In recent months, the packaging we use to protect and promote our consumer goods has come under more scrutiny than ever before – and the trend towards sustainability is set to continue across every sector, beauty included.
It is for this reason that Cosmetics Business is launching Cosmetics Business Packaging Live (co-located with Cosmetics Business Regulatory Summit).
Taking place in Barcelona from 8-9 October 2019, this inaugural conference will provide a comprehensive analysis of upcoming beauty packaging trends and innovations from industry experts, with a particular focus on the all-important topic of sustainability.
Attendees will gain an understanding of the latest and future packaging trends, find new alternatives to single-use plastics, and learn the ways in which their brands can contribute to ocean preservation and a sustainable future.
Approaches to sustainability
Following a welcome from beauty industry expert Emma Reinhold, Mintel's Richard Cope will provide an opening address on ‘The future of packaging’, which will discuss how environmentally friendly, reusable and recyclable packaging will become the norm, and look at the driving forces behind this movement.
The sustainability theme will continue with ‘How can smart packaging and connected solutions drive sustainable change?’ Presented by Rob Holland of SharpEnd.
Holland's session will focus on how the Internet of Things can help consumers dispose of their products correctly, when recycling guidelines confusingly vary from city to city.
A practical step-by-step guide for brands looking to ‘green’ their packaging will be delivered by Intertek’s Gary Parker, who will present ‘The survival guide for sustainable packaging’.
This will be followed by Caroline Frery from TerraCycle who will provide guidance via her talk ‘How to ensure your products won’t up in the ocean or landfill’.
Frery will speak about innovative ways in which packaging can be reused post-consumer to reduce the environmental impact of packaging waste.
A session covering the creation of products that offer longevity to avoid the dreaded ‘single-use’ accusation will likewise feature at Cosmetics Business Packaging Live.
One product that has become something of a sustainability bogeyman in recent years is the wet wipe, with many being non-biodegradable and non-flushable, resulting in the formation of sewer-blocking ‘fatbergs’.
Melanie Sumreder, Sustainability Relations Manager at Lenzing will ask ‘Is it possible for wet wipes and sheets to join the sustainable movement?’ This presentation will touch on the future of wet wipes, the creation of soluble versions as well as alternatives.
Of course, the bigger the company the bigger the challenge, and Cosmetics Business Packaging Live will feature a session on the issues faced when dealing with scaled-up sustainability.
Material issues
PET is a reusable and recyclable plastic with many uses, and more easily recyclable ‘monoplastic’ PET pack options are becoming available from packaging suppliers.
As such, the Barcelona-based event will have a presentation dedicated to PET and its uses.
When it comes to new and exciting materials, Esther Cusó from Paptic will present an alternative to plastic that lets brands create customer-pleasing products that are renewable, reusable, recyclable and biodegradable.
Meanwhile, a representative from ITENE asks ‘Are bio-based materials an alternative source to plastics?’ This will look at which materials offer other benefits, such as biodegradability, and how to avoid ‘greenwashing’.
Greenwashing will be one of many topics featured in the event’s expert panel discussion (led by Hint Futurology’s Helga Hertsig-Lavocah), titled ‘How sustainable is sustainable?’
Hertsig-Lavocah will then touch on the potential of in-store refill stations as a sustainable beauty solution in ‘Can in-store refill stations rescue bricks-and-mortar retail and save the planet?’
Consumer engagement
Nick Vaus from Free The Birds will show how beauty brands can create packs that engage with the modern consumer virtually anywhere at any time, combining the triple demands of aesthetics, sustainability and ‘kinship’ to deliver optimally performing beauty products.
Then there is smart packaging, which has been touted as the future of packaging for a while now.
However, in ‘Smart packaging isn’t that smart… yet’, Stephen McSpadden of CutiTronics will argue that brands are missing opportunities to fully utilise this technology.
He will demonstrate how truly smart packaging can deliver on the oft-promised intimate relationship between the consumer and brand.
This agenda may be subject to change, to keep up to date and for details of how to register, click here.
Discounts are available for Cosmetics Business subscribers, and for Stanpa, SEQC and Beauty Cluster Barcelona members. Email events@hpcimedia.com to claim your discount.
We would like to thank our exhibitors and sponsors: MSL Solution Providers, Cosmedesk, VEEVA, Intertek, Mile High Labs, XCellR8, Delphic HSE, Ayton Global Research, Cosm and Ithos Global, as well as our event partners and collaborators: PACKNET, SEQC, Arthur Edward, Beauty Cluster Barcelona and Stanpa.
If you are interested in sponsoring or exhibiting at Cosmetics Business Packaging Live, please contact Carolina Quintana on carolinaq@hpcimedia.com. For any other queries, please contact Jemma Stanworth on events@hpcimedia.com