WRAP PACKAGING
“A lot of these materials can be petrochemical derived,” he explains. “So even if they can claim the final product is completely biodegradable, the companies have used so many petrochemical ingredients that it doesn’t really make the entire process very green.” With this in mind, Rodriguez says if companies can remove Cellophane and the like entirely from their product range, they should. “Why would you have an extra layer of packaging which is not providing any extra performance?”
RETHINKING PACKAGING Echoing Rodriguez’s thoughts, Sian Sutherland, co-founder of NGO A Plastic Planet, asks whether the beauty industry should even be using packaging and gift wrap in 2023 at all, given the environmental crisis affecting the planet?
use plant-derived materials, such as rapeseed meal, whilst utilising the same manufacturing process. Rodriguez continues: “Our next generation material performs like synthetic polymers, but decomposes naturally and fully, without harming the environment.” The company’s business model primarily focuses on creating products which replace the most polluting plastics, such as single use sachets and small format packaging. These are the types of material which can be too small to be captured by recycling systems, and inevitably reach the natural environment and become harmful for the ecosystem.
But Xampla has also developed a flexible film that performs the same function as cellulose wrap using the same manufacturing methods, which is even edible and cookable.
In order to ensure the material is suitable for consumption and storing foods, the manufacturing process does not use any toxic chemicals. Rodriguez is proud of this aspect of the business, particularly when considering the dangerous chemical, carbon disulfide, that workers can be exposed to when creating traditional cellulose wrap.
“It is terrible, because people have died in the past from exposure to carbon disulfide,” says Rodriguez.
He does acknowledge that some of the larger manufacturers of such product do have ways of working safely with the chemical. “But it is still a very dangerous and polluting chemical, that is why we have been trying to develop processes that do not require the use of very toxic material,” he adds.
Rodriguez warns that even though Cellophane and some alternatives are made from biomaterials, they can still be created using non-environmentally friendly methods.
cosmeticsbusiness.com
Among Xampla’s offering (above) is a flexible film that performs the same function as
Cellophane, but with a manufacturing process claimed to be cleaner
She points to Lush as a great example of a beauty brand getting packing right. While the brand still uses 100% biodegradable Cellophane for some of its products, as much as 65% of the British body care brand’s range is sold without any packaging at all. Sutherland also believes that brands can remove unnecessary Cellophane and plastic gift wrap use without having to compromise on the luxury aspect of beauty retailing.
“There are ways to do this without it just being taking a fragrance bottle back to store and filling it up from a tap,” she adds. “Because we will lose the magic of that experience, and when you are looking at premium products, we never want to lose that magic.”
She argues that the industry needs to be “more imaginative”.
“How about we have a system where you bring your bottle back, but you take pre-filled ones? So you still have that exciting experience,” she adds. “But that bottle goes back into the system – we don’t own the bottle.”
Sutherland says the delay in brands updating their model could come down to the fact they are scared to be first. By having that “flimsy little bit of Cellophane” there is an idea that it still gives them a competitive advantage. “We have got to stop thinking in that way, and we’ve got to think it is down to the shopper,” she adds. “For too long we have laid the onus of responsibility on the shopper, because they are the ones who choose to buy the one with the shiny wrapper.” The reality, she argues, is that it is brands who have continued to sell products wrapped in Cellophane, and that the real change must come back to the industry. Yet Lilienfeld remains hopeful for the future. He believes many consumers have shifted their views on wrap, and do not see it as a sign that the product within is any more luxurious as a result. “A lot of luxury is now added through use of metallic inks, metallic foils, high gloss and good printing,” he adds. “So that shine that used to come from Cellophane film, if you will, really is no longer needed”
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