In an industry that relies heavily on plastic packaging, the beauty industry’s environmental fallout is huge.

According to a CleanHub study that gauged the environmental impact of beauty industry packaging, at least 120 billion pieces of packaging for the beauty industry are produced each year. Citing a study from the British Beauty Council, CleanHub pointed out that just 14% of plastic waste is sent to be recycled and only 9% actually gets recycled. 

But all is not lost. More brands are ditching single-use plastics in favor of refillable packaging. Others are exploring a variety of virgin-plastic alternatives like post-consumer recycled (PCR) and alternatively sourced plastics, paper, fiber, and other renewable, sustainable materials to create responsible beauty statements that resonate with their eco-savvy consumers.

Whimsical Paper & Board

Advent calendars have become quite the sought-after self-indulgence for beauty mavens, with beauty, fragrance and personal care brands adding to the delight of the holiday season by issuing bespoke packages filled with beauty treats to be revealed and unwrapped daily through the month of December. A unifying thread connecting all of these imaginative calendar package designs is the utilization of paper for primary packaging and board to create sturdy secondary package designs.

For Advent 2024, Knoll Packaging created a gleaming package in collaboration with MAC that was full of gold, glamour, and surprise. The limited-edition holiday Advent calendar is filled with 24 full-sized and mini surprises, featuring best-selling products and shiny new shades.

The outer package is designed like a stack of gold gifts towering multiple levels high. It’s made of recycled FSC board that is wrapped meticulously with sustainable plastic-free metallized gold paper.

Each level is engineered to sit at dramatic angles, which not only provides a sense of whimsy, but is extraordinarily difficult to wrap perfectly.

The metallized paper is embossed with different patterns to give the appearance of the entire set glittering in gold.

The embossing pattern also extends across multiple levels with perfect registration and a seamless appearance.

Each of the daily treats held within vary in size, ranging from mini to full-size products, and are hidden behind individual FSC folding doors and rigid drawers with a unique “v-notch” opening. Numbers printed in black are arranged in non-sequential order, encouraging the customer to search and discover each product.

The design culminates on Day 24, which sits at the very top of the configuration. When the angled rigid cover is opened, the hero product lifts from a hidden compartment. The proprietary design from Knoll is achieved with all FSC paper and is plastic-free and ribbon-free.

Outside of its Advent endeavors, Knoll continues to push the envelope in a quest to replace beauty industry plastics with sustainable and fully recyclable materials. The company’s plant-based Ecoform Molded Compact with tab closure is made from bamboo, wood, and sugarcane fibers. It’s certified recyclable in the paper recycling stream, and can be molded, cut to order, and color-matched.

“Since we have introduced the material into the cosmetics market, Knoll has eliminated over 100 metric tons of plastic from its supply chain with the world’s leading brands,” says Benjamin Cohen, Chief Marketing Officer, Knoll Printing & Packaging. After learning that plastic compacts are one of the largest land-fill items, Knoll began developing its Ecoform molded pulp compacts. The latest proprietary design is for a single pan, which can serve as a compact or to deliver a refill.

Although molded pulp intrinsically has many technical challenges, proficiency with it as a packaging medium can yield spectacular results. An example is the Knoll Ecoform Molded Pulp Pillow produced for REPLICA by Maison Margiela, which is shaped like a life-like pillow complete with carefully engineered creases and texture with a delicately debossed text.

Sustainable Paper and Pulp

Secondary packaging plays a vital role in how brands communicate their values and create first impressions with folding cartons often making the first impression about a brand’s commitment to sustainability, quality, and luxury.

“A growing trend among premium brands is the adoption of uncoated, high post-consumer waste (PCW) content boards, which provide an elegant, minimalist aesthetic while aligning with sustainability goals,” says Jennifer Dietz, Sr. Product Manager, Label & Folding Board at Neenah Inc., which offers a range of 100% post-consumer recycled options. “We’ve also seen a notable rise in demand for black and natural Kraft tones. These colors are increasingly popular not just in beauty but also across artisanal goods, cannabis products, and premium electronics.”

