With beauty and personal care behemoths L’Oreal, Proctor & Gamble, Unilever, Colgate-Palmolive and Beiersdorf all making various pledges to reduce plastics in their latest Environmental, Social & Governance (ESG) Reports, the personal care ingredients industry needs to step up to the plate to deliver innovation to support this drive, says Stephenson’s Managing Director, Robert Carr.
Despite the economic woes of the last three years, the impact of COVID-19 on the global economy, and now the two wars in Ukraine and Israel, beauty and personal care brands have rightly continued to focus on raising their game on sustainability. This is not surprising considering the latest research by Bain & Company1 indicating that 71% of European consumers want to buy sustainable products and 71% of US consumers claim they want to buy products with as little packaging as possible. The British Beauty Council recently completed a study of the UK health and beauty packaging industry. The research determined that it was the fourth largest market for packaging behind food, beverages and pharmaceuticals in the country, producing 120 billion units of beauty packaging per year and that 67% was manufactured from plastic, in contrast to a 38% average in other industries. In its ‘Courage to Change Report’, it also found that 59% of beauty consumers were willing to refill beauty and grooming products, 88% wanted less packaging – as well as brands to teach them to recycle – and 90% of Generation Z consumers expected their chosen brands to support climate change.The pressure is immense on personal care brands to shift up a gear on sustainability performance and positioning. Smithers, another leading market consultancy, found in 2022 that 45% of consumers have a more positive opinion of brands that use a limited amount or no plastics in their packaging. 67% also believe that companies should be responsible for the end-of-life disposal of the products they manufacture.For the personal care ingredients industry, we need to be supporting brands to shift consumers to new product formats that enable reductions in packaging, and most importantly, minimise their use of single-use plastics i.e. the liquid soap, shampoo and body wash bottles that have served us so well to date.Despite significant efforts to encourage consumers to recycle plastic packaging post-use, the situation remains poor around the world. The top countries in the world – Germany and Korea – only achieved 65% and 59%2 of plastic packaging production being recycled in recent years respectively. This contrasts with paper, metal or glass, which frequently exceeds 80% recycling rates in Western economies. The answer must therefore lie in replacement technologies.
Will refillable work?
The obvious go-to model for brands seems to be the refilling and reuse of bottles for liquid products to dramatically reduce plastic use. However, herein lies an issue – cross-contamination. Bacteria, fungi, and viruses can cross-contaminate any product encountering an inadequately cleaned and disinfected container. Many personal care products are like mixed cocktails – each ingredient is chosen for its specific role, from cleansing to moisturising to stabilisers and preservatives to ensure the blend remains effective and unified over time, much like how a cocktail is kept perfectly balanced and fresh.Moving to refillable systems will increase the risk of larger and more frequent outbreaks of product contamination, deterioration of products, or organoleptic issues, creating recalls and potential reputational harm for brands. How do you prove that the consumer was at fault? A costly situation that brands will want to avoid.Refillable is also more expensive for today’s budget-squeezed consumer. There’s no getting around the fact that there is an initial upfront cost for the consumer to buy the returnable pack, which is usually more robust and durable than its single-use equivalent. From an environmental standpoint, increasing pack material use for durability also means a higher carbon footprint too – although this should be negated through continuous use.Refillable products can also be difficult to reconcile with today’s beauty consumer behaviour. Consumers have to be educated on how a refillable system can save them money over time and, ultimately, how the system benefits the environment. Fundamentally, the refill and reuse process relies on brand loyalty. It assumes consumers will keep using a product, finish it, and then buy the refill. Without that repeated purchasing pattern, the benefits are null and void.According to the Ellen MacArthur Foundation, reuse is scarcely mentioned by the hundreds of companies that have signed the Global Commitment to have 100% ‘reusable, recyclable or compostable’ plastic packaging by 2025. Reuse ambitions remain limited, as very few brands and retailers have a reuse strategy in place. Despite an increasing number of reuse pilots, many are fragmented and not embedded in a business strategy that could lead to reuse at scale, as stated in the 2022 progress report. So, while refill is an interesting model, it looks a long way off in saving the liquid soap, shampoo, and body wash markets in particular from a negative plastics-use image. Glass is a no-no in terms of bathroom safety and metal is simply too heavy and expensive, so looking to new solid product technologies that enable less plastic and coated fiber-based packaging solutions to come into play must be the way forward.
