Schwarzkopf, a brand part of the Henkel portfolio, is tackling recycling with the help of TerraCycle.   “Hair care products are a staple in the daily routines of countless consumers,” TerraCycle CEO and founder, Tom Szaky said. “The launch of the Schwarzkopf Recycling Programs represents an exciting opportunity to divert a large category of waste from landfills. We look forward to partnering with this forward-thinking company for many years to come and continue to offer sustainable solutions to traditionally hard to recycle packaging.”   Together the two companies are working to make retail hair care, color and styling products recyclable nationwide by asking consumers to collect and main-in the empty packaging from Schwarzkopf’s göt2b, Color Ultume, Keratin Colo and Simply Color lines.   “The expansion of Henkel's partnership with TerraCycle is an important part of Henkel's commitment to a circular economy for plastic and sustainable packaging, and our target of ensuring 100% of our beauty and laundry and home care packaging is recyclable, reusable or compostable by 2025,” Martina Spinatsch, VP of R&D, beauty care at Henkel North America said.   Consumers who are interested in recycling other Schwarzkopf branded retail products outside of hair coloration and aerosol product lines can sign up on the TerraCycle program page.   “We're proud that 100% of Schwarzkopf retail product packaging will now be recyclable,” Manuela Emmrich, marketing director, hair US, Henkel beauty care said. “Through the TerraCycle/ Schwarzkopf program, there is now a solution for hair product packaging that has historically been difficult to recycle, due to a myriad of curb-side recycling program requirements,” she continues.

The annual Independent Beauty Expo presents industry professionals, retail operators and influencers with the newest beauty and grooming products — many made from natural ingredients rather than synthetics — and this year’s Los Angeles edition of the show showcased many age-appropriate things for busy teens on the go that are now available to the general public.   The best of the show for teens not only makes living a responsible “organic lifestyle” (earth-safe vegan ingredients, minimal and recyclable packaging) more accessible, but also more portable, leak-proof and TSA-friendly.   Higher Education Skincare, formulated by Newport Beach, California, dermatologist Susan Cox, just might be the ultimate entry-level skincare program. She uses an element of fun to educate women aged 15–35 about proper skincare through such offerings as Pre-Req, MBA, Night Owl, Study Buddy, Spring Break, Rush and Grinding Away to master cleansing, exfoliating, hydrating, acne treatment and sun protection.   Waverly, Iowa-based Root Eco Beauty + Lifestyle features a natural color palette as well a full line of natural skincare, hair care, body care and nontoxic cleaning products. In terms of items for young women on the go, the Pretty Kit ($62) offers everything one needs to make their face the perfect canvas. Other handy releases include Pretty Paint Cream blush + lip tins ($16) and the Pretty Forever Palette ($30), which allows for mixing and matching everyday essentials on the go.   Teens who like to experiment with bolder colors will enjoy Hollywood-inspired lifestyle brand IBY Beauty. While its new lipstick line is full of girly, age-appropriate ,colored lipsticks, kits feature eye-catching artwork holding coordinating shadows or blushes. The company’s mission statement is “Encouraging self-expression and redefining beauty standards with cruelty-free products that won’t break the bank.” Highlights include Glow Up on the Go, a highlighter kit complete with brush ($24); California-inspired lip kits ($29); professional make-up artist-styled “Contour and Conquer”; and splashy eye shadow palettes ($20).   MODA by Royal & Langnickel Brush Manufacturing offers both full- and travel-sized cosmetics brush sets ($6.99–44.99) in a variety of colors and finishes, as well as a few extra perks. In partnership with environmental organization TerraCycle, one can send the company used makeup brushes and get up to 30 percent off the next purchase. Its website also features its Beauty Blog Mavens, young women their age offering tips and tricks for lasting applications.   Young women and men who either have skincare favorites they can’t live without or have a prescribed skincare regimen will appreciate Kate Westad’s Palette by Pak, a reusable lifesaver with five leak-proof compartments. The U.S.-made refillable kit holds essentials in a small, packable space and is reusable, washable, flexible and eliminates the need to buy bulkier travel bottles or travel-sized products.   Smartypits serves up a fruit stand’s worth of aluminum-free deodorants formulated exclusively for teens’ and preteens’ sensitive skin ($9), including the best-selling Pink Lemonade scent and a subtle timber/pine scent boys can relate to. The company also offers four-packs of travel-sized minis for adults and teens with different scent selections to suit one’s mood as well as hygiene needs. Anybody who regularly goes on quick weekend trips (i.e. a high school athlete traveling to a game in another city) will appreciate the ease of Whish’s Deodorant Swipes ($22) made with natural and organic ingredients, including witch hazel extract, organic licorice, organic chamomile and organic calendula.   Teens and parents flying cross-country or overseas will appreciate the fact Starry Eyes and Jet Setter eye masks by Popmask ($20 for a five-pack) not only blocks out light, but are is also self-heating on the first use when the outer package is open and reacts with oxygen. U.K. inventor Louisa Booth is also in the process of releasing a lightly scented variation on the mask with relaxation-boosting vegan botanicals previewed at the IBE show.

