BRITISH skincare brand Elemis has announced a new collaboration which will see the creation of plastic-free biodegradable sample sachets for its products.
The ‘game-changing’ innovation aims to see left-over plant waste from Elemis product ingredients turned into biofilm, with the long term goal of replacing single-use sachets used to package samples of its skincare products.
Elemis will partner with Xampla, creator of natural materials brand Morro, to use its materials made from plant feedstocks. Xampla will utilise their expertise over the next six months to turn Elemis’ plant waste into heat sealable films that can replace single use plastics.
The project has been supported by a grant co-funded by Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC), Engineering & Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC), and Innovate UK.
Morro natural materials will be ‘extensively’ tested to demonstrate its market capabilities when used with Elemis products.
Oriele Frank, co-founder and chief product and sustainability officer at Elemis, said, “Elemis continues to innovate and investigate new ideas, and partners wherever possible with organisations that can help move the dial on key environmental or social challenges. What we find so exciting about this project with Morro is how utilising waste from left-over plant material can potentially tackle one of our key packaging dilemmas too.
“This project further reflects our commitment to finding new opportunities to have a positive impact on planet and people throughout our value chain.”
Pete Hutton, chairman at Xampla, added, “Our collaboration with Elemis unlocks significant potential for the cosmetics industry, where waste materials are transformed into innovative solutions to replace plastic sachets. We are proud to have pioneered our breakthrough material using plant feedstocks and we are looking forward to developing this research further with Elemis.”
The partnership was facilitated by PlasticFree.com, founded by Sian Sutherland, co-Founder of A Plastic Planet. She added, “We are proud to have united two forward-looking British companies that, together, can steer us away from plastic packaging with entirely new materials, created from discarded waste. This is the kind of inventive and collaborative approach that is required to create change in the industry and to facilitate the next generation of packaging.”
