An important consideration when designing beauty and cosmetics product packaging is being sustainable and eco-friendly.
In the US alone, we create almost 7.9 billion units of rigid plastic for beauty and personal care products. As packaging designers, it’s up to us to ensure that the products we make are easy for the end consumer to recycle.
Here are 6 ways that you can encourage your customers to recycle more:
- Choose sustainable packaging materials
When designing your packaging, you should prioritise sustainable materials that can be easily recycled by the end customer.
At APG we are experts in designing fully recyclable plastic solutions, with some of our packaging designs being made up of 100% PCR plastic packaging.
- Make recycling information more prominent on packaging
Don’t hide the recycling information somewhere the customer will not be able to see.
Make it bold and clear, this way the customer is much more likely to see it and follow the recycling instructions.
- Make the placement of recycling information consistent across all packaging
When designing your packaging, make sure to put the recycling information in the same place across your different products.
This makes it easier for the end consumer to find the information and increases their chances of noticing it and recycling the product.
- Offer suggestions on how to reuse packaging
Another important aspect of sustainability is encouraging customers to reuse their plastic packaging.
You can use your packaging labels to encourage customers to find alternative uses for bottles and jars once they’ve finished the product. This could include using it as storage, or buying eco-friendly refill packs to use the packaging again.
- Advertise recycling schemes
Lots of companies offer their own recycling schemes that encourage sustainable behaviour in their customers.
Use your packaging to highlight your own, or other, recycling schemes that your customers can use once they’ve finished your product.
- Make recycling simple
Recycling used packaging is easy, although not everyone realises that it is—especially when only certain elements of your packaging can be recycled, for example the pump.
If you can, you should try to ensure that all parts of your packaging are recyclable, so the end user doesn’t have to worry about whether they’re able to recycle it or not.
Let us help you with your packaging
If you’d like more information about how we can help you with your packaging decisions, get in touch with one of our packaging experts today.