Top Beauty Companies Announce Paper Packaging Progress; Sustainability News In Brief

The Estee Lauder Companies, Inc. has joined the Pulpex Partner Consortium, a group of consumer packaged goods companies working with Pulpex Ltd. to develop innovative paper bottle packaging, the New York firm announces 16 November. As the consortium’s first prestige beauty partner, Lauder welcomes the opportunity to scale the Pulpex paper bottling technology across its brand portfolio. “Pulpex is a first-of-its kind technology that creates bottles from wood pulp using FSC (Forest Stewardship Council)-certified renewable feedstocks from responsibly managed forests. Other companies in the consortium include Unilever PLC and GSK Consumer Healthcare. The effort helps Lauder move closer to its global sustainable packaging goals including reducing the amount of virgin petroleum plastic in its packaging to 50% or less by the end of calendar year 2030.

E.l.f Cosmetics, Inc. has eliminated more than 1 million pounds of packaging materials through its Project Unicorn initiative, the Oakland, Calif. company announces on 15 November in recognition of National Recycling Day. Launched in 2019 to elevate the brand’s product assortment, presentation, and on-shelf presence through innovative packaging design, Project Unicorn previously removed around 650,000 pounds of waste and earned e.l.f. three design patents for efficient packaging innovation, as reported by the company in 2020. Now, “stripping away secondary cartons, vacuum-formed trays and paper insert cards and slimming down secondary packaging, Project Unicorn has streamlined packaging for more than 300 SKUs across multiple categories,” the firm says. One SKU alone – e.l.f