Our Mission on Sustainability for a Circular Economy

Posted by Fernanda da Silva Tatley on February 19, 2024

7 minutes read

Our goal is to re-cycle as many of our container’s components as possible. We say “as many as possible” because inevitably there will be components that get damaged or can't be safely sanitised, and these will have to discarded into the kerbside/curb-side/landfill provider. This is one of our goals to maintain a holistic beauty approach, as we are taking care of ourselves and the environment.

Azurlis™ Beauty (Re-)Cycling Programme

This will vary considerably in each country, so customers are advised to consult the guidelines provided by their local authorities, but Weka Industry Medien are a useful source of information on waste and recycling of waste issues across the globe.

Of course, the value of minimizing waste and increasing recycling options is crucial for future planet sustainability is obvious, yet developing and implementing strategies that are practical and will not have long-term negative consequences are not that straight forward.

What does reduce, reusing, recycling means in the Beauty sector?

This topic continues to be a subject of much discussion given the beauty industry worth of $532 billion dollars, in 2021, contributing to an estimated 120 billion units of packaging are produced annually by the global cosmetic sector and most of this cannot be recycled. Besides the shipping of these products was calculated to release more than 1 billion tons of CO2 per annum.

This raises numerous questions on what sustainability and zero-waste plastic-free option mean, such as should we reduce the number and types of products produced? Can we move into multi-purpose options? Are personalized products an option? How will the market react? Where is the balance of carbon neutrality? Reusing has sanitization requirements and how practical and pragmatic are these on a global scale? How de we maintain transparency in the sector to avoid issues in less socially responsible supply chain pipelines? What are the regulatory and cost implications of certifications of origin or manufacturing, beyond the uncompromising need for good manufacturing practices? And this is just scratching the surface.

Despite the challenges, the beauty sector is responding to the “Beauty Industry Plastic Problem” with companies simplifying packaging options and product types. Nevertheless, the most difficult obstacle to changes in the sector are likely to be the consumer education, as sustainable disposability must be convenient and affordable.

How is Azurlis™ Botanical Skin Care helping towards sustainability and Circular Economy?

Azurlis™ botanical skin care containers are mostly made of materials that can be recycled through your kerbside/curbside re-cycling provider, namely glass bottles and jars, with plastic lids, as well as refill/travel pouches. Material specifications are listed below. The glass containers should be rinsed prior to disposal. The pouches can be added to the plastic recycling bins.

Nevertheless, from our launch we have encouraged our local (around Dunedin, New Zealand) customers and retailers to re-turn their empty containers. This has been a very successful initiative within our urban boundaries, however, but it is a lot harder to implement outside of our local area due to the logistics in providing “return pre-paid courier bags for the used containers” that are cost-effective and protective, to ensure that when we receive these, the glass containers are still intact, without any sign of damage that will compromise their re-use.

Thus, extending the “Azurlis™ Beauty Re-Cycling Program” outside the Dunedin, wider New Zealand, is work in progress.

Listed below are our packaging options and material specifications.

Trial, Travel & Refill Pouches

A – Spout – HDPE #2

B – Pouch – Mixed Plastics: Matte Oriented Polypropelene (PP) (#5), Polyethylene (#1) and Aluminum Foil (PETAL), High Density Polyethylene (HDPE) (#2).