Leaders gather to discuss challenges and implementing ecofriendly systems

Adelaide Elliott//Web Editor•March 16, 2020   WASHINGTON — What do you think of when you think of a sustainable product or production process? Recycling? Natural materials? Cutting down on energy use?   “Today’s economy is linear, and it is a massively wasteful system,” said Andrew Morlet, CEO of the Ellen MacArthur Foundation. “It’s based on the idea of disposability. So pretty much everything today is designed and taken into the economy as a disposable item. It’s very hard to repair items and keep them in the economy. We’re using things less and everything we make requires massive amounts of new materials. It leads to huge amounts of waste. Recycling at end of pipe is wasteful, too.”     The circular economy, an economic system that aims to design out waste and pollution by reducing material use and increasing the reuse of materials and products, is an answer to that problem. The circular economy, according to Morlet and research from the Ellen MacArthur Foundation, is underpinned by both waste elimination and the transition to renewable energy and increased recycling, making it one of the few models that build economic, natural and social capital.   But, despite simple surface level idea of “use less, reuse more,” implementing circular economic systems on a micro and macro level can be challenging.   “The design challenge is to design product service systems,” said Morlet. “Thinking about how we design products to fit within a system and stay within a system for as long as possible. And it all has to be in context of location, product and things like that.”   To get started, Morlet suggested companies must first understand the waste problem they are up against. Knowing this, the Ellen MacArthur foundation commissioned research on the subject and learned that plastic is, in many ways, the biggest waste culprit.   The research found that, by 2014, 311 million tons of plastic had been produced, up twenty-fold since 1964 when the total was 15 million tons.   In addition, the foundation found that, after 40 years spent trying to recycle plastics globally, only about 14% of all plastics have even been collected for recycling and only 2% of that ever actually gets looped back into the economy. At the same time, 32% of trashed plastics were found to be leaking into the environment.   “Recycling at the end of pipe is really challenging because materials all mixed together, they’ve never really been designed for recycling,” said Morlet. “So its low yield, low value, and it’s a mostly unprofitable business.”   Rethinking ‘green’   At National Geographic’s Circular Economy Forum held at its headquarters here last month, leaders from business, government and the nonprofit sector challenged some of those notions of what is and what is not “green” with the concept of circular economies.   Four leaders intimately involved in plastic recycling spoke on the subject in the panel “Re-thinking End-of-Life Solutions for Plastic:” Scott Saunders, general manager of KW Plastics, one of the world’s largest plastics recyclers; Ernel Simpson, vice president of research and development for TerraCycle, a recycling business known for its innovative use of hard-to-recycle materials; Nina Butler, CEO of More Recycling; and Keefe Harrison, CEO of The Recycling Partnership.     “We touch plastic in one of its forms dozens, if not hundreds, of times every day, and we have become totally dependent on it,” said panel moderator Valerie Craig, vice president of impact initiatives for the National Geographic Society. “So the question is, how do we keep it out of the environment, and who is responsible for doing that? Or, maybe, how do we change plastic itself so we can still get benefits without the high cost to the panel?”   According to the panel, recycling plastics at all is not the answer to the plastic problem, and it will not be the thing to make a circular economy work.   Harrison suggests that companies shouldn’t just react to the plastic problem with recycling, and instead products should be designed first with the solution in mind. People should also focus on decreasing demands for plastic because ultimately virgin materials will be chosen over recycled to meet those demands for fast, inexpensive and easy to use plastics.   “It’s an uphill battle to meet the gap between our new capacity and recycling,” added Butler. “It doesn’t matter how innovative our recycling companies are.”   Until then, Saunders noted, all recycling companies and other businesses can do is invest money into processes like recycling where they can see a return.   “Our company over the years has sought out individual plastic items that have economies and scale, that have volumes, that we believe we can turn back into a high value plastic resin or product, so that’s where we’re limited,” he said. “So, we’re a part of the solution but not the entire solution.”   Barriers and enablers   Another panel on “Leading Disruption” focused on those limitations and issues for other businesses.   Hosted by Susan Goldberg, National Geographic’s editor in chief, the panel included Jacob Duer, CEO of The Alliance to End Plastic Waste; Jim Fish, CEO of Waste Management; and Halsey Cook, CEO of Milliken and Co., the parent company of fabric resource Milliken Specialty Interiors.       The panelists delved further into the barriers and enablers of the circular economy that they have witnessed in trying to address the model in their own businesses.   “Sustainability has to be both environmentally and economically viable in order to be truly sustainable,” said Fish. “That’s one of the biggest points.” He noted barriers to that include issues with reselling imperfect recycled materials to consumers who expect perfect product, finding ways to make selling low value plastics profitable.   Additionally, Duer said that the lack of waste management systems across the world make effectively disposing of plastic nearly impossible. To combat that, The Alliance to End Plastic Waste has partnered with companies to source funds to create practical solutions for waste management. At the time of the forum, Duer and his partner companies had pledged $1.5 billion to fund the research.   “I think that’s an indication of companies’ commitment,” said Duer.   For Milliken’s Cook, an important aspect is the economic incentives as controlled by consumer demand and willingness to pay higher prices for goods made with higher recycled plastic content and things like that. More research and technological advances on the part of all businesses will be crucial, too. Milliken, which doesn’t produce recycled plastics itself, makes additives that can help strengthen and change recycled plastics’ characteristics. There, Cook said, Milliken has the chance to make the recycling process easier through investments in tech and research, something all companies have to be willing to make despite the initial investment costs.   “What we’ve seen as time has gone on is that the unintended consequences of businesses that have a blind eye toward their communities or towards their environment end up becoming very risky enterprises,” Cook said. “If you don’t take a view towards the impact of your business across all your stakeholders, you can pay a huge penalty that would ultimately impact your shareholders, too. So your bottom line matters, but it’s not the only thing that matters.”

