More circular plastic packaging

Plastic packaging is at the heart of a real paradox. On the one hand, it is unparalleled in preserving the most sensitive foods and cosmetics in the best possible conditions and thus plays a considerable part in combating waste.

On the other hand, it is criticised as having a perceptible impact on the planet. Faced with such ambivalence, it is reinventing itself and becoming greener to reduce its carbon footprint. The stakes are high and packaging manufacturers have been actively collaborating with the polymer industry for many years to find solutions. These include eco-design, re-use, incorporation of recycled plastic - the three pillars of circularity - and the development of new materials.

The environmental footprint of their products, and more particularly of their packaging, is now at the heart of the cosmetics and food industries' concerns.

Qualities that put them above the rest...

Plastic packaging is therefore far from being doomed. This is all the more true as an analysis of its life cycle shows that it is more than equal to packaging made from other materials. Its production often emits less CO2 than other alternatives (as in the case of aluminium or glass for example). Above all, polymers are unbeatable when it comes to the weighing scales. In the case of bottles, for example, one made from glass weighs fifteen times more than its PET equivalent. The ecological impact is obvious. Heavier and more bulky glass bottles take up more space and require more trucks, and therefore more fuel or energy to transport the same amount of liquid.

Finally, the FAO (Food and Agriculture Organisation) estimates that 931 million tonnes, or 17% of the food produced in 2019, ended up in the bins of households, retailers, restaurants etc.

The protective properties of the polymers that make up food packaging make it possible to extend the shelf life of the products they protect. Every year, nearly one billion tonnes of food avoid being thrown in the bin!.

Thanks to packaging, only 3% of all products delivered to customers are damaged during production and transport in Europe. Polymers are still the best materials for protecting the products packaged inside them thanks to their function as a barrier against oxygen, UV, moisture and bacteria. It is therefore worth remembering that polymers extend the shelf life of packaged products while ensuring that they are ideally preserved. Are they that perfect? Not yet, but they are on the right track.

Eco-design, a school of virtue  

Whether in food or cosmetics, eco-design has become the rule for all brands and packaging manufacturers (see our interview).
In these two sectors, the products to be protected are very sensitive and require containers with high technical performance that comply with draconian health standards.
In addition to all these considerations, there is the challenge of designing plastic packaging that is increasingly recyclable and greener. Some big names, who use considerable volumes of packaging, are approaching the polymer industry to design bottles, flasks, tubes and other containers that are perfectly in tune with current environmental requirements.

Packaging on a diet

Limiting the environmental impact of packaging is now a priority for all manufacturers, whatever the material. Their first reflex is generally to put them on a diet and reduce the quantity of material used. To do this, plastic packaging manufacturers use software capable of optimising the quantity of material needed to preserve a product as accurately as possible. Over the past twenty years, improvements in processes have led to the development of thin-walled packaging.

The eco-refill is on the rise! To convince their customers, manufacturers do not hesitate to invest in a product’s design, resulting in very attractive packaging.

Thanks to more efficient machines, the weight of LDPE laundry detergent bottles has been reduced by 13%, that of PET water bottles by 40% and that of polypropylene or even polystyrene butter pots by 22%. Putting the products themselves on a diet is also a good solution. Concentrated products require much less packaging. This is the path chosen by Cif, Unilever's household cleaning brand, after admitting that its products were primarily made of water. It has designed Cif's ultra-concentrated refills for its Power & Shine spray bottles, which require 75% less plastic than 'conventional' refills. They are also fully recyclable.

Evian also stands out, with its latest innovation: Evian® (re)new. It comes in the form of a 5-litre retractable bubble, intended to be placed on a fountain with a contemporary design. Made from 100% recycled plastic, this thin and light bubble takes on a new shape after each use. It uses 60% less plastic per litre of water than a 1.5 litre Evian® bottle (a 5-litre bubble is equivalent to 3.33 1.5 litre Evian® bottles).

Single-material bottles are becoming more versatile

Another major area of research and improvement is that of designing efficient packaging from a single polymer. This is a major challenge, but the hoped-for result is to make packaging more easily recyclable. Today, on average, 70% of plastic packaging is made from a single resin.

The case of certain food bags or pouches, intended for preserving wet products, is emblematic. They are made of several different polymers (mainly PE and PET). The technical characteristics of each contribute to the required performance of the whole. The foodstuffs they are intended to protect are particularly sensitive to oxygen, bacteria and/or UV light. It is therefore advisable to stack polymer films of different types and with different functions. Although it is uniquely effective, such packaging is still very difficult to recycle using current mechanical recycling processes. By 2030, all plastic packaging in Europe must be recyclable.

The confectionery industry has rethought its approach in order to move away from multi-layered packaging while guaranteeing the perfect preservation of its products. To do this, they have relied on the characteristics of polyethylene films, which can have different properties depending on the orientation of their weft. Thus, some of these films are given enhanced mechanical properties through to a directional stretching process that orients their polymeric structure. It is also possible to add additives to certain film layers to give them specific properties. Today, 100% polyethylene multi-layer pouches can be found on supermarket shelves. Mars, Nestlé and Haribo now use them for some of their confectionery. At the end of its life, after being recycled, this packaging will be converted into agricultural tarpaulins or rubbish bags.

Brands such as Haribo now offer 100% polyethylene multi-layer pouches.

In the same vein, Nestlé has developed pouches for its Gerber brand of children's compotes that are made exclusively of polypropylene, replacing the multi-layer, multi-material pouches that were previously used. The brand's objective is to be able to recycle them into similar products.

