Estée Lauder recruits SABIC and Albéa for industry-first circular plastics beauty tube
27 Oct 2020 --- A collaboration between SABIC, Albéa and Estée Lauder Companies (ELC)’s Origins brand is debuting an “advanced beauty tube pack.” The launch takes place in 2021 and is hailed as the first tube featured in a prestige beauty brand’s range of products that uses certified circular polyolefins from SABIC’s Trucircle portfolio.
“The move is set to create a new range of sustainable packaging. By forging new partnerships with companies across the value chain to transform previously unrecyclable plastic into a valuable material, SABIC aims to be a driving force behind the creation of a circular economy for plastics,” Mark Vester, leader circular economy for SABIC, tells PackagingInsights.
The tube pack format will feature Origins’ global best-selling Clear Improvement Active Charcoal Mask.
“As our certified circular solutions have identical properties to virgin-based polymers, our certified circular solutions can continue to be utilized in a wide range of product applications across industries such as healthcare, personal hygiene, consumer goods and packaging,” Vester explains.
He adds that the packaging represents an exciting first step in the development of innovative solutions for premium beauty and personal care packaging, which is recyclable and made using more sustainable materials.
Mark Vester, leader circular economy for SABIC.“By forging new value chain partnerships to transform previously challenging recyclable plastic into a valuable material, the personal care industry can contribute towards the creation of a more sustainable society,” Vester notes.
A revolutionary recycling process
The tube is the result of a “revolutionary recycling process,” according to SABIC.
The new packaging’s cap is made from certified circular Polypropylene (PP), while the tube structure is made from certified circular Polyethylene (PE).
SABIC’s advanced recycling technology regenerates hard-to-recycle plastics, which would otherwise be destined for incineration or landfill.
It breaks them down to produce purified chemical products, which are then used as a feedstock to recreate high-performance plastics akin to a virgin material – in this case, PP and PE.
SABIC’s certified circular PP and PE are part of its Trucircle portfolio of circular solutions. Through the use of this technology, ELC, SABIC and Albéa are pushing the pace of development needed across the value chain to drive a circular plastic economy, Sabic says.
“Exploring the uses of Post-Consumer Recycled (PCR) [plastics] is an incredible resource to drive our sustainable packaging goals, and we are excited to bring a more advanced recycled PCR solution to market,” says Sushil Iyer, vice president, global packaging at ELC.
Eco-packaging goals
The move is in line with ELC’s environmental sustainability goals, which include increasing the amount of PCR material in its packaging.
The strategic partnership will further Origins’ commitment to ensure at least 80 percent of its packaging is recyclable, refillable, reusable, recycled or recoverable by 2023.
The masking beauty leader’s long-term goal is to convert all of its current mask tube packs to include recycled plastic by 2023.
The packaging’s cap is made from certified circular PP, while the tube structure is made from certified circular PE. “Albéa was the first beauty packaging company to commit to making their solutions 100 percent circular by 2025. This breakthrough with Origins, ELC and SABIC is an industry-first – paving the way for the use of advanced recycled, post-consumer waste into prestige beauty packaging thanks to an innovative source of high-quality resins,” emphasizes Stéphane Barlet, VP of Sales, Albéa Americas.
“This co-development also highlights the importance of partnership and audacity across the value chain, which is crucial for accelerating the transition to recyclable and reusable packaging.”
Trucircle offerings
SABIC’s Trucircle offering spans from design for recyclability services and mechanically recycled materials to certified circular products from chemical recycling of used plastics and certified renewable polymers from bio-based feedstock.
The company’s certified polymers are based on a mass balance approach. This widely recognized international sustainability certification scheme verifies that the mass balance accounting follows predefined and transparent rules.
In addition, it provides traceability along the supply chain, from the feedstock to the final product.
“We have already seen significant interest from other companies in this sector, and we expect to see further collaborations within the beauty and personal care industry launched in 2021,” Vester concludes.
By Kristiana Lalou