One of the reasons I’m proud to cover the packaging industry as a journalist is because of all the good you do that I get to write about. Right now, a lot of people are fighting this temporary coronavirus crisis on many levels. Here is my opinion on some things the packaging industry has recommended, suggested, or already done to help. 1. Postpone large congregations, yes, but keep talking about the packaging issues. For safety, as well as because of restrictions on international travel and large gatherings, the world’s largest packaging show, interpack — which was to take place this May — has been rescheduled for 2021. New dates are February 25 to March 3, and I hope to see you there. Many other packaging-related events this spring have been postponed or cancelled. Rightly so. But let’s continue to talk about packaging issues to keep advancing needed solutions. We’ll probably see an uptick in virtual meetings and events. I encourage you to still PARTICIPATE when you can. 2. Reinstate domestic pharmaceutical production. The current COVID-19 situation has revealed a disturbing reliance on China for the manufacture of critical medicines and Active Pharmaceutical Ingredients (APIs), something the producers of CPhI Worldwide have highlighted over the years [Editor’s disclaimer: CPhI, the world’s leading platform for pharmaceutical ingredients solutions, is produced by Packaging Digest’s parent company]. According to FiercePharma, the US Food and Drug Administration doesn’t even know the extent of our dependence. But John R. Henry, packaging machinery wizard at Changeover.com and Puerto Rican resident, reminds us that the island still has the infrastructure and talent to again be the pharmaceutical manufacturing hub it was from the 1970s through the early 2000s when pharmaceutical companies took advantage of the US federal tax incentive known as Section 936. 3. Keep/reward ethics in business. Price gouging happens during a crisis. It shouldn’t; but it does. Form-fill-seal machinery manufacturer QuickPouch announced last week that it would work harder to support customers involved with projects to contain/fight COVID-19 and would waive any expedited/rush fees. Here's my tweet: @QuickPouch waives expediting/rush fees, prioritizes in-stock system allocation, and dedicates extra hours to ensure that #packaging systems for any #COVID19 related applications are put into service ASAP https://t.co/qZHJoMEujg Thanks! — Lisa McTigue Pierce (@lisajmpierce) March 12, 2020 What other companies should be commended for their ethical efforts during this pandemic? Please tell us in the comments below. 4. Use/promote hygienic packaging. I don’t often editorialize, but I will admit that I see huge value in reusable packaging in today’s “sustainability” climate, like that developed for the Loop circular shopping platform. And in “Pandemic Prompts Fears over Transition to Reusable Products” from Environmental Leader, Loop CEO Tom Szaky reassures us that packages in the Loop program are aggressively cleaned to ensure safety. But I also think single-use packaging, which has suffered from huge criticism in recent years because of its supposed wastefulness, might have an edge right now from a “sanitary” point of view because of limited handling/access of the inner products. Starbucks and other foodservice establishments seem to agree, as they temporarily stop refilling their customers’ reusable cups because of the pandemic. I expect interest in packaging and cleanliness to climb — because it already has. Our July 2018 article “Top 5 trends shaping the antimicrobial packaging market” is seeing a spike in page views and is already one of the top stories of March 2020. Regardless of what packaging task you perform — whether packaging design, production, or logistics — thanks for helping to deliver safe and secure products and supplies across the nation during this trying time. Take special care, please.

