturals, “Our packing uses recycled stock, printed with vegetable ink. For shipping, we buy only organic cornstarch peanuts. We receive hundreds of shipments that contain bubble and Styrofoam. Throwing these materials away or “recycling” them, which is a very toxic process, would be wasteful, so we reuse them.”

When the time comes to buy a new shampoo, conditioner or a cleanser, ask yourself, would you be proud of yourself if this particular bottle were buried with tons of other plastic bottles somewhere between the Bahamas and the Bermudas? Most likely, you wouldn’t be. That’s why choosing cosmetic packaging made of better plastics, ideally of soya and corn, or at least degradable (that decomposes faster than ordinary plastic) and biodegradable (that can be decomposed even sooner) is important.

An average plastic shampoo bottle needs 450 years to degrade in the landfill. It can swim across oceans to be swallowed by an albatross that would die from hunger since this plastic bottle occupies his stomach and doesn’t allow any nutrients penetrate his body. On the other hand, a bottle made of corn and soya needs 30 to 40 days to biodegrade. Even if a beauty-obsessed albatross eats it, all he’d have to digest is some sturdy fiber. After all, fiber is good for digestion.