Innovate for success: London Packaging Week manager unravels sustainability “balancing act”

21 Sep 2023 --- London Packaging Week has begun today, with key players across personal care, F&B and luxury showcasing their latest packaging innovations. In this interview, Personal Care Insights speaks to James Montero MacColl, senior marketing manager at Easyfairs, about environmentally sustainable packaging for the beauty and personal care industry.

How can brands measure environmental sustainability in personal care packaging?
Montero MacColl: This is a hot topic at the moment precisely because legislators worldwide are making a concerted effort to define environmental sustainability for the benefit of consumers. These efforts bear fruit in the form of green claims laws – the UK already has its regulations, and the EU isn’t far behind. 

Sustainability has to be viewed holistically, considering the entire supply chain and production process of products and their packaging. It can’t be looked at in “siloes” – coming up with a “plastic-free” pack may make for a compelling marketing message, but if that pack results in more product waste through the supply chain, is it really sustainable? 

It’s important to be specific about which aspects of a pack are sustainably developed – if it’s recyclable, whether parts are ethically or locally sourced, and so on. These questions must be balanced against functional and operational benefits – for example, can they be delivered flat and formed on-site to reduce emissions? 

This balancing act gets easier every year as innovations reach the market. We are fortunate to be the first to see many of them as hosts of London Packaging Week and its sister show across the channel, Paris Packaging Week. 

How can sustainability be incorporated into the entire life cycle of packaging solutions?James Montero MacColl, senior marketing manager at Easyfairs. 
Montero MacColl: This is something where upcoming legislation – extended producer responsibility (EPR) – focuses minds on viable solutions. EPR aims to make producers consider what happens to packaging at the end of its life. While we’ve seen some teething problems with implementing this policy in the UK – which is set to be discussed at London Packaging Week in a presentation from the UK’s Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs – progress is being made. 

As a result, designing packaging to be easily recyclable is expected to be a major theme this year. We expect to see fiber-based materials making waves on the show floor and across the broader beauty and personal care industry, as paper is more widely recycled than plastic.

How do you balance sustainability with other packaging considerations, such as functionality, aesthetics, safety and cost?
Montero MacColl: The answer is simple and complex simultaneously: innovation. Innovative new materials, designs, formats and technologies continually drive this industry forward. For example, we see fiber-based packs that can be treated with new water-based barrier coatings, making them resistant to moisture without impeding their recyclability. This has applications across the perfume, cosmetics and skin care segments. 

As the years go by, these innovations get more and more affordable, businesses and consumers grow used to their benefits, and they become the new standard. But the place to get in on the ground floor of these innovations is London Packaging Week.

How can brands learn from other personal care stakeholders to advance sustainable packaging?
Montero MacColl: We benefit greatly from the four-way format of London Packaging Week, which means attendees get to share learnings from outside their usual market sector. There is nothing to say someone attending the Packaging of Perfume, Cosmetics & Design event can’t come away with some networking contacts or fresh inspiration from Packaging Premiere (the luxury packaging show), Premium & Luxury Drinks event or Food & Consumer Pack.

There are many innovations and processes that can be transposed from the food and drink sectors into beauty packaging, for example. London Packaging Week is the platform for that kind of cross-pollination of ideas to take place.

We previously interviewed Montero MacColl about trends and opportunities for the cosmetics packaging industry and cross-industry innovations. 

By Venya Patel

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