The annual Independent Beauty Expo presents industry professionals, retail operators and influencers with the newest beauty and grooming products — many made from natural ingredients rather than synthetics — and this year’s Los Angeles edition of the show showcased many age-appropriate things for busy teens on the go that are now available to the general public.   The best of the show for teens not only makes living a responsible “organic lifestyle” (earth-safe vegan ingredients, minimal and recyclable packaging) more accessible, but also more portable, leak-proof and TSA-friendly.   Higher Education Skincare, formulated by Newport Beach, California, dermatologist Susan Cox, just might be the ultimate entry-level skincare program. She uses an element of fun to educate women aged 15–35 about proper skincare through such offerings as Pre-Req, MBA, Night Owl, Study Buddy, Spring Break, Rush and Grinding Away to master cleansing, exfoliating, hydrating, acne treatment and sun protection.   Waverly, Iowa-based Root Eco Beauty + Lifestyle features a natural color palette as well a full line of natural skincare, hair care, body care and nontoxic cleaning products. In terms of items for young women on the go, the Pretty Kit ($62) offers everything one needs to make their face the perfect canvas. Other handy releases include Pretty Paint Cream blush + lip tins ($16) and the Pretty Forever Palette ($30), which allows for mixing and matching everyday essentials on the go.   Teens who like to experiment with bolder colors will enjoy Hollywood-inspired lifestyle brand IBY Beauty. While its new lipstick line is full of girly, age-appropriate ,colored lipsticks, kits feature eye-catching artwork holding coordinating shadows or blushes. The company’s mission statement is “Encouraging self-expression and redefining beauty standards with cruelty-free products that won’t break the bank.” Highlights include Glow Up on the Go, a highlighter kit complete with brush ($24); California-inspired lip kits ($29); professional make-up artist-styled “Contour and Conquer”; and splashy eye shadow palettes ($20).   MODA by Royal & Langnickel Brush Manufacturing offers both full- and travel-sized cosmetics brush sets ($6.99–44.99) in a variety of colors and finishes, as well as a few extra perks. In partnership with environmental organization TerraCycle, one can send the company used makeup brushes and get up to 30 percent off the next purchase. Its website also features its Beauty Blog Mavens, young women their age offering tips and tricks for lasting applications.   Young women and men who either have skincare favorites they can’t live without or have a prescribed skincare regimen will appreciate Kate Westad’s Palette by Pak, a reusable lifesaver with five leak-proof compartments. The U.S.-made refillable kit holds essentials in a small, packable space and is reusable, washable, flexible and eliminates the need to buy bulkier travel bottles or travel-sized products.   Smartypits serves up a fruit stand’s worth of aluminum-free deodorants formulated exclusively for teens’ and preteens’ sensitive skin ($9), including the best-selling Pink Lemonade scent and a subtle timber/pine scent boys can relate to. The company also offers four-packs of travel-sized minis for adults and teens with different scent selections to suit one’s mood as well as hygiene needs. Anybody who regularly goes on quick weekend trips (i.e. a high school athlete traveling to a game in another city) will appreciate the ease of Whish’s Deodorant Swipes ($22) made with natural and organic ingredients, including witch hazel extract, organic licorice, organic chamomile and organic calendula.   Teens and parents flying cross-country or overseas will appreciate the fact Starry Eyes and Jet Setter eye masks by Popmask ($20 for a five-pack) not only blocks out light, but are is also self-heating on the first use when the outer package is open and reacts with oxygen. U.K. inventor Louisa Booth is also in the process of releasing a lightly scented variation on the mask with relaxation-boosting vegan botanicals previewed at the IBE show.

Many of these patients require some type of refractive correction but aren’t even aware of their contact lens options.

  By Mile Brujic, OD, and David Kading, OD   Presbyopia is a near-certainty for anyone who lives to reach the age at which the eye’s natural accommodative ability begins to fail. By the time patients are 50 years old, nearly 100% require some type of refractive correction. There is no other condition we manage where the same holds true. Yet only a small percentage of these patients wear contact lenses. We have the opportunity to step in and satisfy this unmet need.   Ophthalmic lens and contact lens technologies present solutions for these patients. Unfortunately, many aren’t aware that there are contact lens options available, as they may not have been given the chance to try them. In the near future, there will also be pharmaceutical options to treat the symptoms of presbyopia. It is critical that we help our patients understand all of their options so that we can improve their outcomes and our standard of care.  

Daily Disposables

Historically, daily disposable lenses have been somewhat limited in their parameter availability, making it difficult for some patients to successfully wear them. This should not overshadow their advantages, especially as there has been an expansion in power ranges. These lenses are worn and disposed of on a daily basis, so there is no interaction with cleaning and disinfecting solutions, and patients are guaranteed a clean, fresh lens wearing experience each day. Daily disposables are an ideal option for patients who stand to benefit from contact lenses and prefer part-time wear.   One complaint patients may have about daily disposable lenses is the amount of waste they produce. Fortunately, TerraCycle offers a program for patients to recycle lenses and packaging, and manufacturers like Bausch + Lomb have taken the initiative to encourage recycling.      

