OnTop brings molecular-recycled face cream packs to Chinese consumers

28 Jul 2022 --- China-based OnTop cosmetics has joined forces with Eastman to launch Renewal Oil Cream with packaging made from Eastman Cristal Renew copolyester featuring 50% certified recycled content.

Tara Cary, cosmetics and personal care packaging market manager at Eastman, tells PackagingInsights that “the process used to create Cristal Renew reduces the use of fossil resources and results in 20-30% lower greenhouse gas emissions than traditional manufacturing.” 

Renewal Oil Cream is the first of OnTop’s four core facial cream products packaged this way. The company is also the first Chinese beauty brand to use Cristal Renew copolyester – an environmentally sustainable resin powered by Eastman’s molecular recycling technologies. 

Enlightened packaging
Emma Ni, OnTop CEO says that OnTop strives for light packaging, which is part of the attitude toward environmental sustainability. “We actively seek out light, beautiful and eco-friendly solutions for formulas and packaging.”

“Our efforts are aimed at reducing consumption and environmental impact and finally making the earth ‘lighter,” she highlights.

Using molecular recycling to make Eastman Cristal Renew diverts plastic waste from landfills.Cary in turn tells us that Eastman’s molecular recycling technologies break down hard-to-recycle plastic waste into building blocks used to create new materials that are comparable to traditional materials in clarity, luster and mechanical properties.”

She further explains that using molecular recycling to make Eastman Cristal Renew diverts plastic waste from landfills, incinerators and the environment.

Natural substance cream
OnTop collaborated with WWP Beauty to create the primary packaging for the second version of their Renewal Oil Cream.

The product’s oil-cream structure allows for the incorporation of lipids including ceramide 2, phytosterols, and fatty acids to nourish the skin, according to the company. 

Topnatrol, a proprietary emulsifying method based on natural active substances rather than synthetic emulsifiers, is also used in the formulation.

Asian eco-cosmetics on the rise
OnTop’s new release joins a host of other recent Asian cosmetic innovations.

Kao, a chemicals company closely involved with the personal care industry in Japan, integrated chemically recycled PET by PET Refine Technology, a subsidiary of the chemical recycling company Jeplan, into the inner plate of the company’s compact powder foundations. The product’s oil-cream structure allows for the incorporation of lipids to nourish the skin.

The recycling process included chemically breaking down discarded PET materials to eliminate impurities before recycling them and using them as the raw material for PET resin.

The companies claim this technique is advantageous as the material can be recreated with the same physical properties and quality as those derived from petroleum.

Similarly, this year Shiseido Company, Sekisui Chemical and Sumitomo Chemical launched a joint initiative where used plastic cosmetics containers will be collected, converted into other resources and materials and recycled back into plastic cosmetics containers.

Cosmetics containers are often made from a wide range of plastics due to the importance of protection, usability and appearance.

As a result, it is difficult to sort cosmetic containers for recycling, and even more challenging to deconstruct them. The three companies agreed to collaborate on developing a new system to collect used plastic cosmetics containers and recycle them.

By Mieke Meintjes