Premium skin care brand embraces sustainability

In the beauty industry, sustainability continues to be a key topic, particularly when it comes to packaging and ethical supply chains. An increasing number of beauty brands are trying to get an ecomessage across via their packaging, but for most, the focus is on a product’s secondary packaging. Yet this is not the case for Skin Rejuvenation Technologies – a South African skin care company that is going the extra mile to clean up its primary packaging act. By Abby Vorster

Skin Rejuvenation Technologies has always considered the Earth when selecting active ingredients and creating product formulations. While its formulators would never compromise on product quality and efficacy, the company always endeavours to select the most sustainably sourced active ingredients. This ethos also extends to its packaging.

The company started its journey to source more sustainable primary packaging components about 18 months ago and found that post-consumer recycled (PCR) plastic, bioplastics and bio-copolyester presented the best options.

Although it was challenging to source the right eco-friendly packaging to meet its requirements, Skin Rejuvenation Technologies persevered.

Marketing manager, Delia Greeff explains: “This has been a challenging endeavour as many of our products require airless and lightless packaging to protect the highly active formulations from degrading or becoming unstable, and we wanted to keep our premium aesthetic. We’ve needed to request samples from various packaging suppliers and test these with our products formulated with the highest active ingredient concentrations and various pHs.

We also needed to assess whether the surface of the packs could accommodate a quality print and even had do transit testing to ensure that our consumers would receive the premium quality and standards that they have come to expect from our brands.”

Eco-packaging in action

PCR has a great significance for the environment, as the plastic has been recycled into a resin so that it can be re-used. The carbon emissions generated by the production process are reduced by approximately 60% so that the environmental and ecological impact is greatly reduced.

According to sugarcane.org, bioplastics have the same physical and chemical properties as regular plastic. The difference is that sugarcane-based bioplastics generate far fewer dioxide carbon emissions during production and are 100 percent recyclable.

In July 2018, SK Chemicals launched a new bio-copolyester, Ecozen HF, which has revolutionised the PET market. Ecozen HF is a replacement material for aluminium, PET and glass wherever heat and pressure resistance combined with transparency is required. The material is suitable for aerosol, cosmetic and hot-fill applications, and is fully miscible with PET in the recycling stream.

Skin Rejuvenation Technologies’ newest offering, the Elements Baby & Kids range, which was launched in August, is packaged in the new environmentally friendlier packaging. In terms of its current ranges, the more sustainable packaging options are being phased in as new product batches are manufactured.

Although it was challenging to source the right eco-friendly packaging to meet its requirements, Skin Rejuvenation Technologies persevered

“Because the change in packaging is barely noticeable to consumers, we are inserting a promo card into the box, which indicates the type of environmentally friendlier packaging used to package the product. It also features a QR code, which the consumer can scan for more information, using their mobile phone. The landing page on our website will include consumer-friendly content on the different types of eco-friendly primary packaging and the individual benefits of each. This way we are educating the consumer about our journey to reduce our carbon footprint while encouraging others to follow our lead,” says Greeff. •

Recycle incentive for consumers

In addition to moving to environmentally friendlier packaging, the company runs an ongoing ‘bring back your packaging’ campaign.

Optiphi offers a free cleanser to consumers who return 10 empty packs in the same range, to their salon. The salon will send the empty packaging to its closest recycling plant while salons located in close proximity to Skin Rejuvenation Technologies can return the empties to the head office for the company to recycle.

This recycle incentive applies to all the optiphi ranges including the Active, Classic, Body Curve, Delta Medical Skincare and the new Elements Baby & Kids Range.