Awarded alternatives: COSSMA

More than a trend, the topic of sustainability is an essential criterion for many customers when choosing a product. Creative minds are discovering more and more ways of doing without plastic in packaging. Good reasons to award successful concepts with a prize.

For consumers of cosmetic products, the issues of sustainability and environmental awareness are playing an increasingly important role. Specialized social media platforms such as Pebble Magazine¹, Luxiders² or Attitude Organic³address a growing number of active followers forming a well-informed community who is conscious about the environment and ake purchasing decisions accordingly. This trend is reflected by new players in the cosmetic market. Buzz words as natural, sustainable, bio, green, organic, zero waste and plastic detox are woven into the marketing lingo. The reduction of single-use plastic products which litter landmass, enter water streams and present an increasing risk to human and environmental health worldwide is priority for this new environmental movement.

New award

In this context, Beyonplastic.net, the global online platform for ecodesigned solutions, has launched an award with the slogan “Let us design and create eco-responsible products and solutions and transform singleuse plastic products into solutions made of environmentally sound materials!” The award honours innovation and creativity in sustainable design in four categories:
I. Most practical impact to reduce the use of single-use-plastics,
II. Most innovative approach,
III. Most beautiful solution and
IV. Best Initiative in Education / Journalism / Campaigning.

For each category there are gold, silver and bronze prizes. The award is directed towards students, designers, engineers, creators, inventors and artists. Everyone who has an idea, concept, project, prototype or even a solution already in market which supports less single-use plastic is welcome to participate. Entries can be products which replace an existing environmentally non-responsible product or package, or it can be a completely new solution. Although the award was not originally aimed specifically at the cosmetics industry, innovative solutions from around the world for beauty and care products themselves and the packaging surrounding them were submitted for these markets.

New packaging

Often, it is just a question of rediscovering conventional and proven packaging materials to go plastic-free as the British Indie brand Ksoni does with their shampoo in a can. A similar approach using a wellknown eco-friendly material is Coolpaste, a sustainable packaging design that literally thinks outside the box. The Brazilian designer Allan Gomes gave birth to an eco-friendly alter ego of our trusty old toothpaste. The tube is made of impermeable cardboard and the cap is made of biodegradable polylactide (PLA), a bioplastic derived from renewable resources such as corn starch, tapioca roots or sugarcane. The tube itself has a tab to hang it on the Point-Of-Sale shelf. This makes outside packaging obsolete, resulting in reducing weight for transportaion, reducing waste and creating a unique branding. This smart eco-design solves logistical and environmental issues for global toothpaste brands. There is a trend of shampoos turning from liquid to solid, as in the case of Kind². Packaging is saved. As liquid shampoo usually contains 80% water, product weight is reduced. Kind²’s slogan is “saving the planet doesn’t have to mean bad hair.” The German start-up CareTwice goes one step further in saving resources by offering palm-oil free and vegan shampoo as a powder which can be applied directly on the hair, or mixed with tap water by the consumer and used as a liquid shampoo in a sustainable container of their own choice.

Reuse and refill

Also, reuse- and refill-solutions in combination with e-commerce concepts are successfully entering the market, as the London-based natural deodorant company Wild Cosmetics demonstrates with their reusable applicator made from durable aluminium which get refilled with aluminium- and paraben-free refill sticks. The indie brand Fussy has a similar concept with their refillable deodorant sticks whose packamade of recycled plastic bottles. Lamazuna follows a 360° brand approach with their motto “avantgardist by nature“. The company was created by Laëtitia Van de Walle ten years ago. At the time, she was becoming increasingly aware of the impact of our everyday waste on the environment, which led led to the idea of replacing her disposable cleansing wipes with an alternative that could be reused over 300 times. Over the years, the product range has grown, and Lamazuna has become the leading brand for zero-waste accessories and vegan solid cosmetics hand-made in France. Now, the company offers solid shampoos, facial cleansers, menstrual cups, nail files, cocoa butter, solid deodorants, and its oriculi ear cleaner. Fair work conditions, no animal testing, waste reduction and social initiatives are all part of the company’s DNA.

There are amazing developments going on in the area of materials made of food waste and bio-substances, which can degrade easily after use. The start-up the Shellworks makes home-compostable materials from seafood waste that degrade in just four to six weeks. After the product is used, the material will start degrading when placed in earth and even acts as a natural fertilizer for plants.

The Shellworks creates packaging for cosmetic, beauty, fashion, and retail industries. Their first products are bottle caps, jars and pots, and secondary packaging such as trays and boxes. Elena Amato is a designer from Guatemala.

She is passionate about circular design, developing materials using bio fabrication and thinking about creative applications for them. In 2019 she founded Ponto Biodesign, a bio fabrication lab and design studio, where she has created sheets of bacterial cellulose with paper-like qualities as a sustainable alternative to the plastic packaging used in personal care products. The dried bacterial cellulose material can be glued together using water, eliminating the need to use glues or other adhesives when sealing the packaging. Natural pigments such as spirulina, hibiscus, saffron and charcoal are added to the mixture during the blending process to achieve different colours. In addition to these qualities, the low-tech manufacturing process has a minimal level of energy consumption. Amato envisions it being made locally to generate jobs in the area as well as eliminating the need to transport raw materials from far away.

There is movement

There are great things going on in the cosmetic industry regarding ecoresponsible products and packages. Especially young designers, start-ups and indie brands dare to think and act differently, often coming up with beautiful solutions. This movement is also an opportunity for established companies whose products still contain or use microplastics, fossil petrol based ingredients and single-use-plastic packages in their portfolio and are willing to change that. This terrain can only be entered with strict authenticity and credibility. It is not enough to put „recyclable“ labels on conventional packages and add some organic ingredient to call it „bio-plastic“. The well-educated consumers of the environmental movement will watch very closely if companies take their journey towards sustainability seriously and honestly.

And let us remember: it’s about something larger than the product itself. Responsible customers want to reconnect with the product and the story behind it. Where do the raw materials come from? Under which labour conditions was it made? What is in it? Where will it end up after use? Companies which understand how to truly deliver responsible solutions and communicate them frankly to their customers will succeed.