What's the Story With Beauty Product Packaging?

Why is it that beauty products are seldom packaged in recyclable containers? Even when their containers are plastic, they seldom have recognizable recycling symbols on them. Sometimes they have what I assume are European symbols on them. Did you know that this symbol –

the German 'Green Dot', has no environmental significance at all? It only means that the manufacturer has paid a fee towards the packaging recovery system in Germany.

Is the beauty industry too upmarket to put the little triangle on the bottom of their packaging? Do they think their little packages would make the symbol too tiny to read? If that’s the case, why couldn’t they just print the recycling symbols on the cardboard backers? Beauty products are so notoriously over packaged, their makers should be striving to ensure that most of that waste gets recycled.

I’m sure that printing everything on the package in French and using the European symbols fools us silly Americans into thinking the products are somehow better than if they printed the same thing in English and gave us the little 1 or 2 in a triangle. Or is it because they aren’t actually using recyclable plastics at all?

Interestingly, in 2007 Revlon Australia was highly commended in Packaging for their recycling initiatives and lobbying of overseas manufacturers to reduce the environmental impact of used packaging in personal care and cosmetics products. “As 90% of product manufacture takes place outside of Australia, Revlon Australia endured the challenging task of educating US packaging designers about minimizing the amount of excess packaging produced. With 85% of new product development occurring in the US, Revlon Australia will continue to encourage designers to use recycling logos on new, and existing products, and to use recyclable materials where possible.”

Since I became more frugal I’ve started using a lot of Revlon cosmetics and, in preparing this article, I checked them all and discovered nary a triangle upon any of them. I guess they need to encourage a bit more. In fact no cosmetics I own, from Maybelline to Lancome to Channel have a recycling symbol.

Perhaps, though, there is hope -

For 2009 Almay is announcing their Almay Pure Blends line. Pure Blends “is a natural collection that offers eco-friendly products and packaging made from 44% post-consumer recycled materials, on average (emphasis mine), and traditional blister cards are being replaced with more environmentally-friendly hang tags”.

Aveda is reputed to be using a good deal of post-consumer recycled material in their product’s packaging. If that’s true, I applaud their efforts.

On the other hand, in 1991 the L’Oreal group formed an Environment Management Department and created all sorts of lofty goals about reducing their environmental impact in packaging, shipping, point-of-sale displays and at their work sites. In 2006, they bought The Body Shop, known for its strong stance on many environmental issues. Although they have achieved some of their goals and even won some awards, in the nearly 20 years since they reportedly turned their attention to the environment, no little triangles on their products. I found the following statement on their website – “The impact of our products and our activities on the environment, as well as the preservation of biodiversity, are a central concern to us. All of these aspects are integrated in each step of our processes, particularly in the very basis of what we expect from our suppliers.” Okay, so…? They have a lot of blue sky and green grass on the Sustainable Development section of their website, but have they really made a big impact?

I’m not picking on L’Oreal specifically; I’m just using them as an example of what I believe is an industry-wide problem. Everyone is talking the talk. How many are actually walking the walk?

What we do see a lot of is the word “natural” on our cosmetics. There is no law defining the use of the word "natural" to describe a cosmetic ingredient. Despite its widespread use, no standard, certification or central authority exists at present to guarantee both product and process in the cosmetics industry as being "natural".

In addition to my online research, in order to ensure I was completely up-to-date, I spent one day going to every store in my admittedly very small town that sells cosmetics and checked all the packaging for signs of recyclability. It didn’t take long but I did find some of the Almay Pure Blends line already on the shelf and, although they are trumpeting 98.2% “natural” on their labels, nary a recycling symbol did I see. I also stopped by a local salon which sells Aveda products and, although all the labels reported on Aveda’s use of post –consumer recycled materials, which is wonderful, again, I saw no recycling symbols anywhere. In fact, Maybelline’s Pure Minerals line was the only cosmetic I found adorned with the trusty triangle.

When I ambled into shampoos and conditioners I was happy to see lots of triangles. Interestingly enough, though, the ones which were packaged top down, seemed to be missing them. Pantene had triangle on their shampoos but not their upside down conditioners. The same was true of Garnier Fructis. Did the triangle upset their design esthetic? Even more interesting was that while Suave Naturals had the triangle on everything, Suave Professional had the triangle on nothing! Does that mean the triangle somehow demeaned the product? The higher end they wanted to be, the less environmentally responsible?

So, what’s an environmentally responsible person to do? Be conscientious about seeking out beauty products in recyclable containers and with post-consumer recycled materials in their packaging. In spite of my doom and gloom article, there are products out there with the PET triangle logo on them. Glass bottles are recyclable in most areas as are those little lip balm tins. Buy products with a minimum of packaging. The beauty industry will eventually come around. Support them as they do. Your dollars will convince the others to follow suit.