Albea, one of the world's leading cosmetic packaging companies, has just launched the EcoFusion Top, a tube where the body and cap form a single unit. This solution has resulted in a weight reduction of over 80% compared to standard solutions. It is said to be the lightest tube on the market! And to complete its creation, Albea has designed it entirely from a single polymer (high density polyethylene - HDPE) in order to facilitate its recyclability.

Opting to use a monomaterial means guaranteeing an improvement in the "recyclability" of products. To go even further, some manufacturers, such as Albea, have succeeded in designing a single-material tube made of a single part. This is a great advantage for consumers who no longer have to wonder which recycling bin the product can go in..

Refillable packaging... everything done to attract consumers

The principle is simple: consumers buy a product that consists of a case bearing the company and product’s logos and a cartridge containing the cream, the fluid or even the lipstick. Once used, all that needs to be done is to buy a refill or a cartridge. A bit like a fountain pen. The trick is to make them easy to use. Designers have a great deal of fun and are often very imaginative, because the main aim is to convince and seduce users. Asquan, a Hong Kong brand, offers the Essential Push Pen Button Tottle. While the case is quite traditional in appearance, the polypropylene refill resembles an accordion. Once installed, the cream is released by pressing a small push button at the end of the case. Once empty, the refill can be recycled like traditional single-material packaging, either mechanically or chemically. Its low cost is another advantage for consumers. Unlike other products, consumers only buy the case once, which is very often designed and made of a more noble polymer such as ABS, a shiny plastic that can take on a metallic appearance and is very resistant to impact. As for the refill, it does not need to be beautiful since it is invisible, it only needs to be practical and resistant, which is possible with polyethylene or polypropylene.

Others, such as Spanish packaging manufacturer Faca Packaging, offer cases made of recycled polymers, in this case PMMA. More transparent than glass and capable of taking on an ultra-shiny, opaque or even coloured appearance, PMMA is one of the polymers preferred by designers.

Cosmetics companies are increasingly adopting refillable packaging. Only the cases are durable, letting manufacturers focus on refining the design of the packaging, which is so important in this field to make the products attractive.

The Spanish manufacturer has chosen to focus on two types of recycled PMMA. The first is derived from chemical recycling, the second from end-of-life PMMA parts or from production offcuts which are then melted down before being remoulded. The latter technique does not pose any health safety problems since only the cartridge is in contact with the product, not the case.

Single-material eco-refills, the ultimate achievement

Reduction of the plastics used, increased use of monomaterials, easier recyclability - the market for eco-refills is growing. Some manufacturers are seeking to design them more and more from a single polymer to facilitate recycling.

Eco-refills are an excellent solution for reducing the amount of plastic used in packaging. They become perfect when made of a single polymer, which is increasingly common.

Recently, the American Arcade Beauty company, the world leader in sample and single-dose solutions for perfume and beauty products, developed for L'Oréal its first single-material ecofill in polyethylene (PE), including the cap. It is a perfect alternative to the bottle, allowing a material saving of 75% compared to two 250 ml shampoo bottles. The eco-refill is one of the new avenues explored by packaging professionals and it has all the assets to quickly gain momentum.

In the same vein, the company has also designed a 500 ml eco-refill for Kérastase, the luxury professional hair care brand, which is made entirely of polyethylene and recyclable. It promises to save 82% of plastic compared to conventional bottles.
The laundry detergent sector is not to be outdone: as one of many examples, Frosch refills have adopted a new packaging consisting of a flexible pouch and a cap, both of which are made of polyethylene, which can one day be recycled. The printed parts can be easily detached from the pouch, again to facilitate future recycling.

Plastics less addicted to hydrocarbons

Another way to make plastics greener is to move away from using hydrocarbons to manufacture them. This is known as decarbonisation. In concrete terms, this means using raw materials derived from plant biomass (corn starch, castor oil, sugar cane, algae, forestry waste, etc.) or animal biomass (fats). The polymers produced in this way are known as bioplastics, a term that can lead to confusion. Contrary to popular belief, a bioplastic is not always biodegradable or compostable.
(For more information, see our feature.)

Producing a traditionally petroleum-based polymer, such as polyethylene, from a plant, is a tried and tested method with a bright future. The main advantage of these materials is that they are derived from renewable materials. In addition, the plant resource used absorbs carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and sequesters it over the life of the product, reducing the carbon impact of the packaging. These biobased polymers are exactly the same as their fossil counterparts, have the same properties, and above all, can be integrated into the same existing recycling channels.
Just a year ago, Swiss giant Nestlé launched a new polyethylene lid in Belgium for the packaging of a range of its branded nutritional products for infants and children. What makes it special is that 66% of the polyethylene is derived from sugar cane. The lids are therefore certified as made from renewable materials. They can be recycled via the traditional PE (polyethylene) channel.

Polyethylene 100% made in CO2

Although the path of bioplastics and recycled materials represents an interesting solution for freeing ourselves from hydrocarbons, it is far from being the most ambitious. Recently, American company LanzaTech, a world leader in gas fermentation specialising in carbon recycling, oil company Total and the L'Oréal group announced that they had succeeded in jointly producing a polyethylene cosmetic bottle made from captured and recycled industrial carbon emissions. A world first! The successfully-tested process consists of three steps: LanzaTech captures industrial carbon emissions at the factory outlets and converts them into ethanol using a biological process it has developed.  Total converts the ethanol into ethylene using an innovative dehydration process. This gas is then polymerised into polyethylene which has all the technical characteristics of its fossil equivalent. Finally, L'Oréal uses this polyethylene to manufacture packaging with properties equivalent in every respect to those of conventional polyethylene. This undeniable technological and industrial success demonstrates that plastic packaging can be produced from carbon emissions. This world first represents another avenue for decarbonising plastics.

Making plastics from CO2 captured at the outlets of post-industrial chimneys is one of the feats achieved by a consortium of three major manufacturers.