Specialty Lenses

  There are currently no daily disposable options available to presbyopic patients who have astigmatic refractive error. Those interested in daily disposables are often limited to best-corrected distance vision in contact lenses and a combination of reading glasses and contact lenses to see at near. Monovision could help reduce the dependency for near glasses over contact lenses.   We have had access to specialty soft contact lens designs for decades. These lenses give patients with multifocal requirements who also need astigmatic refractive correction the opportunity to wear contact lenses. The inherent challenge with these lenses is that they are custom made and come with a wait time for initial access and orders and reorders in the case of modifications.   Presbyopic lenses with astigmatic correction have experienced advances in recent years. There is now a monthly disposable silicone hydrogel lens Ultra Multifocal for Astigmatism (Bausch + Lomb) with toric and multifocal correction. The lens is made of samfilcon A and is 46% water. This lens is unique in that it is available in a diagnostic set to help you avoid much of the wait time in the ordering process.  

Other Options

  As a profession, optometry has become increasingly aware of line of sight and how it may affect a patient’s visual performance in soft multifocal designs. This can be seen through the advancements the field has made. We now have a contemporary soft multifocal design and a scleral lens design we can customize to offset the optics nasally to correspond with a patient’s line of sight.   Gas permeable (GP) lenses are a viable option for presbyopes, even though they often are thought of as a secondary option for patients who may experience initial lens awareness. GPs provide optical clarity and are intuitively designed to provide distance vision correction in the center of the lens while progressing to the near powers toward more peripheral portions. Translation of the lens in downgaze allows patients to acquire more near power.   Hybrid lenses provide opportunities for presbyopes as well. These lenses have a GP center that is surrounded by a soft lens skirt. This makes initial lens awareness subtler, similarly to soft lenses, and offers comparable optical quality properties to standard GP lenses.   Although much of the conversation surrounding orthokeratology over the last several years has revolved around managing myopia, we certainly can’t overlook our presbyopic patients as potential candidates who are looking for alternatives to glasses or traditional contact lenses. As such, myopic presbyopes are a logical group to consider with this lens technology. Because of the reverse curve in the lens design, the cornea has a prominent steep curve around the pupil. We could look at orthokeratology as having a similar effect as distance-centered, near periphery soft multifocal lenses (Figure 1). As presbyopia progresses, the appropriate next step would seem to be inducing monovision with the lens by under-correcting the level of myopia in the non-dominant eye.   Hyperopic-correcting ortho-K lenses are also now available. As opposed to placing pressure on the central portion of the cornea, they put pressure on more peripheral portions of the cornea, steepening the central cornea and inducing myopic refractive correction. When done over the non-dominant eye, it can have a monovision effect, promoting better near vision.^1,2  

Pharmaceutical Treatments

  There are several pharmaceutical options on the horizon. It is critical that contact lens practitioners understand how to use these new technologies to supplement the contemporary contact lens practice.   In early presbyopes, this may replace the need for multifocal contact lenses, allowing patients to continue with single vision lenses while using drops. Depending on the efficacy of the drop, it may negate the need for multifocal technologies for more advanced presbyopes as well. Some s may still need presbyopic refractive correction in addition to pharmaceutical assistance, although to a lower degree than what would be expected. This could be achieved with lower add-powered multifocals, which are beneficial because there is less of a discrepancy between the distance and near optics within the lens, maximizing the chances of a patient’s success.   There are several presbyopic drops currently under development to be aware of. EV06 1.5% (UNR844-Cl) by Novartis is a lipoic acid choline ester that breaks disulfide bonds, which are thought to harden the lens over time.^3,4 By disrupting these bonds, the lens becomes more elastic and regains some functionality. PRX-100 by Presbyopia Therapies, CSF-1 by Orasis Pharmaceuticals and AGN-199201 and AGN-190584 by Allergan are miotic treatments that create a pinhole effect to allow for a greater depth of focus.^5-8   Leveraging these technologies to enhance contact lens success will improve the presbyopic experience by giving patients more freedom from spectacle wear.     With current contact lens technologies and the promise of future therapies, we should have no problem helping presbyopic patients achieve clear vision and a comfortable lifestyle and fulfilling a need that has been neglected.  

