The number of companies taking steps to tackle the problem of marine plasticspollution continues to rise. Nonetheless, every year, around eight million tons of plastic waste are still dumped in the oceans.
Now Gerresheimer , a German manufacturer of primary packaging products for medication and drug delivery devices, has announced it is stepping up its efforts in this direction. The company has long marketed cosmetics packaging made from various blends of recycled PET (rPET), but has now added the option of a cosmetics portfolio made from ocean-bound plastic. It presented the products to customers at Luxepack.
”We are very pleased to introduce this material to our customers for their sustainability concepts," said Niels Düring, Global Executive Vice President Plastic Packaging. The packaging material is made of 100% recycled PET and is completely recyclable.
Since less energy is needed for recycling, the CO2 requirement for production is reduced, Düring added. “Consequently, recycling saves both raw materials and energy.”
The material is suitable for a wide range of care and cosmetic products, such as shower gels, hair shampoos, body lotions, facial cleansing products and various creams.
Gerresheimer said that the material had undergone a complete dimensional analysis and a functional test. No significant differences were found between the ocean-bound and virgin PET material.
In fact, they differed only slightly in their visual appearance , specifically ‘in the colour tonality,’ said Gerresheimer. The recycled ocean-bound plastic used by the company is supplied by an experienced and certified partner company that collects the material and processes it for use in production.