Chanel has unveiled N°1 de Chanel, a new generation of eco-responsible beauty products that are formulated with up to 97% naturally derived ingredients, including 76% from the camellia flower.
 
The line includes anti-aging skin care, makeup and a fragrance mist. Furthermore, the packaging has been designed to minimize carbon footprint.
The Key Ingredient
The key ingredient of the collection is the red camellia, a flower with revitalizing powers. Chanel is sourcing camellia from its own open-sky laboratory in the town of Gaujacq, France, where it has created a unique botanical site dedicated to the camellia that fosters a “reunion” of science and nature. This region’s climate is very particular: it experiences the same average temperatures as Japan or the South of China, where the Red Camellia first emerged.
 
Products in the line include:
 
N°1 de Chanel Revitalizing Serum
N°1 de Chanel Revitalizing Foundation
N°1 de Chanel L’Eau Rouge Fragrance Mist
N°1 de Chanel Revitalizing Eye Serum
N°1 de Chanel Revitalizing Cream & Refill
N°1 de Chanel Powder-to-Foam Cleanser
N°1 de Chanel Revitalizing Serum-in-Mist
N°1 de Chanel Revitalizing Lotion
N°1 de Chanel Lip and Cheek Balm
Environmental Responsibility
N°1 de Chanel seeks to minimize its environmental impact with a strict formulation charter and packaging designed for a reduced carbon footprint.
 
The formulas contain up to 97% naturally derived ingredients and are suitable for all skin types, including sensitive.
 
N°1 de Chanel features packaging designed with sustainability in mind, without cellophane or paper leaflets. Containers are crafted with lighter-weight glass. Also, to further minimize environmental impact, the glass packaging is printed with organic ink.
 
The classic paper leaflet has been replaced with a QR code printed directly on the packaging, providing the product information digitally.

US-based baby food company LactaLogics has finalised a partnership with flexible packaging manufacturer Scholle IPN for developing aseptic packaging technology.

The companies have partnered after carrying out a packaging research and development phase.

The collaboration will involve integrating Scholle IPN’s solutions with LactaLogics’ Gentle-UHT processing capabilities to deliver safe human milk-based products for infants in pharmaceutical-grade packaging.

This will provide hospital newborn intensive care units (NICUs) with access to shelf-stable, ready-to-serve human milk and human milk fortifiers packaged in aseptic pouches and cartons.

Scholle IPN business development manager Andrew Lively said: “Our aseptic packaging, especially as it relates to pharmaceuticals, protects delicate products from contamination and outside environmental factors, which is critical when feeding premature infants.

“The ability to combine this with shelf-stability and controlled, precise dosing delights us as we look forward to the positive impact of our packaging on the lives of premature infants.”

The new packaging solution is designed to maintain the reliability and safety of LactaLogics’ human milk-based products.

It is part of the company’s commitment to giving all premature infants access to an exclusive human milk diet.

LactaLogics co-founder and chief operating officer Chelly Snow said: “Our partnership with Scholle IPN will give hospitals access to aseptic packaging technology.

Having spent north of $50 million to date refining its plastic pallet offering, Ben Stoller, Paxxal’s CEO, states that his company’s long-lasting 48×40” plastic pallet stands out as one of the “true” GMA pallets on the market. It meets the guidance of racking 2,800 pounds in either direction while being under 50 pounds in weight. Paxxal is able to hold the line on weight as well as price thanks to the use of its proprietary internal filler material (which is fully recyclable), bridging of technologies, and superior engineering.

The Paxxal manufacturing process involves a bridging of technologies – a fully automated rotomolding system as well as injection molding. According to Stoller, the company continues to make process improvements that are helping it to reduce cycle time and boost throughput. Paxxal has lodged more than 28 patents on its’ plastic pallet in the process.

Targeting applications in the FMCG sector, the Paxxal pallet has a stated life expectancy of 70 to 100 trips. It is also UL fire rated and FDA food grade.  Further, the plastic pallet is hermetically sealed and fully repairable for most damage experienced in the supply chain.

Additionally, the company has made investments in information technology, including its PaxTrax IoT tracking system and its PaxxChain blockchain offering. Stoller, who also serves as Reusable Packaging Association chairman, states that PaxxChain’s vision is to enable established businesses to create value and solve real-world economic problems through lowering the barrier to blockchain technology utilization.  Stoller says, “Our vision is to create an entirely new store of value for data via PaxxCoin by identifying opportunistic cost savings from seemingly uncorrelated data never before seen.”

“Experts and consultants continue to hype the use of artificial intelligence,” he said, but in order to get to AI, you need to have access to real-world data. Our technologies allow our customers to do exactly that.”

“This is the most disruptive plastic pallet technology in the last 20 years,” he concluded.

