Beiersdorf, Clariant and other giants cooperate to launch the first circular cosmetic packaging concept

Promote the development of circular plastic packaging

In a first unique collaborative project for the personal care industry, Clariant, Siegwerk, Borealis and Beiersdorf are combining their expertise to tackle the possibility of developing a cosmetic product based on 100% recycled plastic packaging waste. The challenges of recycling consumer packaging. The pioneering initiative, called Design4Circularity, is providing innovation and insights into different design fields, thereby encouraging other interested parties to follow circular design concepts as well.

The cross-industry collaboration aims to set new standards for the industry by incorporating full lifecycle thinking into every development step, enabling true circular packaging. Circular packaging helps reduce plastic waste, use less virgin plastic, and reduce climate impact, all key challenges facing the planet.

To bring packaging waste back to life, packaging materials need to retain their highest value over multiple life cycles. To this end, Borealis brings its expertise in advanced transformative physical recycling technologies by providing high quality PCR based on Borcycle™ M proprietary technology. Clariant, on the other hand, offers additive solutions designed for physical recycling to ensure targeted additions that protect PCR quality by preventing polymer chain breakage during each recycling step. This has created a suitable high-value PCR material that has repeatedly set high-end standards for consumer packaging related to personal care. This recyclable solution also focuses on a colorless vial option to improve PCR quality after recycling.

In order to differentiate the packaging while using colorless bottles, the collaborative project decided to use full-bottle shrink sleeves as the ideal way to achieve the unique designs of each brand. Leading ink manufacturer Siegwerk is able to provide ink systems that, in cooperation with Beiersdorf and a bottle cover manufacturer, enable full bottle, colorful and attractive cosmetic bottle cover solutions. In addition, the new ink composition chosen is designed to allow the bottle sleeves to be deinked during the recycling process, thereby increasing the recyclability of the packaging. The bottle/shrink sleeve combination is designed to facilitate separation in material recovery facilities.

The first sorting trial in an existing recycling infrastructure demonstrated the sortability of full-bottle HDPE bottles, enabling high recycling rates of bottle material. In addition, the project team also conducted trials with full sleeve clear PET bottles and achieved similar results.

To achieve the ultimate goal of a circular economy, sorting technology needs to be further improved so that colorless bottles can be reborn in colorless applications and retain their highest value. Technologies such as digital watermarking or artificial intelligence can help achieve these SDGs.