The company recently expanded its Neenah Folding Board range to include 17 colors to satisfy a wider range of creative packaging needs. Renowned for its neutral tones and high post-consumer waste (PCW) content, the line now features four pearlized C1S options: the newly introduced White Pearl, Silver Pearl, and Black Pearl join the existing Natural Pearl. Additionally, a new color called Snow White, made with 30% PCW, has been added to the collection, and is available in three calipers and two finishes, providing greater flexibility for brands seeking sustainable and premium packaging solutions.

As a “non-integrated” manufacturer, Neenah purchases its pulp and raw materials from third-party certified suppliers. “The fiber used in manufacturing Neenah Folding Board is ethically sourced and third-party certified, ensuring that the environmental benefits extend throughout the supply chain,” notes Dietz. “This commitment to responsible sourcing aligns with the values of brands and consumers who prioritize sustainability and transparency in every aspect of their products.”

Neenah routinely works with many well-known brands to facilitate their creative vision and sustainability goals. The company recently helped launch a new high-profile haircare line by creating a custom-colored board in multiple calipers that matched the product’s primary packaging.

Dietz says a close collaboration with the designer helped circumvent challenges during the production process. “We provided several rounds of color-match swatches for pre-approval, and the creative team was onsite to oversee production, fine-tuning the board to flawlessly complement the primary packaging,” she explains.

Just as outer cartons protect delicate inner contents, so do molded trays.

General Fibre Products Corp. offers a patented FSC certified paper offering called the Envirotray, which is billed to be a paper replacement for plastic vac-form trays and other single-use plastic offerings.

“Our experience has proven that the Envirotray performs better than molded pulp, or plastic in ship drop tests,” comments Jay Tarantino, VP Sales/Partner, General Fibre Products Corp. “The benefits of the Envirotray are that it looks luxurious, has low-cost tooling, and aggressive lead times. 

The company’s paper comes from responsibly sourced FSC certified mills, and its designs are manufactured in its FSC certified factory in New Hyde Park, NY.

Responsible Plastics

While packaging suppliers may not be able to directly influence the plastic recycling behaviors of consumers, they can control their own responsible material sourcing. For example, Innovative Beauty Group/Roberts Beauty is a big proponent of ocean-based plastics via a strategic partnership with Oceanworks.

In March, the team announced a significant environmental milestone: the removal of 100,000 pounds of plastic waste through the IMPAC+ program, a comprehensive system that works to eliminate plastic waste from oceans while enabling brands to offset parts of their plastic footprint that can’t be eliminated by funding the collection of ocean-bound plastic waste.

“Through our partnership with Oceanworks, we’ve developed a strategic ocean-bound approach focusing on at-risk plastics within 50km of coastlines, rather than costly ocean collection,” comments the company’s Stephen Corsi, Vice President Packaging Development. “This proactive solution ensures strict social ethics standards, material quality and regulatory compliance while providing complete supply chain transparency through blockchain verification.”

Innovative Beauty Group/Roberts Beauty extensively tests PET, PE, and PP resins across all of its component categories to maximize ocean-bound PCR content while maintaining strict quality standards. “While challenges include batch-to-batch color consistency and slight visual variations typical of PCR resins, our extensive testing and quality control processes ensure consistent, high-quality results,” says the company’s Morgan Kaptain, Business Development. “Through strategic sourcing, we’ve achieved cost parity between standard PCR and ocean-bound PCR, making sustainable choices more accessible.”

One of the company’s most recent brand partnerships entailed packaging produced for Cay Skin’s Isle Glow Face Lotion SPF 45. Innovative Beauty Group/Roberts developed a mono-material, all-PP airless package incorporating 30% ocean-bound PCR in the bottle, cap, and actuator.

“The key challenge was optimizing ocean-bound PCR levels across all components while ensuring pump functionality with their formula,” Kaptain explains. “We determined that 30% ocean-bound PCR content provided the optimal balance of sustainability and cost-effectiveness while maintaining premium performance.”

She adds that the brand’s focus on sun care was a perfect alignment with Innovative Beauty Group/Roberts’ Oceanworks PCR solutions, and has led to an expanded partnership that includes integrating sustainable packaging across the brand’s growing product line.

ICONS|ICS also offers packaging made with ocean plastic, PCR, and other sustainable materials including recyclable mono-materials, bio-resins, and FSC paper.

