The personal care and beauty industry produces more than 120 billion pieces of packaging every year globally, and as awareness grows, cosmetics brands are increasingly looking to improve the sustainability of their products, especially packaging, which accounts for 70% of the industry’s waste. Well-known cosmetics and beauty brands, including Ren, Estée Lauder, and Beiersdorf have been working with leading chemicals company, SABIC, to increase the share of recycled material in their plastic packaging.
SABIC has joined forces with Stella McCartney Beauty to create a set of innovative new skin and eye care refill containers produced with certified recycled plastic. The containers, which have already been introduced in the market in North America and the United Kingdom, are considered a global breakthrough in responsibly sourced and implemented cosmetics packaging.
These initiatives are all part of SABIC’s ambition to deliver one million metric tons of TRUCIRCLE™, circular solutions annually by 2030.
Ashok Menon, Director of Sustainability Strategy for Asia Pacific, SABIC, shared valuable insights into SABIC’s initiatives, strategies, and collaborations in embracing the circular economy in the chemical sector and promoting sustainability in plastic packaging for cosmetics. We delve into specific initiatives undertaken by SABIC, such as the production of certified circular polymers from advanced recycling of used plastics, and their collaborations with renowned brands to develop sustainable packaging solutions.
How do you see the industry embracing the principles of the circular economy in the chemical sector? Could you share some specific initiatives or strategies that have been implemented across to minimize waste and maximize resource efficiency?
With a population of around 9 billion living on our planet by 2050, industries will be seeking solutions for sustainable materials and innovative techniques to enable goods and services, while contributing to the smart use of global resources based on circular-economy principles.
SABIC has been a pioneer in the industry since we announced our plan to build a world-first commercial unit to produce certified circular polymers from the advanced recycling of used plastics. Construction of this unit in the Netherlands is now in the final stages and deliveries are expected in 2023. SABIC meanwhile has been employing existing facilities to process smaller volumes of advanced recycled materials for brand owners and customers for a variety of applications already available in the market.
Our commitment was also reaffirmed during the World Economic Forum Annual Meeting in Davos, 2023 towards accelerating the circular carbon economy. SABIC unveiled the ambition to process one million metric tons (1000kt) of TRUCIRCLE™ solutions annually by 2030.
Since 2020, SABIC’s certified circular polypropylene has been used in ice cream tubs from Unilever’s A-brand ice cream brand, Magnum, the first to use recycled plastic in the ice cream industry.
In another successful collaboration, SABIC has also teamed up with Mars and Landbell in an innovative closed-loop recycling project designed to close the loop on KIND® snack bar wrap based on certified circular polypropylene.
In the context of plastic packaging for cosmetics, what steps has SABIC taken to promote sustainability and reduce environmental impact? Are there any innovative solutions or technologies that SABIC has developed or collaborated on to address the challenges posed by plastic waste in the cosmetics industry?
Assuring a more sustainable future requires innovation in creating recyclable products and driving toward carbon neutral products. The development of such products and processes will play an important role in ensuring that plastic continues to be the more sustainable material of choice when comparing full carbon footprints.
SABIC has invested in growing scientific and technological expertise to advance the circular economy and close the loop on waste, to ensure that plastics are always reused and remade into new products. We work with our partners across the value chain (eg. consumers, retailers, recyclers), and are accelerating the scale-up of high-quality processes for the advanced recycling of used and mixed plastic waste to manufacture certified circular polymers that are akin to virgin polymers. These circular polymers are then used in packaging solutions for a variety of consumer products currently available in the market.
SABIC’s certified renewable and certified circular materials are certified under the ISCC PLUS scheme that uses a mass balance accounting system to trace the material flow across complex supply chains from the feedstock to final products. The approach allows OEMs to document and quantify the sustainability of their applications made from certified materials. Moreover, brand owners can use the certification to highlight the sustainable material content of their products, offering consumers a more responsible choice. The mass balance accounting follows predefined and transparent rules, which then define whether a product can be classified as renewable or circular.
For SABIC, this means that for each ton of renewable or circular feedstock fed into the production process to substitute fossil-based feedstock, approximately one ton of the output material can be classified as either renewable or circular.
In the cosmetics space, SABIC, the Estee Lauder companies and Origins are collaborating towards apremium brand packaging tube made with certified circular polyolefins. SABIC also came together with REN Clean Skincare where they wanted to implement a circular solution that can provide a transparent look and feel while also supporting the complex assembly of parts requiring tight tolerances, such as for airless packaging systems. SABIC’s certified circular PP polymers are used for the container, the closure and other parts of the EVERCALM™ day cream airless packaging, ensuring that these requirements are met without compromising on aesthetics.
