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Haircare Line Commits to 100% Post-Consumer HDPE

Ingreendients’ brand founder, Rajat Sharma, had a goal to be at the forefront of reducing the amount plastic waste from personal care products entering the landfill by repurposing existing plastic and not creating any new plastic. So, his company recently launched shampoo and conditioner bottles made from 100% recycled plastic, supplied by

Berry Global Group, Inc.

“The beauty industry is responsible for a third of the landfill waste in America,” Sharma says. “One of the core pillars for Ingreendients is sustainable packaging so that we are not creating virgin plastic and adding to the pollution problem. Hence our focus was on having the product packaged only in bottles made fully from PCR plastic.” The HDPE bottle is made with 100% PCR, produced at Berry’s manufacturing facility in Winchester, Va. A flip-top polypropylene closure, also made with 100% PCR, creates a total container system made completely from recycled plastic that aligns with Ingreendients’ commitment to sustainability. Ingreendients’ commitment to responsible product manufacturing extends further than the container, and is thoughtful in all elements of the product. Ingreendients believes it matters what’s on the outside as well as inside the bottle. In addition to the container elements, the brand formula is made with the 100% plantderived ingredients to formulate a salon-grade haircare product line.

“The Ingreendients brand set out to make the impossible possible by creating thoughtful products using only safe and simple ingredients backed by absolute integrity and transparency, with zero tolerance for misleading claims. This means we only call a product ‘natural’ if every ingredient in the bottle is derived from plants, period,” Sharma says.

And this no-compromise commitment to absolute integrity in all aspects of its business drove the brand to use 100% recycled resin for their packaging in both bottle and cap. Sharma notes the industry expertise, product knowledge, recycled material availability, and collaborative relationship made Berry the ideal partner to produce the packaging that fit Ingreendients’ needs.

“I wanted to work with an industry leader who is at the forefront of sourcing recycled materials and Berry is a leader in packaging for my industry,” says Sharma. “In addition, as I started to work with them, I was pleasantly surprised by the collaborative process and helping me figure out what was the best result for Ingreendients.”

“We are happy to partner with Ingreendients to help support what’s important to all of us—a healthy planet,” adds David Long, Regional Business Director, Berry Global. “100% PCR packaging is one of the ways that our plant in Winchester, Virginia, can help new, inspiring brands meet their sustainability goals.” —Matt Reynolds

New Packaging from Mars Petcare UK Cuts Plastic by 15M Pieces

With its recent switch from shrink film to paperboard for mixed-multipack cans of four of its pet food brands, Mars Petcare UK estimates it will eliminate an elephantine amount of plastic—30 elephants’ worth, in fact. In September, the company switched to cartons for its multipacks of Pedigree and Chappie wet dog food and for its Whiskas and Kitekat wet cat foods, making the packaging for these products 100% recyclable. The move is expected to remove 180 metric tons, or approximately 198 U.S. tons, of plastic film from the environment annually.

“Prior to the elimination of shrink film on the mixed-multipack cans of Pedigree, Whiskas, Chappie, and Kitekat in the U.K., Mars Petcare UK was using a monolayer structure for the film packaging,” explains Kim Smet, Interim General Manager at Mars Petcare UK. “While this was a recycle-ready material, it is not yet widely recycled in the U.K. The new packaging is now fully recyclable, removing 15 million individual pieces of plastic annually. In addition to this, the updated packaging has contributed to a reduction of energy usage on-site.”

Mars Petcare UK’s use of paperboard for the multipacks will contribute to its sustainable packaging goals of using 100% reusable, recyclable, or compostable packaging and reduce its use of virgin plastic by 25% by 2025. “Following a significant investment into our U.K. Melton Mowbray [Leicestershire, England] pet food site, the packaging changes we have made have helped us to take a step closer toward achieving our target of cutting our virgin plastic use by 25%,” says Smet. “Moreover, the new paperboard packaging has resulted in multiple sustainability-focused benefits as opposed to the previous shrink-film packaging.”

The switch to paperboard is just one of the initiatives undertaken by Mars Petcare UK in 2021 to meet sustainable packaging goals. In July, it launched a recycling program with Pets at Home that provides for dedicated in-store recycling points for pet food packaging across 40 U.K. stores. Also this year, Mars reduced the material in the flexible packaging for its Pedigree Schmackos dog treats by 12% and redesigned the flexible pouches for its 60-g Dreamies cat snacks to be thinner, which it said led to a combined 27.6 metric tons, or more than 30 U.S. tons, of virgin plastic saved in the U.K.

“At Mars Petcare, we’re on a mission to future-proof the growing pet population and industry,” says Smet. “We know that over the past year alone, the U.K.’s pet population has skyrocketed to an all-time high, tipping 20 million dogs and cats [per a 2020 annual survey from The People’s Dispensary for Sick Animals (PDSA)]—nearly a third of the size of the U.K. human population, so as an industry, our sustainability efforts must reflect this and improve, at speed, to create the world we want tomorrow.” —Anne Marie Mohan

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Iconic Brand Adopts a Fresh Flexible Look

Even iconic, recognizable brands like Ajax sometimes seek a fresh design approach to packaging when they introduce something new to the market. With the backing of brand owner EU Colgate (European Union), the well-known household cleaning brand recently launched a new line of plant-based, disinfecting disposable wipes targeting Millennials and GenZers. With a little help from New York-based brand consultancy Little Big Brands (LBB), the decades-old brand showed it wasn’t afraid to shake it up and target a younger demographic with bold pack design ideas.

