ECO friendly beauty packaging

hi - this blog post is about an Australian beauty/personal care company Pure & Green. This company have put considerable time into selecting the best packaging for their products and have said it took longer to find this type of packaging than it did to formulate the all natural products.

The coolest parts of the packaging are the cardboard lids...see pic and the super concentrated toothpaste which means you get 6 tubes of toothpaste in one (i tried the toothpaste - it is amazing).

So whilst waste is still created...i commend this company for caring...and the best thing we can do as consumers is support companies who care and not support those who dont...and request/demand (depending on your mood) change :)

By creating demand for eco packaging - we are not only saving a few caps and toothpaste tubes...we are creating a demand for NEW packaging alternatives and more eco packaging.

Below is a quote from Pure & Green regarding some aspects of their packaging:

"Our cream and lotions are packaged into airless pumps (made from reyclable PP) but the overcaps are made from 100% post consumer recycled cardboard. These caps can be used as seedling planters once the product is exhausted.

Our liquid products are packaged into PLA which we have manufactured for us in Northern NSW ... if you would like some background info please view this link to a recent blog post http://www.pureandgreen.com.au/blog/?p=432

It seems most brands are adopting LDPE tubes for packaging as this is the most automated form of production and makes sense from a labour point of view. However, LDPE while recyclable in theory is not actually recycled in practice in Australia. The majority, if not all, cosmetic tubes are destined for landfill in Australia. As we manufacture toothpaste, we had to overcome this problem. We developed a toothpaste concentrate which is equal in strength to 6 x 110g tubes of toothpaste (300brushes). So, while using an LDPE tube to package our toothpaste we have in effect saved 5 lots of packaging from ending up in landfill by designing our product as a concentrate. "

It would be incredible if every beauty brand took such care in packaging...this would create considerably less waste to our Planet....but even still - the effectiveness of this packaging depends on the consumer recycling and the efficacy of their local recycling program...but hey they care and it's a great start!!! Thanks Pure & Green for your info and great products :)

product DESIGN is the beginning of eco friendly packaging

Would it be fair to say that most companies create a product and then find the best packaging for it...whether "best" for them means the cheapest, or the most eco friendly?
Some (few) products have minimal environmental impact from their packaging - for example a few hair ties on a piece of recycled card with plant based inks. But what about the quality of these products...how long until those 30 hair ties have mysteriously disappeared...or broken or otherwise land in the "waste category"?
I have been reading up on Cradle to Cradle design...and see that in most cases good packaging & quality products begin in the DESIGN and not to make a cheap product & then figure the cheapest way to pack it...but to make a quality product that will last and at the end of it's lifetime, will return safely to nature or effectively deconstructed and new products rebuilt.
Part of good packaging lies in the design of a product...as LUSSH body products do - they create solid shampoos that do not need packaging.
With packaging and waste such undeniably massive issues - it's time to create products with the end in mind. Cradle to Cradle design is the only viable model i have seen so far to address our future waste issues....the clip below is a great summary...