32% of urban Australians prefer eco-friendly packaging and sustainable beauty products, but only 17% are willing to pay premium prices, Mintel analysts reveal.
This is in line with Millennial and Gen-Z concerns with environmentally friendly and sustainable practices, particularly in relation to plastic reduction.
Packaging-free is the new frontier. Taking something that is traditionally liquid and formulating it to make it solid is a mainstay of UK brand LUSH, which produces packaging-free solid shampoo bars and body lotions for its worldwide consumers.
But for smaller brands, shifting to packaging-free is much too costly, requiring new formulations and products.
Creating a ‘re-fill’ program, letting customers refill their old packaging with new product for a discounted price, is great marketing but also poses significant problems when it comes to testing and efficacy.
Mintel advises that brands can instead focus on increasing recycled content in rigid and flexible plastic packaging.
Brands can also provide their customers with a zero product waste experience. Using airless pumps allows maximum formula protection while reducing residue on the bottom of the pack.
Airless glass packaging by Italian company Lumson allows the consumer to separate the plastic pump from the glass bottle. Unlike glass that is contaminated with plastic, Lumson’s Techno Airless Glass packaging requires no special post recycling process. Lumson has marked its packaging with recycling logos, which brands can use to promote recycling to consumers.
Brands can also continue to promote eco-friendly practices by seeking green ingredients and finding sustainable packaging where appropriate. Using materials certified by Ecocert and emphasising environmental attributes in the initial design and production development process (such as papers made with recycled content) provides an ideal foundation for developing an eco-friendly and sustainable beauty brand.
Image courtesy of Diego Botero.