When did we get so fixated on having our soap dispensed to us in liquid form? Yes, it has a luxurious feel compared to a utilitarian bar of or soap and makes less of a mess of your washbasin. But the packaging – for the most part, made of plastic – comes with an environmental cost. It's particularly on our minds right now as soap sales have soared with all the handwashing that we're doing. One brand, Dani Naturals, has reported a spike of 700 per cent in sales in just one week.   Thankfully, we’re learning to love soap bars again – and even embrace shampoo bars. However, for those of us wedded to liquids, there are now more soaps, shampoos and even self-tans available in less impactful ways – via refill pouches and ‘forever’ bottles.   The refillables model works best with items that we use lots of – such as soap and shampoo and that can be easily topped up. It's not so simple for smaller skincare items such as serums, where meticulous cleaning of the bottle would be important so that remnants from your old batch don't contaminate your new one. Skincare brands are for the most part opting for recycled and recyclable packaging for that reason.   However, that could be set to change with TerraCycle’s Loop refill scheme – already available in Paris and parts of the US and set to launch in the UK this year, 2020. It is partnering with brands such as Ren and Nivea to collect your skincare and other domestic item empties from your door, clean them hygienically and give them back to you full.       Refill bars in stores and salons are becoming more common too. At Boots Concept Store in London's Covent Garden, Beauty Kitchen's refill bar encourages you to buy an aluminium 'bottle for life' and (re)fill it with face wash, shampoo, conditioner or body wash. Around the corner at Cara Delevingne's hairdresser Windle London, you receive 30 per cent off if you bring your shampoo and conditioner bottles in to be topped up. While over at Bleach London, bring in your refillable 500ml Pearlescent Shampoo or Conditioner bottle to one of their salons and save £4 on the full price of £14. Faith In Nature shampoos, body washes and conditioners are not only great value (mostly less than a fiver) they are widely refillable in independent health stores around the country.   If you want to minimize your environmental footprint, here are the brands that are leading the charge for refillables – allowing you to save on packaging and on price.       L'Occitane has been doing eco refills since 2008 and this is a chance to buy a raved-about premium skincare product at knock-down price. It's part of L’Occitane’s anti-ageing L’Imortelle range, it gets off every scrap of makeup and smells divine. The refill pouch offers is a significant saving on the original packaging (£22 for 150ml) but you do have to buy the plastic pot once as you need the foaming action of the nozzle to enjoy the product in all its lathery glory.   L’Occitane is committed to recycling and has partnered with recycling organisation TerraCycle to provide recycling station for beauty empties from any brand in its boutiques nationwide. They’ll give you 10 per cent off full-price L’Occitane purchases on the day if you do.     Just launched in the UK, this Australian brand claims to be the first tanning brand to use refill packs. They use 83 per cent less plastic than the original plastic bottle, which you will need to buy once (£15.95 for 200ml) as it's the nozzle that creates the foaming action. What’s great about these new eco brands is that they are setting themselves up from the get-go to be as sustainable as possible in every part of their supply chain. Australian glow uses Ocean Waster Plastic (OWP – you’ll see that label more and more) and each bottle is the equivalent of eight plastic bags removed from the ocean. Ingredients are vegan, cruelty-free and organic, natural nock-sticky and the smell is subtle. The one-hours express tans come in Dark and Extra dark and are for ‘experienced tanners’ (although I’m quite cack-handed and I didn’t have problems) and there’s also a medium which works in four to six hours but doesn’t (yet) have a refill.       For budget eco washing (yourself and your clothes) Faith In Nature can’t be beaten – they’ve been going since 1974 when being eco was considered hippy and fringe. The British brand is passionate about keeping prices affordable so everyone can benefit from their no-nasties approach (they are SLS, SLES and paraben-free). They do an impressive array of soap bars and shampoo bars as well as shampoos, conditioners, body washes and even laundry liquid in 5l bumper refill sizes for around £50 (Holland and Barrett have a £37.50 offer on that the moment on some of them). They come in gorgeous natural botanical scents and there's a fragrance-free body wash too. Pretty much everything comes in a generous 400ml refillable bottle (recycled plastic where possible) and costs less than a fiver.         Now £44 may sound steep for a shampoo, but New York Salon Hairstory want to eliminate the need to buy a shampoo and conditioner separately with one serves-all product. The innovative New Wash comes in three forms: Original, Deep (for oily hair) and Extra Conditioning. It’s free from sulphates, silicones and synthetic fragrance and doesn’t strip the scalp’s protective barrier. This allows you to go longer between washes because your scalp doesn’t overproduce the natural oils that traditional shampooing can strip - so you buy less. Join the New Wash subscription club and they will send you a free aluminium bottle and save you money on regular purchases.       This British sustainable, artisan no-nasties brand has opted for cans instead of pouches as their refill of choice. The rationale? Aluminium has an infinite life as a recyclable - 75 per cent of all aluminium produced is recycled still in use today says Recycle Now. Plastic, on the other hand, can only be recycled two to three times before its quality decreases too much, according to National Geographic. It takes 95 per cent less energy to make a can from recycled materials, says Kan Kan, plus they are light, recyclable everywhere and don't have tricky-to-dispose-of lids.   With the Kan Kan model, you buy the one-time 'forever' bottle, it arrives in cardboard packaging (which you can send back for them to use again, via the returns label), they plant a tree to thank you for your purchase and everyone’s happy. They do three types of wash, Body, Baby and Hand (all £15) and the starter sets – an empty bottle plus one can are £24. Yes, it’s a lot for soap but you are supporting a brand that really wants to change the packaging game.     L’Occitane has an impressive selection of supersize bath, shower and handwash refill pouches ranging from hand soaps - £18 for a large 500ml of Lavender Hand Wash - to a Lavender Foaming Bath Duo for 44.50, which gives you a whole litre of product as 500ml aluminium ‘forever’ bottle and a same-size refill. The pouches use 98 per cent less plastic. I particularly love the Almond Shower Oil Refill Duo. The Almond Oil Shower Refill by itself costs £28 for 500ml.   Buy it now   Got any eco beauty and wellness recommendations we should know about? Let us know in the comments below.

