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Cover Story: The Evolution of a Cap

A Major Breakthrough in Sustainability

Vintage Clove Shampoo’s packaging is truly unique in its levels of postconsumer recycled (PCR) materials, as well as the source of those materials. The bottle is made from a minimum of 96% PCR high-density polyethylene (HDPE). This is the highest percentage of recycled content attained yet for a colored bottle for a beauty product, according to the team at Aveda.

The PCR HDPE source is recycled milk jugs. The remaining 4% HDPE virgin resin is used as a carrier for the resin’s colorant. Matrix Packaging (Mississauga, ON, Canada) molds the bottle, and TricorBraun (St. Louis) supplies the bottle.

Technigraph (Winona, MN) decorates the bottle, whose graphic design elements were inspired by those used on the original Clove Pure Plant package. “We chose a color similar to the original bottle color that our loyal customers will remember,” says Dean Maune, executive director of Aveda Package Development. “We also refreshed the bottle’s graphics so that they would work with all of the random colors of the recycled caps,” he adds.

The bottle’s dispensing cap is made from 100%-PCR polypropylene (PP) resin—the first Aveda cap to use such a high level of PCR. Because the PCR resin supply is always a mixture of different colors, the color of each batch of caps varies. Aveda’s creative and marketing teams were on board with the idea of the caps not always having a uniform look. “I think the fact that consumers will see the colors change over time reinforces the idea of what we’re doing,” says Maune.

Producing the caps from 100%-PCR resin didn’t pose problems for supplier Seaquist Closures (Mukwonago, WI). “[Seaquist] was able to run the PCR PP material in its existing disc-top molds,” explains Maune. “The 100%-PCR material actually ran better on the machinery than a 50/50 blend of PCR and virgin material. We even heard feedback about how the PCR material was helping to self-lubricate the molds,” Maune adds.

Collected Caps Become Aveda’s Own PCR Source

Finding enough PCR PP material for the bottles’ caps was made possible by Aveda’s Caps-Collection Program—the first of its kind in the United States. A story about this program in CPC Packaging’s July/August issue reported that more than 50,000 pounds of plastic has already been collected since the program began in April of this year. (The United States doesn’t have another recycling system in place to collect and recycle loose PP closures. These types of caps end up in landfills, littering beaches, and even migrating to oceans where the material can travel for thousands of miles.)

Part of the PCR PP used for the Vintage Clove Shampoo caps also comes from another source, which Aveda found in 2005. Today, many of the clear closures used on Aveda’s shampoo bottles contain up to 25% PCR PP from this stream of material. “At that time, our source for PCR PP was reclaimed security strips that surrounded most CD disc cases, which were collected from stores after they were no longer functional. When the industry changed the way it packaged and sold the discs, that resource went away,” explains John Delfausse, vice president of global package development and chief environmental officer for Estée Lauder Corporate Packaging.

Aveda’s Caps-Collection Program is now the company’s own sustainable source for PCR PP. “The Caps-Collection Program is one achievement that demonstrates Aveda’s commitment to strengthening its position as a sustainable company and an environmental steward. The concept of product stewardship is one that we believe is critical to building a true cradle-to-cradle environment for packaging,” says Delfausse. (The cradle-to-cradle, or closed-loop, concept, is discussed in the sidebar here.)

Leading Efforts to Create a New Recycling Stream for Polypropylene

Running the Caps-Collection Program is still a huge challenge for the team at Aveda. “The collecting, sorting, and processing procedures were all completely new to us. Working with sourcing partners that were up to the challenge helped a great deal,” explains Maune.

Right now, caps are being collected from Aveda and Estée Lauder offices; Aveda Experience Centers (its retail stores); Aveda’s manufacturing site in Blaine, MN; Estée Lauder’s manufacturing site in Melville, NY; and 62 elementary schools. Additionally, a number of Aveda salons and spas will join the program later this year. The collected caps are sent to one of three consolidation sites: ACA Waste Services in Babylon, NY; Aveda’s headquarters in Blaine; or Aveda’s West Coast distribution facility in California. An initial sorting process at these locations weeds out nonrecyclable material.

Next, the recyclable caps are shipped by the truckload to KW Plastics in Troy, AL. The recycler sorts, cleans, and processes the material, converting it into pellets. The pellets are sent to Seaquist Closures to be injection molded into new caps.

Managing the processing procedure is not a responsibility that Aveda wants to continue indefinitely. “Aveda is not in the business of collecting, sorting, and processing recycled materials. There are groups more capable of managing this process long-term,” says Maune. He adds, however, that Aveda does feel an obligation to find additional uses for the recycled cap materials.

Once the network is set up for recycling caps, Aveda hopes to turn the program over to local recyclers across the nation. “We are reaching out to local recycling centers that are currently collecting mixed materials and sorting them. We’re simply looking to add another valuable material to a recycler’s existing collection stream,” Maune says.

“Recycled polypropylene is valuable to the packaging industry, and if we can just get the material sorted, it has a much higher value as an injection-grade material,” Maune says. Aveda’s efforts will no doubt lead to positive changes in recycling and material collection that will have a lasting effect on the entire industry.

More on Aveda's Caps-Collection Program

Sidebars:
    Web Exclusive: Aveda Prevents Plastics from Polluting Oceans
    Closing the Loop
    How Schoolchildren Helped
    From the July/August Issue: Aveda's Caps-Collection Project

 

 

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