How does SABIC envision the future of circular economy practices in the chemical sector and plastic packaging for cosmetics? Are there any key trends or emerging technologies that you believe will play a significant role in driving sustainable practices and reducing the environmental footprint of these markets?
The vision in which plastic does not end up in landfills or ocean by recycled requires a total transformation of the value chain. We have been working with our downstream and upstream partners to reinvent and pioneer our way towards a circular economy. While certain materials in the container space for example can be produced through mechanical recycling, others in the cosmetics space need to use advanced recycling processes to meet the demands of the customers. We have also revised our approach to providing feedstock to Asia to reduce carbon emissions. Initially, European plants sent feedstock directly. By sending bulk shipments from Europe to China to be re-palletized and shipped to the Asian compounders, we saved 690 tons of carbon dioxide emissions. In addition, we began using electric vehicles to deliver raw materials.
Our TRUCIRCLE portfolio and services play a significant part in achieving our vision and closing the loop on used plastic. Through SABIC’s TRUCIRCLE portfolio, we aim to provide manufacturers access to our circular innovations and more sustainable materials, which can provide consumers with confidence, as they are buying products with the knowledge that the material can be recycled and repurposed, or that it has been produced in a way that can help protect our planet’s natural resources.
Can you provide examples of successful partnerships or collaborations SABIC has undertaken with other stakeholders, such as cosmetic brands, packaging manufacturers, or waste management companies, to advance circular economy principles in the energy and cosmetics packaging sectors?
In 2020, we collaborated with Beiersdorf to implement more sustainable cosmetics packaging using certified renewable polypropylene. The world-leading ‘NIVEA Naturally Good’ range of face creams using SABIC’s certified renewable polypropylene (PP) resin, part of our TRUCIRCLE™ portfolio. Used for the jars and lids of day and night face creams, SABIC’s renewable PP material is produced from bio-based feedstock offers the same high quality and purity as virgin PP. Converting the packaging to renewable plastic not only has the advantage of conserving fossil resources, but also reduces CO2 emissions. According to Beiersdorf’s internal LCA study, approximately 76 g of CO2 are saved per jar produced, a reduction of around 60% compared to the fossil-based jar. SABIC won the Ringer Technology Innovation 2022 award in the Personal Care category for its certified renewable PP for new Nivea packaging.
Recently, we teamed up with Stella McCartney Beauty and three French plastic converters, Texen, Leygatech, and STTP Emballage, to develop refillable skin and eye care containers. The containers, which have already been launched in North America and the UK, were manufactured using SABIC’s TRUCIRCLE portfolio of certified sustainable polymers, and used with STELLA Alter-Care Serum and Restore Cream. The new refill solution incorporates three types of SABIC polyolefin resins, containing up to 90% of certified renewable feedstock, and align with the cosmetics manufacturer’s vegan branding.
The mass balance of both the certified renewable and certified circular feedstocks in SABIC’s TRUCIRCLE™ portfolio are validated by independent third-party accounting according to the widely recognized International Sustainability & Carbon Certification (ISCC PLUS) regime, following a set of clearly defined and transparent rules. The approach allocates the renewable and circular content used in the production and conversion of plastic materials to the ultimate application. The certification also provides traceability throughout the partners’ entire supply chain from the feedstock to the final product and allows brand owners to document the sustainability of their packaging towards consumers.
Given the growing consumer demand for eco-friendly and sustainable products, what steps is the industry taking to ensure transparency and accountability in its circular economy efforts? How does SABIC communicate its sustainability goals and achievements to consumers and stakeholders in order to build trust and drive positive change in the industry?
We have identified 10 UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) to be incorporated into our strategy and our goal is to achieve carbon neutrality by 2050, and a 20% reduction of carbon emissions by 2030. In 2021, we achieved 10% reduction of our carbon emissions (compared to 2018), which signals a good first step towards achieving our target. Our five main pathways to decarbonization are Reliability; Energy Efficiency and Improvements; Renewable Energy; Electrification; Carbon Capture; and Green/blue Hydrogen.
Our strong ESG reporting gives transparency to our goals and communicates to our stakeholders the strides we are making to achieve those. SABIC has creating a dedicated ESG group, which is governed by the SABIC executive across verticals, and is enhancing our ESG performance as well addressing the new ESG framework and regulations evolving across jurisdictions.
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