In the circular economy there is a growing need for durability in product packaging. Not only could a model of packaging reuse help the environment, but, when done right, could also be financially effective for manufacturers. Tim Debus, president and CEO of the Reusable Packaging Association presenting at PACK EXPO East. The term “circular economy” is gaining traction as of late, as people around the world realize the linear economy of take, make, dispose—which for decades has been a mainstream mindset for many people—has created a massive amount of waste that is destroying the environment. The circular economy is a closed-loop system that regenerates resources through reuse, refurbishing, and recycling. Of course, recycling is a popular approach, but, unfortunately, is not making much of a difference. According to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), of the  267.8 million tons of municipal solid waste (MSW) that was generated in the U.S. in 2017, about 94 million tons of that was recycled and composted, equivalent to a 35.2% recycling and composting rate. That doesn’t make a dent at the dump. “In the 1970s we recognized the problem of pollution…but we haven’t been successful in decades,” said Tim Debus, president and CEO of the Reusable Packaging Association (RPA), who was presenting on the Innovation Stage at PACK EXPO East in Philadelphia. “It’s been a 50 year effort of recycling and we are not at the point where it is an effective way to manage waste.” Debus points out, too, that packaging makes up 30% of the total solid waste—and only 3% of that packaging is reusable. As a result, there needs to be a drastic shift in the way we package and reuse products in the circular economy. For that, he points to a need for the durability of materials to ultimately drive efficiency in a zero-waste system. Durability vs. Disposability The “throwaway lifestyle,” in which consumers buy single-use products that they ultimately dispose of, means that manufacturers are making products with low cost goods. While it may seem like a good economic model for manufacturers, in reality, a circular system that uses durable materials will provide a more positive long term payback. “The circular economy is not [only] a sustainability model, it is an economic model and a way of doing business and managing resources,” Debus said. The three components of the new circular economy include: ·     Designing waste out of the system by creating continuous use of materials. ·      Maintaining the value of products at the highest level possible. ·      Restoring the natural ecosystem thereby allowing  biological  systems to flourish and provide more raw/natural materials.   “Durability should be one of the leading design components of products and of the system in which products are used. Collaborating with supply chain partners needs to be a part of the design as well,” Debus said. An example of this is the TerraCycle Loop model. Loop provides beautiful, counter-worthy containers that can be refilled over and over and conveniently delivered to the consumer’s door. The company has partnered with some of the biggest consumer packaged goods (CPG) companies, and developed a subscription-based home delivery service where the packaging from food and household goods don’t get thrown out or recycled, but reused. Clorox wipes, for example, are delivered in a stainless steel container vs. a plastic container. Not only does it look nice—and can be displayed on the countertop—but it is designed for reuse.  When empty, the durable canister is placed in a Loop tote to be picked up and sent back to a cleaning facility and then refilled.  So, it is functional, a little fancy, and actually financially effective for manufacturers. According to Debus, reuse pays back repeatedly over time.  For example, if a company with one million shipments per year designs a durable container for reuse, they can get perhaps six uses out of that container per year. The idea being that every other month it is returned back to be refilled and shipped forward. So they don’t need a million containers. In this scenario they need about 166,000 containers that can provide one million uses—which results in a significant amount of cost savings—especially if the container is designed to last 10-to-20 years. There are other factors in play here, as well, such as new government regulations like the Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) policy. EPR shifts responsibility back to manufacturers to clean up the wastes produced from their products and packaging after the consumer is through with them. “What we’ve been doing as an industry is packaging boxes and away it goes—the cost is off of my books. But someone else is picking up the cost, like municipalities. There is no market for that anymore,” Debus explained. As a result, the U.S. is picking up on the same EPR rules that are popular in Europe, and which we are seeing a little bit already in the U.S. for carpet, chemicals, and car batteries. But these takeback programs will soon focus on packaging. Manufacturers are no longer absent from responsibility, Debus said, which makes the circular economy based on durable containers even that much more appealing.

