“The Dupont Awards for Innovation is a great tool to help the industry define what is packaging sustainability,” said Jonathan Cohen, global business manager for Dupont Cosmetic Solutions.
“Packaging provides value in preventing costly product waste and in communication information and an image to customers… while reducing its environmental footprint. And even more importantly, packaging must participate in reducing the footprint of the entire packaged product.”
Ensuring sustainable packaging is industry-wide
The company is working towards combining science and innovation to ensure that all packaging is more eco-friendly in the future, and this is a philosophy it also wants to promote as part of the awards.
Dupont itself established a set of stringent environmental goals 19 years ago, which have been built upon to incorporate equally strict sustainability values that go beyond simply reducing the company’s internal footprint, extending to revenue and research and development investment.
“Clearly, it means that we have two broad sustainability goals : reducing our own footprint, which reduces the footprint on how we produce our offerings. And invent new technologies that will enable our customers to reduce their environmental footprint with no impact on performance,” Cohen said.
Eco solutions that do not impact the look or quality
Dupont is implementing these strategies across the board, but when it comes to personal care brand owners, what is important to them is reducing the environmental footprint without compromising the all-important aesthetic or protective qualities of the packaging.
“Yes, we are looking at innovations that bring sustainability in all segments. But these innovations need to fit with the industry needs and the role that packaging plays for that specific product,” he said.
It is for both aesthetic and sustainable reasons that the company is increasingly specifying solutions such as its biomaterial Biomas PTT, which is made from renewable sources and can replace less environmentally friendly materials such as polyester or ABS/SAN to give a glossy finish.