As the need to reduce the environmental footprint of packaging materials grows increasingly urgent, three companies have united around a simple but possibly impactful idea: repurposing production waste that falls short of luxury perfume and cosmetics industry standards for use in other sectors.
A key material in the high-end packaging industry for perfumes and cosmetics, particularly for manufacturing perfume caps, Surlyn is valued for its exceptional transparency and durability thanks to its superior scratch and chemical resistance. However, the quality requirements specific to this sector sometimes lead to the production of a lot of production waste. These non-compliant parts were once discarded.
To breathe new life into these high-quality materials and maximize their utility, Dow, Brivaplast, and TecnoGi have partnered to repurpose non-compliant caps into components for high-end footwear and leather goods.
Adding value to non-compliant caps
Concretly speaking, perfume caps made from Dow’s Surlyn resin that fail to meet Brivaplast’s stringent production standards will be processed by TecnoGi, an Italian company specializing in manufacturing components for the footwear and leather goods industry.
This collaborative initiative, involving three key industry players – Dow, the producer of the virgin resin; Brivaplast, which converts it into packaging components; and TecnoGi, which repurposes the industrial waste – aligns perfectly with the luxury consumer goods industry focus on reducing carbon footprints and resource waste, especially in Europe. It allows to advance circularity in the luxury goods industry by keeping high-quality materials in the loop for longer.
Highlighting cooperation
By reusing these materials, Dow, Brivaplast, and TecnoGi say they are pleased to highlight an opportunity in the luxury goods industry and to demonstrate the importance of smart cooperation across the materials value chain to promote circularity.
“Our collaboration with Brivaplast and TecnoGi comes at a time when demand for sustainable materials and packaging solutions continues to grow. At Dow, we recognize our role in going faster and further to find solutions to accelerate the circular economy for plastics across European industries and know our customers expect nothing less,” said Imran Munshi, Global Consumer Market Segment Leader at Dow. “We’re proud to show what can be achieved by working together across the value chain, and the benefits for all of keeping valuable materials in the loop for longer.”