In the circular economy there is a growing need for durability in product packaging. Not only could a model of packaging reuse help the environment, but, when done right, could also be financially effective for manufacturers. The term “circular economy” is gaining traction as of late, as people around the world realize the linear economy of take, make, dispose—which for decades has been a mainstream mindset for many people—has created a massive amount of waste that is destroying the environment. The circular economy is a closed-loop system that regenerates resources through reuse, refurbishing, and recycling. Of course, recycling is a popular approach, but, unfortunately, is not making much of a difference. According to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), of the  267.8 million tons of municipal solid waste (MSW) that was generated in the U.S. in 2017, about 94 million tons of that was recycled and composted, equivalent to a 35.2% recycling and composting rate. That doesn’t make a dent at the dump. “In the 1970s we recognized the problem of pollution…but we haven’t been successful in decades,” said Tim Debus, president and CEO of the Reusable Packaging Association (RPA), who was presenting on the Innovation Stage at PACK EXPO East in Philadelphia. “It’s been a 50 year effort of recycling and we are not at the point where it is an effective way to manage waste.” Debus points out, too, that packaging makes up 30% of the total solid waste—and only 3% of that packaging is reusable. As a result, there needs to be a drastic shift in the way we package and reuse products in the circular economy. For that, he points to a need for the durability of materials to ultimately drive efficiency in a zero-waste system. Durability vs. Disposability The “throwaway lifestyle,” in which consumers buy single-use products that they ultimately dispose of, means that manufacturers are making products with low cost goods. While it may seem like a good economic model for manufacturers, in reality, a circular system that uses durable materials will provide a more positive long term payback. “The circular economy is not [only] a sustainability model, it is an economic model and a way of doing business and managing resources,” Debus said. The three components of the new circular economy include: ·     Designing waste out of the system by creating continuous use of materials. ·      Maintaining the value of products at the highest level possible. ·      Restoring the natural ecosystem thereby allowing  biological  systems to flourish and provide more raw/natural materials.   “Durability should be one of the leading design components of products and of the system in which products are used. Collaborating with supply chain partners needs to be a part of the design as well,” Debus said. An example of this is the TerraCycle Loop model. Loop provides beautiful, counter-worthy containers that can be refilled over and over and conveniently delivered to the consumer’s door. The company has partnered with some of the biggest consumer packaged goods (CPG) companies, and developed a subscription-based home delivery service where the packaging from food and household goods don’t get thrown out or recycled, but reused. Clorox wipes, for example, are delivered in a stainless steel container vs. a plastic container. Not only does it look nice—and can be displayed on the countertop—but it is designed for reuse.  When empty, the durable canister is placed in a Loop tote to be picked up and sent back to a cleaning facility and then refilled.  So, it is functional, a little fancy, and actually financially effective for manufacturers. According to Debus, reuse pays back repeatedly over time.  For example, if a company with one million shipments per year designs a durable container for reuse, they can get perhaps six uses out of that container per year. The idea being that every other month it is returned back to be refilled and shipped forward. So they don’t need a million containers. In this scenario they need about 166,000 containers that can provide one million uses—which results in a significant amount of cost savings—especially if the container is designed to last 10-to-20 years. There are other factors in play here, as well, such as new government regulations like the Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) policy. EPR shifts responsibility back to manufacturers to clean up the wastes produced from their products and packaging after the consumer is through with them. “What we’ve been doing as an industry is packaging boxes and away it goes—the cost is off of my books. But someone else is picking up the cost, like municipalities. There is no market for that anymore,” Debus explained. As a result, the U.S. is picking up on the same EPR rules that are popular in Europe, and which we are seeing a little bit already in the U.S. for carpet, chemicals, and car batteries. But these takeback programs will soon focus on packaging. Manufacturers are no longer absent from responsibility, Debus said, which makes the circular economy based on durable containers even that much more appealing.  

The coronavirus covid-19 is forcing companies and local governments worldwide to re-examine environmental strategies that emphasized reusable products such as cups and shopping bags. This week the World Health Organization labeled the novel coronavirus a pandemic, and urged businesses and governments globally to “break the chains” of transmission. Cases in New York increased around the same time as a planned plastic bag ban went into effect on March 1. “The ban on single-use plastic grocery bags is unsanitary — and it comes at the worst imaginable time,” columnist and contributing editor John Tierney wrote in City Journal on Thursday. Citing several research studies, he pointed to the risk of spreading viruses through reusable plastic shopping bags. Starbucks recently announced that the company temporary stopped allowing customers to use personal cups and tumblers at its stores globally, CNN reported. The chain vowed to continue honoring the discount for bringing reusable cups and mugs; employees just couldn’t fill them. Dunkin’ Brands followed suit, saying that they were also temporarily halting their reusable mug program. Neither chain has indicated how long the suspensions will be in place. Canadian chain Tim Hortons also delayed plans to hand out 1.8 million reusable cups as part of a new initiative. Although the pandemic presents serious challenges to the zero waste movement, TerraCycle founder and CEO Tom Szaky told Grist’s L.V. Anderson that disposable packaging isn’t necessarily sterile. “Disposability brought about unparalleled affordability and convenience,” he said, referring to its rise in the 1950s. “What ended up happening is people got this misperception that wrapping something in plastic also made it more sanitary.” Anderson noted that TerraCycle’s circular shopping model Loop aims to counter that perception. “Szaky emphasized that the process of rewashing Loop’s reusable packaging is ‘at the most sophisticated level washing can be,’” she wrote. On Friday, Maryland took a step toward banning single-use plastic bags with a House vote of 95 to 38, the Washington Post reported. However, the bill has exceptions that include bags for produce, meat, candy, newspapers, and frozen food.