“Wipes are largely used by younger consumers that we discovered desired more sustainable solutions; this was one of their top pain points in using wipes, as they realized every cleaning action led to a wasteful tissue,” says George Kechris of the Home Care Brand Team at Colgate-Palmolive. “This was also one of the reasons why some other people were not using wipes at all. In our Ajax Plant-Based Biodegradable and Compostable antibacterial wipes we were looking for a design that can convey sustainability as the core of the concept for those audiences to engage from far away from the shelf. As Ajax was not known on this format, we wanted that people discover first that there is a solution to their pain point, that this coming from Ajax, and this eco-look to come in a contemporary design that talks to this young audience and makes it so appealing to them that they feel proud to keep those wipes visible on the counter and not hidden on shelf, so at the end they can use the wipes even more conveniently—a format well known for its convenience.”

Since this was an entirely new product to the brand, there was no heritage or parent packaging to borrow from in tailoring a new pack to the product.

“The package design for this wipe needed to lean into design codes that were appealing for a younger demographic” says Richard Palmer, Executive Creative Director, Little Big Brands. “From speaking with our target consumer in both the French and Swedish markets, we knew that we would need to deliver against a minimal design that felt simple yet chic.“

That meant exploring designs that spanned across three visual territories: Eco Lush, which leveraged greens, whites, and plant-based codes; Fresh & Fun, featuring vibrant color codes that reflect the brand’s optimism; and Earthy Modern, favoring earthy colors and simplified codes.

The messaging hierarchy on the pack goes as follows: 1. Ajax 2. PlantBased 3. Biodegradable & Compostable, and 4. Variety/Use. The agency wanted to lead with brand, but clearly articulate that this was something new and different to appeal to a younger audience through graphic treatment of plant based supported by the copy itself. The patterns help elevate the eco features from a visual standpoint. The film pack uses eight colors and two varnishes to accomplish this. The closure is a self-adhesive closing design that’s typical of the category. Individual wipes sit within a retail-ready style corrugated tray for merchandising purposes. While the wipe itself is biodegradable and compostable. “The agency explored various design routes to express the design objectives in a simple way,” Kechris says. “The designs incorporated audience’s feedback in the early design stage and a clear winner indicated the route to pursue. The final outcome was gorgeous with the right balance of efficacy, sustainability, and great, fresh-looking design patterns.”

Palmer adds, “Unlike the Ajax global brand vernacular we are all familiar with, our final, consumer-validated design perfectly balances the brand’s expertise, while leaning into eco cues that feel fresh and stylish.”

Consumer reaction to Ajax wipes bears out the success of the design, garnering 4.5 stars on Amazon France, and having doubled sales in Europe within just two years. —Matt Reynolds

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New Absolut Bottle Design Pays Tribute to Brand’s Credentials

The Absolut Vodka brand is known for its commitment to art and design, having partnered with 550 artists on 800 original, limited-edition bottle designs since its first collaboration with Andy Warhol in 1986. Meanwhile, its flagship bottle has remained unchanged for more than 40 years. That is, until a design refresh nearly four years in the making, with the weighty project name Atlas, resulted in a new look for the brand that launched on shelves in September.

“At Absolut, we always strive for better,” says Elin Furelid, Global Head of Product Portfolio & Design, Absolut Vodka, The Absolut Company. “Our passion for our business, product, and brand means that we see the potential in everything we offer and are always asking ourselves how we can take Absolut Vodka one step further and into the future.”

Commenting on the lengthy project timeline, Furelid says that because the design update was the largest one since 1979, Absolut knew it would take time to get the bottle right. “When we started the process, we knew it was important to reflect on our past, and especially our heritage,” she says. “We asked ourselves, what makes our iconic bottle so popular? And, most importantly, how can we continue to drive it forward? As part of our approach, we also wanted to showcase the craft and expertise that takes place locally to create our premium vodka—to show consumers the community and culture driving our brand forward.

“We used this thinking to distill the design to its fundamental components, updating it to pay homage to our credentials—provenance, heritage, and authenticity. We were keen to capture our rich quality story and make that clearer on the bottle, signposting to what makes our vodka unique.”

Absolut Vodka is produced and distilled in and around Åhus, Sweden, and is one of the few brands to produce everything within a 75-mile radius. Its community of farmers, distillers, and bottlers blend winter wheat with pristine water from a local well to create the vodka. Says the company, “Up to 10% of all wheat in Skåne [Skåne County, the southernmost county in Sweden] is purchased for Absolut Vodka, and the brand works with 400 farmers in Sweden, promoting sustainable farming techniques and values to ensure a sense of care for the local land and community.”

To tell one rounded story of its product, place, and people, Absolut evolved the bottle’s graphics to highlight the brand’s provenance, heritage, and authenticity, while retaining the iconic, lightweight bottle, the shape of which is based on an 18th century apothecary bottle. “One of the key changes was redesigning the legibility of the script to give a human touch to the bottle, while emphasizing that we ae indeed a Swedish Vodka, produced and made in Åhus, Southern Sweden,” says Furelid. “As well as embossing the glass with ‘Country of Sweden’ and including text alongside an illustration of the original distillery, we wanted to enhance our provenance messaging while delivering a minimalistic, clear bottle to help convey our high quality.”

Other changes include a new two-line brand logo, a redesigned medallion bearing the name of founder Lars Olsson Smith, and a label on the front of the bottle with the address of the original Absolut Vodka distillery. “This provides transparency about our location and helps communicate that Absolut’s brand home welcomes visitors to discover more at its site,” says the company. The paper label is the first of its kind on an Absolut bottle.

Says Furelid, “We’re extremely proud of the new design and how it represents Absolut in the way it should be—as original now as when it was first launched.” —Anne Marie Mohan

To see more pictures of the new bottle, visit pwgo.to/7344

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