In 2022, Stoller will also be serving the second year of his term as Reusable Packaging Association (RPA) Chairman of the Board through 2022. “It’s been a remarkable year for our industry and association, and much remains on our agenda to support an exciting outlook for growth,” he said in a release. “I look forward to continuing my work with RPA’s talented leadership team to expand a stronger, more competitive market for reusable packaging systems.”

As many of you are aware, PET beverage containers are often wrapped with PET-G (or sometimes polyvinyl chloride aka PVC) shrink-sleeve labels. The problem is that the labels are contaminants in the recycling process. They have a density higher than water and can’t be separated from PET flakes during the sink-float separation step of the recycling process. Thus, they contaminate the recycled PET stream and reduce the quality of recycled PET (rPET).

California has gone so far as to consider PET-G to not be PET and does not allow it to carry a #1 RIC code. Thus, perfectly recyclable PET bottles that use shrink-sleeve labels never make it to MRFs, and usually end up in landfills.

A startup company called Magnomer has developed a unique and rather elegant solution. Their process applies a magnetic ink to the shrink labels. The ink can be transparent or of various colors and is applied with standard label printing equipment.

When recovered bottles reach the processor, they are ground up as usual. As they leave the grinder for pelletizing, a magnet is used to attract and separate out the shrink label flakes.

Per a survey done by Magnomer in conjunction with the Association of Plastic Recyclers (APR), magnets are already in place to prevent metal contamination, so incremental investments, if required, will be minimal.

According to Ravish Majithia, founder and CEO of Magnomer, “what makes our system unique is its convenience. Recyclers get a cleaner PET stream without significant financial investments or changes in operating procedures. And consumers can simply drop the bottles in their recycling bins or return them for deposit repayments. Also, the need for consumers to look for and remember to remove perforated polyolefin labels prior to recycling is eliminated.”

Passes tests by American Fuji Seal.

Magnomer has successfully tested their system with label producer American Fuji Seal and a global beverage company in fully commercialized, scaled up labelling and bottling facilities. They are engaged with the APR for their Innovation Recognition program. The Recognition program entails commercial-scale testing at a minimum of two MRFs and two reclaimers. Magnomer expects to receive APR recognition in Q1 2022. 

There’s another benefit to Magnomer’s technology: It has benefits for paper recycling streams as well. It could allow materials recovery facilities (MRFs) to cost effectively use magnets to separate out laminated films, such as chips bags. This would help remove plastic contamination from paper bales, where these flexible packages often end up today

I asked the director of a county solid waste management district in the Northeast for their thoughts regarding this approach and was told that, “if proven out in the ‘real world’, I think it would be a big help in that consumer confusion would be eliminated regarding whether or not they’re supposed to remove labels from PET bottles. One less rule makes consumer education easier. Removing foil laminated snack bags from fiber runs would be great, particularly in high volume MRFs.”

Iceland is replacing its previous packaging with Mondi’s versatile functional barrier paper across a number of its ranges. The first newly packaged product to hit the shelves earlier this month was the retailer’s frozen chicken dippers, which reduces the amount of plastic used per year by 80%.

The functional barrier paper is made from renewable resources with Mondi managing the paper production and coating in-house, providing a fully integrated solution. It is easy for consumers to recycle the paper in existing waste streams and as paper is the most widely recycled material in the world – 74% of paper and 83% of paper-based packaging in Europe are recycled – the solution ensures that the paper can be recycled at the end of its life, contributing to a circular economy.

Stuart Lendrum, Head of Packaging, Quality and Food Safety at Iceland added: “We’ve been bold in our aims to remove plastic: we were the first UK retailer to publish our plastic footprint along with our pledge to ultimately become plastic free. To deliver on this “Doing it Right” promise, we knew we would need the expertise of global packaging suppliers like Mondi. Their collaborative EcoSolutions approach meant that our teams worked together to consider all elements of the product manufacturing and delivery journey. We now have a sustainable solution that is efficient to use, protects the products and meets the expectations of our customers.”

Importantly, Mondi’s functional barrier paper offers complete product protection, ensuring the product has the same shelf life as it did with its previous packaging. Thanks to the high stiffness of the paper, the packaging is puncture resistant and ensures an efficient filling process that runs seamlessly on existing machinery.

Falk Paulsen, Sales & Business Development Director Extrusion Solutions, Mondi says: “Iceland has set out ambitious sustainability targets and has already made great strides in reducing plastic packaging. Some products need more specialised solutions to ensure consumers get safe, high-quality food. Mondi’s functional barrier paper uses a wafer-thin coating that provides all the necessary barriers to keep food fresh and can still be recycled. It is a pleasure to be working with Iceland on their range of frozen food products.”

Iceland aims to be the first UK supermarket to become plastic neutral, adapting to paper packaging wherever possible and offsetting its remaining plastic footprint by recovering and recycling environmental and nature-bound waste plastic. By working with Mondi, Iceland has benefitted from the packaging specialist’s EcoSolutions approach to work closely together to ask the right questions and develop the most sustainable packaging solutions.