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Four industry giants have joined forces in the "Design4Circularity" initiative to drive forward developments in the field of recyclable plastic packaging for cosmetic products. Clariant, Siegwerk, Borealis and Beiersdorf want to encourage other players in the industry to implement recycling-friendly design principles.
The aim of the cross-industry cooperation is "genuine circular packaging", which is characterised by comprehensive life cycle thinking at every stage of development in order to create a new industrial standard. Circular packaging supports the reduction of plastic waste, uses less virgin plastic material and is associated with fewer negative climate impacts - critical challenges for the wellbeing of our planet.
Richard Haldimann, Chief Technology & Sustainability Officer, Clariant, says: "This collaboration was made possible because everyone involved is committed to the goal of a circular economy with company-wide programmes and a holistic understanding of the associated systems. Circularity requires a complete change in the design of product packaging and packaging raw materials. The recyclability and useful life of the packaging must be taken into account."
Materials can be recycled for the same application
The task was to develop a packaging solution that a cleaner material cycle for quality applications including the high-quality appearance and distinctive shapes that consumers expect from cosmetics packaging and brands.
To take all these factors into account, The innovation focuses on a colourless polyolefin bottle with 100% PCR content and a printed, decolourisable shrink sleeve around the entire bottle body. According to the initiative, all materials are technically fully recyclable, can be recovered and reused for the same high-quality application.
Stefan Rüster, packaging expert at Beiersdorf, continues: "We are pursuing an ambitious sustainability agenda, including the vision of completely circular resources. The Design4Circularity packaging solution is trend-setting for future cosmetics applications. Thanks to the intensive efforts and innovative strength of all partners involved, we have succeeded in combining the high design requirements of cosmetics packaging with full circularity. We are very proud of this success and hope that it will motivate our colleagues in the industry to follow suit."
Source: Clariant
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