The trend to solid
Stephenson, in conjunction with its manufacturer partners and distributors, has contributed to the launch of over 300 products in the last 18 months using its patented synthetic detergent (‘syndet’) soap-free base technology, Syndopal. Licensing manufacturers and brands to produce solid bar formulations for face cleaners, exfoliators, deodorisers, make-up removers, moisturisers, and ophthalmological bars, as well as shampoos and body washes, the solid format provides a wide range of sustainability benefits from avoiding single-use plastic packaging and reduced water content to lowering the overall supply chain carbon footprint.Several companies attempted to drive consumers over to the solid format in recent years, talking about sustainability and the anti-plastic benefits. They were only really hitting the eco-conscious demographic. Our opinion is that they went too soon and didn’t demonstrate the advantages of the surfactants that today’s consumers are familiar with in liquid form, which are now available in a solid bar format. Consuers associate the solid format with their traditional experience of using hand soaps – drying the skin and body, lathering less and sometimes having a ‘fatty’ smell. The latest syndet base technology eliminates all these concerns with a low pH and high foaming capability giving an entirely different product experience. It’s that experience the industry now needs to demonstrate to make the shift easier.Syndets are solid natural surfactants, a type of cleansing agent that has become increasingly popular in recent years due to its many benefits.
1. Gentle on the skin:
Syndet is formulated to have a pH level that is close to that of the skin, making it less likely to cause irritation or dryness. This makes it a great option for people with sensitive skin or those who have conditions such as eczema or psoriasis.
2. Effective cleansing:
Syndet is an effective cleanser that removes dirt, oil, and impurities from the skin without stripping away its natural oils. It lathers well and rinses off easily, leaving the skin feeling clean and refreshed.
3. For all skin and hair types:
Syndet is suitable for all skin types, including dry, oily, and combination skin. It can be used on the face, body and hair and is available in various formulations to meet different application needs.
4. Sustainable:
Syndet contains less water and can be packed without plastic. It is also biodegradable, which means it breaks down naturally without harming the environment. Bar compactness can also mean advantages in supply chain efficiency and emissions.
5. Travel-Friendly:
For consumers, compact bars and cubes are easy to use and convenient for travel. As they are TSA-approved, they can be easily packed in a carry-on bag too.If the statistics are to be believed, consumers are crying out for sustainable alternatives in the beauty and personal care market. Indeed, the industry is innovating and focussing heavily on environmentally-conscious ingredient selection. However, there is a technology sitting here, that with relatively easy value proposition promotion through all the digital channels available to brands today, could make a massive impact in a short period. For the team at Stephenson, we believe the future of the personal care industry is solid if we are to truly develop the sustainable industry we are all seeking.
References:
1 Bain & Company August 2023 https://www.circularonline.co.uk/news/71-of-european-consumers-want-to-buy-sustainable-products/
#:~:text=71%25%20of%20European%20consumers%20want%20to%20buy%20sustainable%20products%2C%20Bain,as%20little%20packaging%20as%20possible.2 Plastic Expert https://www.plasticexpert.co.uk/what-country-recycles-the-most-plastic/#:~:text=the%20most%20plastic%3F-,The%20Countries%20With%20The%20Highest%20Plastic%20Recycling%20Rate,their%20waste%20composted%20or%20recycled.
Robert Carr
Managing Director, Stephenson Personal Care, Leeds, UK, www.stephensonpersonalcare.com