According to the news of NHK television on May 6, recently, the "upcycling" business of turning garbage into treasure has become popular among Japanese enterprises, especially food related enterprises, which are actively developing the business of developing food materials such as fruit peel that people usually throw away into processed food. A large Japanese food takeout company has successfully made related products. They make pear stalks into snack chips, banana peels into fruit sauce, etc.

 

This kind of environment-friendly food is eye-catching. When looking back to the field of cosmetics, the industry and enterprises are also trying to reduce environmental pollution and harm while paying attention to development. You know, with the popularity of natural environmental protection, the advocacy of green and low-carbon concept, the pursuit of nature and green in the production and use of highly competitive cosmetics track has gradually become an inevitable development trend of the industry.

 

 

 

 

At the end of April, the State Administration of Market Supervision announced a number of typical cases of excessive packaging law enforcement. One case involving cosmetics is the case of Sephora (Shanghai) Cosmetics Sales Co., Ltd. selling over packaged perfume, which was investigated and dealt with by Shanghai Huangpu District Market Supervision Bureau.

 

It is understood that on July 1st, 2020, the Shanghai Municipal Bureau of market regulation commissioned the Shanghai Institute of quality supervision and inspection technology to conduct supervision and random inspection on Sephora (Shanghai) Cosmetics Sales Co., Ltd. After testing, it was confirmed that the void ratio of the perfume products sold by it, such as "Burberry flower and her fragrance Festival gift box" and "Gucci flower luxury gift box", did not meet the national standards and belonged to over packaged goods. On January 21, 2021, Huangpu District Market Supervision Bureau ordered correction according to law and interviewed relevant production enterprises.

 

On the afternoon of April 26, the review meeting of the first amendment to the national standard "food and cosmetics requirements for restricting excessive packaging of goods" was held, at which it was proposed that production organizations should take measures to control the cost of all packaging, except those directly in contact with the contents, not to exceed 20% of the product sales price.

 

As we all know, in addition to the product itself, the bright outer packaging can also play a positive role in the communication between the brand and consumers. Appropriate packaging can not only attract consumers' attention, but also reflect the brand's taste incisively and vividly. Nowadays, more and more cosmetic enterprises pay attention to the environmental protection of outer packaging, and consciously join this green team.

 

Business channel and interface news recently jointly released the 2021 China sustainable consumption report (hereinafter referred to as the report). The report shows that low-carbon consumption is becoming the daily action of more and more people. More and more consumers hope that the low-carbon consumption market can continue to grow in the future, and there are more low-carbon products and services to choose from.

 

 

 

Environmental protection has also blown into the field of cosmetics. But it is clear that this is not just a gust of wind, nor has it been felt recently.

 

The reporter learned that on the eve of the "2022 national cosmetics safety publicity week", the China Department Store Association issued an initiative to retail enterprises to "carry out green recycling of cosmetics packaging materials".

 

The initiative points out that first, retail enterprises should give full play to their main role in the safe and green management of cosmetics, effectively enhance their sense of mission and responsibility, adhere to the concept of environmental protection in cosmetics business activities, and carry out green management.

 

Second, according to the enterprise's own situation, establish the recycling mechanism and process of cosmetics waste packaging materials, effectively recycle and properly dispose of waste packaging materials.

 

Third, we should guide consumers to establish a green consumption concept, encourage consumers to actively participate in the recycling of empty cosmetic bottles through online and offline combination, and reduce the waste rate of packaging materials.

 

Fourth, we should publicize and popularize cosmetics safety knowledge, improve consumers' product discrimination, enhance consumers' awareness of combating counterfeiting and safeguarding their rights, and prevent the recycling of brand cosmetics packaging materials from flowing into the channels of making and selling fake products from the source, so as to protect consumers from using cosmetics safely.

 

Fifth, we should carry out popular science education in circular economy and green development, as well as knowledge training in environmental protection and packaging material recycling, so as to give full play to the effective role of employees in guiding green consumption.

 

These initiatives are put forward in combination with the problems existing in the market. For example, recycling of waste packaging materials is not only related to environmental protection. A few days ago, the people's Court of Guangling District, Yangzhou City, Jiangsu Province announced a case of the sale of "real bottled fake cosmetics". After investigation, the gangs involved bought a large number of empty bottles of authentic cosmetics from idle websites, adulterated and diluted authentic cosmetics, filled and sold them, pretended to be purchasing versions from different regions, and sold them at low prices on online shopping platforms, with an illegal income of 31million yuan. In the actual consumption process, consumers often identify whether the product is authentic or not, so the intermediary who specially collects and sells authentic empty bottles has become an important role in the criminal chain. The behavior of making and selling fake products is a great harm to brands, consumers and the market.

 

At present, many cosmetics and skin care brands are aware of the importance of recycling empty cosmetic bottles, and are actively taking action.

 

Some choose the form of integral deduction. For example, Keyan's reward for cosmetic bottle recycling activities in North America is to collect ten empty bottles in exchange for a travel product. M. Any packaging of A.C products (including hard to recycle lipstick, eyebrow pencil, and other small packaging) is in any counter or store in North America, Hong Kong, Taiwan and other regions. A formal lipstick can be changed for every 6 packages. On the one hand, this is conducive to improving consumers' repurchase rate, on the other hand, it also improves consumers' awareness of environmental protection.

 

Some rely on publicity to drive consumers. For example, yueshifengyin encourages consumers to take empty bottles back to the store through the words on the bottles, and turn the empty bottles into new product packaging and decorative objects after cleaning.

 

The form of replacement packaging is easier to be accepted by the market. For example, the replacement cores of air cushion products of major brands are cheaper than formal ones. For example, Dior upgraded the wilderness men's light fragrance to replaceable. The supplementary bottle is made of aluminum, which can be recycled and reused, and the weight is lighter. Another example is the cutting-edge brand Zhiben, which is jokingly called "environmental protection company" in the industry: reusable environmental protection express boxes, replaceable packaging design, empty bottle recycling

 

Nowadays, a large number of young Chinese consumers have become more and more aware of environmental protection. Choosing cosmetics with environmentally friendly materials is not only a manifestation of environmental protection, but also a manifestation of refusing to pay for over packaged products.

 

 

 

Of course, there are also some brands that choose environmentally friendly packaging materials at the production end.

 

The domestic brand reverse claims that each of their packages is made of environmental friendly materials certified by FCS. The corn foam filled particles in the package are composed of 100% de corn starch, which is 100% degradable, compostable and residue free.

 

Last year, P & G officially announced the cooperation with paper bottle company paboco to launch the first paper bottle packaging for its Lenor brand, which was piloted in Western Europe in 2022. It is reported that P & G's global fabric and home care department joined the paboco paper bottle community and began to produce product bottles made entirely of biological materials, so as to reduce the use of plastic and carbon footprint and contribute to the creation of sustainable packaging solutions.

 

Keyan also uses degradable raw materials and simple and environmentally friendly packaging as much as possible, and many products do not have paper boxes. At the same time, consumers are encouraged to "re create" empty cosmetic bottles and turn them into creative decorations, vases or storage at home.

 

Environmental friendly packaging is the inevitable trend of cosmetics packaging development. At present, domestic enterprises are trying to grow. It is commendable that, despite the long road ahead, more and more enterprises have begun to participate in it. While practicing their own green environmental protection concept, they have attracted more consumers to be affected by it and change themselves. On the road of cosmetics environmental protection, we hope that more and more colleagues will join in, expand the team, build a strong momentum, and let the wind of environmental protection blow to every corner, in all aspects!