Stella McCartney cosmetics packaging uses up to 90% of SABIC’s renewable polymers

SABIC, Stella McCartney Beauty and three renowned French plastic converters Texen, Leygatech and STTP Emballage have created a set of innovative new skin and eye care refill containers produced with certified renewable polymers from SABIC’s TRUCIRCLE portfolio. The containers have already been introduced in the market in North America and the United Kingdom.

The new refill containers have been designed for use with STELLA Alter-Care Serum and Restore Cream. They feature three SABIC polyolefin resins with a combined mass-balanced certified renewable feedstock content of up to 90% and meet with the vegan branding of the cosmetics manufacturer.

The container heads are molded in an impact resistant SABIC HDPE PE material by Texen, a major player in the market of sustainable cosmetics packaging products.

For the container bodies, Leygatech, a leading manufacturer of barrier and multi-layer films, supplies a film made from SABIC LLDPE, which is then processed and printed for finishing the containers by STTP Emballage, a specialized provider of film lamination and flexographic printing services. Flip top closures injection molded by Texen in SABIC PP polymer complete the packaging.

SABIC and Stella McCartney Beauty create a cosmetic market breakthrough with a set of skin and eye care refill containers produced with up to 90% of certified renewable polymers from SABIC’s TRUCIRCLE portfolio.

Together with the refill concept of the durable Stella McCartney Beauty containers, the dedicated use of renewable raw materials aligns with consumer demands for a more responsible use of packaging resources.

Once the containers have reached the end of their usable lifetime, the material value of the PP and PE polymers can be recovered through established polyolefin recycling – altogether making this a role model of sustainable packaging.

SABIC’s certified renewable polymers include various polypropylene and polyethylene materials derived from second generation renewable feedstock, that is selected to avoid direct competition with human food and animal feed production and is not linked to any direct or indirect changes in land.

A cradle-to-gate lifecycle analysis has confirmed the superior sustainability of these polymers, concluding that each kg of the company’s bio-based resins reduces CO2 emissions by an average of 4 kg as compared to fossil-based virgin alternatives, while at the same time cutting fossil depletion by up to 80 percent.

In addition, these plant-based materials facilitate the change-over from existing fossil-based applications without compromises on purity, quality, safety or convenience.

The mass balance of the renewable feedstock in the SABIC materials is validated by independent third-party accounting according to the widely recognized ISCC PLUS regime, following a set of clearly defined and transparent rules. The approach allocates the renewable content used in the production and conversion of the plastic materials to the ultimate application.

The certification also provides traceability throughout the partners’ entire supply chain from the feedstock to the final product and allows brand owners to document the sustainability of their packaging towards consumers.