Collaboration and circularity in new era of beauty packaging

Change is a constant in any business. But some changes are easier to adapt to than others, and those working in the packaging industry know this better than most. Ahead of her appearance at London Packaging Week, Victoria Brownlie, MBE, Chief Policy & Sustainability officer at the British Beauty Council, discusses what the continuing wave of regulatory changes means for today’s beauty brands.

Packaging is a sector in transition. Regulations like extended producer responsibility (EPR) reforms, the EU’s Packaging and Packaging Waste Regulation (PPWR), and the UK’s Plastic Packaging Tax (PPT) are at various stages of implementation. This makes the 2020s a decade of disruption for packaging. And, as virtually every business on the planet relies on packaging somewhere in its supply chain, that disruption has a far-reaching impact. 

Cost is driving circularity

Brownlie states, “We’ve seen a bit of stagnation across our industry since the plastic packaging tax and the initial implementation of EPR regulations came in. Many in the industry felt like they were slapped in the face by all of this new regulatory compliance. And they started panicking and simply filled in all the compliance paperwork, paid the taxes, and moved on. 

“The panic has subsided,” Brownlie continues. “And now brands are actually starting to open their eyes and look at what they could be doing differently in order to try and bring those costs down.”

As ever, the initial shock created the conditions for innovation. What started as simply filing paperwork is evolving into a smarter approach. This involves redesigning systems as part of an effort to cut compliance costs.

As Brownlie highlights, circularity has to be commercially viable to be successful. She argues sustainability has transformed from a moral or reputational issue to a commercial one, and beauty brands, having leveraged sustainability claims for a long time, are ready to lead the way.

“Brands are now much more open to exploring other areas to make savings,” says Brownlie. “Without being too dreary about it, other costs to their business, like taxation and energy prices, have increased significantly over the last two years because of the economic climate, labor policy, and so on.

“They can bring down taxes in other ways by looking at strategies like buying at scale to bring the cost down and exploring them in greater depth.”

This may mean trawling through old emails and contacts to restart lapsed conversations. “Where doors may have felt closed previously, these packaging innovators should be trying to open them again, because I do think that the landscape has changed. And it’s an opportunity for a fresh conversation.”

At London Packaging Week, Brownlie will join these conversations. And the value of these conversations is evident in the progress that has already been made.

Innovation without compromise

In previous years, sustainable beauty packaging required a trade-off in cost, product protection, presentation, or consumer experience. However, this is beginning to change. “I think we’re moving into an era of innovation without compromise,” notes Brownlie. “Previously, it might have been, ‘Oh, you can have this new packaging and this new innovation, but the cost to the consumer will be slightly higher.’ Or, ‘You can have this innovation, but the look and feel of the packaging isn’t as premium in order for it to be fully recyclable or compostable.’

“Now, the latest wave of innovation means we don’t always have to forego something in order to be more environmentally conscious in packaging design.” 

The other significant shift is cultural. Beauty, like many consumer goods sectors, has historically been highly competitive, protective, and fragmented. But Brownlie believes that is changing as brands recognize the scale of the packaging challenge.

“There is definitely more going on behind the scenes with pacts, alliances, and coalitions working together,” she says.

That mindset was central to the British Beauty Council’s decision to establish its Sustainable Beauty Coalition. This was created following the Council’s Courage to Change report in 2020.

“That report identified all of the fantastic work that’s being done in the industry, as well as the impact that it’s making in both a positive and a negative sense,” Brownlie explains. “But most of this work is happening in a silo. And if businesses were just talking to each other a little bit more and sharing ideas of successes and failures, then we’d actually be streets ahead in terms of packaging innovation.”

Small problems, big challenges

This is where major industry events become a forum for shared understanding. Brownlie sees London Packaging Week as an important space for informal, open-ended conversations that may not happen in more rigid commercial settings.

“Events like London Packaging Week are essential to that, to keep these conversations going in a setting where you’re not necessarily having formal meetings or committing to anything,” she says. “It’s about taking valuable opportunities to have more relaxed conversations about a brand or supplier.”

The need for collaboration becomes even clearer when looking at some of beauty packaging’s most difficult formats. Many products are small, multi-component, and functionally complex, which makes them difficult to recycle through conventional systems.

“A lot of our packaging products, outside of shampoos and body lotions etc., fall within that hard-to-recycle category,” Brownlie says. “You’re never going to be able to get a lipstick bigger than the size of a finger. Yes, it would be more easily recyclable, but completely impractical in terms of consumer use.”

One common example captures this challenge better than most: A simple pump. “With a pump, you’ve got the head, the pipe, the spring, the mechanism, and then the bottle, potentially the wrapping, and then the box it comes in. All of those components represent a different recycling challenge,” she explains.

“There could be a program where we come together as an industry and say, right, we’re going to solve one single issue that is the biggest thorn in our side. For me, that would be the pump. And all of us are going to jointly invest and resource solutions to this problem.”

Brownlie is clear that the industry must continue to come together and drive progress forward. “We can’t ignore that we are producing 120 billion units of packaging a year,” she says. “Solution based innovation needs to be factored into overall running costs so that we are not simply continuing to create a problem for another day, but actively investing in solving it at source.”

A wider ecosystem

At the same time, Brownlie stresses that sustainable principles should continue to be deeply embedded in the wider business ecosystem. UK manufacturing capacity, export confidence, education, and talent development all affect the sector’s ability to innovate.

“A big issue in packaging and manufacturing is the lack of homegrown UK manufacturing” she says. “A lot is now made overseas or split across countries and assembled elsewhere.”

At the same time, future skills are critical. “People think of beauty as retail or salon roles, but manufacturers, cosmetic scientists, and packaging innovators are essential to the future. If we get manufacturing, trade, education, and talent pipelines right, that directly feeds into sustainability,” Brownlie says. “You need markets and talent to fund sustainability progress.”