Origins and The Estée Lauder Companies Announce Sustainable Packaging Partnership With SABIC and Albéa

Origins, a prestige global skincare brand that delivers high-performance formulas powered by nature and proven by science, and its parent company, The Estée Lauder Companies (ELC), today announced a partnership with global chemical industry leader SABIC and strategic beauty packaging manufacturer Albéa to bring an advanced recycled tube package to market in 2021.

Origins will be the first prestige beauty brand to leverage SABIC’s innovative, advanced recycling technology to produce a tube pack format made from previously difficult to recycle, post-consumer mixed plastics material.

Launching with Origins global best-selling mask, Clear Improvement™ Active Charcoal Mask will be packaged in a tube composed of a circular polymer resin made using SABIC’s revolutionary, certified circular polyethylene and polypropylene advanced recycling technology. As a pioneer in the development of sustainable packaging for beauty brands, Albéa will leverage its expertise in the use of recycled resins to deliver a high-performing tube experience.

Traditional recycling streams for plastics are limited, and plastics can only be recycled a finite amount of times. Advanced recycling returns hard-to-recycle plastics, otherwise destined for incineration or landfill, back to their basic building blocks. Once the plastic has been broken down to its molecular state, it is then used to create high-performance plastics akin to a virgin material. SABIC’s ground-breaking, certified circular polymer, part of its TRUCIRCLE™ portfolio of circular solutions, uses this technology which is capable of continually converting plastics back to the original polymer. Through the use of this innovative recycling technology, Origins, ELC, SABIC and Albéa are helping to drive innovation across the value chain toward the goal of a circular plastic economy.

This strategic partnership aligns with ELC’s sustainable packaging goals, which includes increasing the amount of post-consumer recycled (PCR) material in its packaging by up to 50% by 2025, and will further Origins efforts to ensure that at least 80% of the brand’s packaging by weight is recyclable, refillable, reusable, recycled or recoverable by 2023.

SABIC's certified polymers are based on a mass balance approach. To secure the chain of custody, the value chain parties require an ISCC PLUS certification. This widely recognized international sustainability certification scheme verifies that the mass balance accounting follows predefined and transparent rules. In addition, it provides traceability along the supply chain, from the feedstock to the final product.

“Respect for the well-being of your skin and our planet is ingrained into our brand’s DNA. It guides our actions and is reflected in our Origins offerings which is why we’re excited to partner with SABIC and Albéa to provide our consumers with a safe, high-quality and responsible packaging solution that helps reduce our impact on the environment,” says Francesca Damato, Origins Vice President Global Marketing and Product Development. “Together, we have an exciting opportunity to define how the prestige beauty industry can create sustainable, attractive packaging solutions that please both consumer and the planet. This is a significant first step in the transition towards a circular economy, helping to close the loop on plastic waste.”

“At The Estée Lauder Companies, we approach sustainable design options for our prestige and luxury packaging with a spirit of collaboration. To further our focus on reducing the potential environmental impacts of a package across its lifecycle, we are proud to partner with SABIC and Albéa on Origins industry-first sustainable packaging innovation,” said Sushil Iyer, Vice President, Global Packaging, The Estée Lauder Companies. “Exploring the uses of advanced recycled PCR has incredible potential to help drive the achievement of our sustainable packaging goals, and we are excited to bring this product to market.”

Mark Vester, Circular Economy Leader at SABIC, said “The new Origins packaging is the result of true collaboration and innovation, and another step closer to closing the loop on used plastics. We are committed to collaborating with partners across the value chain to work towards a more sustainable, circular future.”

“Albéa has been at the forefront of sustainable development in packaging for many years and was the first beauty packaging company to commit to making their solutions 100% circular by 2025. This breakthrough with Origins, The Estée Lauder Companies and SABIC is an industry first – paving the way for the use of advanced recycled, post-consumer waste into prestige beauty packaging thanks to an innovative source of high-quality resins,” says Stéphane Barlet, VP of Sales, Albéa Americas. “This co-development also highlights the importance of partnership and audacity across the value-chain, which is crucial to accelerate the transition to recyclable and reusable packaging."

About Origins

Prestige global skincare brand, Origins combines high-quality plant, earth and sea-based ingredients with non-toxic-to-skin alternatives and advanced science to create safe, high-performance products that deliver transformative results. Since inception in 1990, Origins has been committed to respecting the well-being of your skin and our planet – from traveling the world to discover nature’s potent ingredients to endeavoring to make choices that help reduce our impact on the planet. The brand formulates without: parabens, phthalates, propylene glycol, formaldehyde, sodium lauryl sulfate (SLS), mineral oil, petrolatum, paraffin, diathanolamine (DEA), polyethylene beads and animal ingredients (except cruelty free honey & beeswax). Origins is available in 30 countries. For more information, visit www.origins.com; never stop discovering™ and follow @Origins.

About The Estée Lauder Companies Inc.

The Estée Lauder Companies Inc. is one of the world’s leading manufacturers and marketers of quality skin care, makeup, fragrance and hair care products. The Company’s products are sold in approximately 150 countries and territories under brand names including: Estée Lauder, Aramis, Clinique, Prescriptives, Lab Series, Origins, Tommy Hilfiger, M·A·C, Kiton, La Mer, Bobbi Brown, Donna Karan New York, DKNY, Aveda, Jo Malone London, Bumble and bumble, Michael Kors, Darphin, Tom Ford, Smashbox, Ermenegildo Zegna, AERIN, RODIN olio lusso, Le Labo, Editions de Parfums Frédéric Malle, GLAMGLOW, KILIAN PARIS, BECCA, Too Faced and Dr. Jart+.

About SABIC

SABIC is a global leader in diversified chemicals and the company manufacture on a global scale in the Americas, Europe, Middle East and Asia Pacific, making distinctly different kinds of products: chemicals, commodity and high performance plastics, agri-nutrients and metals.

At SABIC, we are working to drive the change needed to close the loop on used plastic. This includes SABIC’s TRUCIRCLE™ portfolio and services which showcases our circular innovations, including our certified circular products which are produced using a feedstock derived from previously difficult to recycle used plastic household packaging. We are collaborating with retailers, recyclers and manufacturers to close the loop and to accelerate the changes we need to make to become a circular global society.

SABIC has more than 33,000 employees worldwide and operates in around 50 countries. Fostering innovation and a spirit of ingenuity, we have 12,540 global patent filings, and have significant research resources with innovation hubs in five key geographies – USA, Europe, Middle East, South Asia and North Asia.

Visit our website for more information: www.sabic.com.

About Albéa

We invent and make responsible packaging – tubes, lipsticks, mascaras, fragrance caps, skincare jars and turnkey solutions – for the beauty, personal care and health markets. Yet we believe there can be no responsible packaging without a responsible company. That’s why we uphold the reputation of our dynamic and prestigious customers; we act for the environment; we support our communities; we invest in technical expertise and world-class equipment for our 32 modern facilities worldwide; and we care for our 12,000 talented people. At Albéa, we protect Beauty. www.albea-group.com.

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Contact information

Media
Origins: Alicja Wojczyk, awojczyk@estee.com
The Estée Lauder Companies: Kyle Landman klandman@estee.com