Beauty brands brace for incoming sustainable packaging regulations

Last year, the European Commission warned that the EU would see a 19 percent increase in its annual packaging waste and a 49 percent increase in plastic packaging waste by 2030 if no serious action was taken to mitigate this problem.

Thankfully, their reports are being answered by a new policy called the Packaging and Packaging Waste Regulation (PPWR).

Scheduled to take effect in the EU in 2024, the PPWR is striving to reduce waste from product packaging and eventually create a completely circular economy for waste resulting from packaging.

From next year, all packaging sold in the EU will be required to be designed for recyclability by January 1^st, 2030, with a five-year grace period for full recyclability. The objective is to combat packaging pollution and reduce the environmental footprint of products sold on the market.

New rules about packaging waste in the UK are also striving to remove the burden of responsibility for recycling from customers, through the Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) bill which will come into place in 2025.

Under these regulations, brands will be financially responsible for the packaging they introduce into the market. By charging companies a fee, they will be forced to cover the expenses associated with collecting, sorting, and recycling packaging materials they produce.

While most brands will be well informed of these incoming changes, they still face challenges despite the heads-up.

The beauty industry, known for its constant innovation and evolving product lines, faces a unique dilemma. The rapid speed at which brands move from initial production to launching products on the market grossly conflicts with sustainability principles.

So while it’s obvious that cosmetics brands will need to reinvent their packaging and explore new technology that uses sustainable approaches, they will also need teamwork and partnership with experts working in other sectors.

For example, to ensure that they avoid greenwashing, companies should use data-driven decision-making when looking to achieve ecological packaging goals.

They should also have access to accurate, real-time packaging data across the entire supply chain while considering factors such as recyclability, recycled content, waste reduction, and shelf life.

With both the EU and the UK enforcing their regulations within the next couple of years, it’s clear that sustainability is about to become the new norm.

Top industry players will have no choice but to embrace sustainability as the guiding principle for the future of packaging – or disappear from the market altogether.