The Ocean Plastic used to create the company’s ICONS|ICS Ocean Plastic tubes comes from recycled HDPE pulled directly from the ocean, and maritime waste including fishing nets, ropes, and trawls, rather than ocean-bound plastic. The tubes are REACH and Proposition 65 compliant and come in diameters from 13- to 50mm.

“The sustainable option in highest demand with no signs of slowing down is mono-material packaging in PP, PE, PET, glass, and aluminum, which also includes a percentage of post-consumer recycled (PCR) material for added sustainability,” says Tara Stein, ICONS|ICS VP of Sales & Business Development. She explains, “To help brands take their sustainability efforts even further, we have also incorporated eco-friendly decoration and finish options into many new products we’ve developed, such as in-mold matte, in-mold reverse-out, tool etching, and embossed or debossed designs.”

Among the company’s other recent sustainable designs is its EcoRefill Loose Powder Pot. Refillable and fully recyclable in curbside recycling bins, it’s made of mono-material PP (available with PCR), in-mold matte, it offers the ability to customize with embossed or debossed logos in the cap, base and sifter.

“Consumers are increasingly holding brands accountable for their environmental impact, demanding not just transparency, but tangible actions toward sustainability, [and] this shift has prompted beauty companies to enhance their eco credentials, both in product formulations and packaging choices,” says Stein. “We’ve observed a significant surge in demand for mono-material packaging and PCR, ranging from a minimum PCR of 30-50% and above, across all product categories, and [we] remain steadfast in promoting the benefits of using PCR, reinforcing our long-term commitment to sustainability and doing our part in driving meaningful change.”

Emerging Novel Plastics

In addition to traditional virgin and PCR plastics, there’s also an ever-evolving category of niche plastics that make creative use of natural materials that you may not know ,can actually become plastic.

Avantium N.V. is a pioneering commercial-stage company focused on renewable and circular polymer materials. The company develops and commercializes technologies for the production of materials based on sustainable carbon feedstocks—i.e. carbon from biomass or carbon from the air (CO2).

The company’s YXY Technology catalytically converts plant-based sugars into FDCA (furandicarboxylic acid), the key building block for the sustainable plastic PEF (polyethylene furanoate).

Avantium recently announced a forthcoming collaboration with Parfums Christian Dior to use packaging that features Avantium’s Releaf polymer, a 100% plant-based and recyclable plastic alternative made of surplus food starch from feedstock such as wheat and corn.

The partnership was three years in the making. “For Parfums Christian Dior, this launch represents a major milestone in its commitment to incorporating sustainable materials into its products, all while upholding the House’s renowned standards of excellence and sophistication,” said Véronique Courtois, President and CEO of Parfums Christian Dior via press release. “This partnership with Avantium marks a significant step forward in our journey towards more sustainable practices.”

From feedstock to flying insects, it turns out that black soldier fly carcasses are a good source of chemicals for making bioplastics.

“For 20 years, my group has been developing methods to transform natural products—such as glucose obtained from sugar cane or trees—into degradable, digestible polymers that don’t persist in the environment,” says Karen Wooley, Ph.D., the project’s principal investigator, whose team discovered that discarded protein-rich black fly larvae, currently being raised for animal feed and to consume wastes, have exoskeletons that contain chitin, a nontoxic, biodegradable, sugar-based strengthening polymer.

The next step for Wooley’s team is starting a project to break down chitin into smaller molecules used to make bioplastics, such as polycarbonates or polyurethanes, which are traditionally made from petrochemicals. “Ultimately, we’d like the insects to eat the waste plastic as their food source, and then we would harvest them again and collect their components to make new plastics,” she says. “So, the insects would not only be the source, but they would also then consume the discarded plastics.”

And, finally, packaging startup B’Zeos has successfully secured a seed round and strategic partnerships with Faber and ICIG Ventures to further its transformation of globally abundant seaweed into fully-compostable biobased materials, replacing millions of tons of conventional plastic packaging discarded each year.

B’Zeos’ seaweed-based solutions are not only fully bio-based and home-compostable but also compatible with existing packaging production lines. According to the company, seaweed’s rapid growth rate, ability to sequester CO2, and lack of dependence on land or fresh water, without releasing microplastics, make it an ideal and versatile raw material for sustainable packaging.