As pioneering circularity for over 20 years, Lumene is the frontrunner in using upcycled materials. This is now extended beyond formulations with the new biobased jar material as circularity is emphasized more in Lumene’s packaging choices. Lumene wants to minimize the use of excess packaging materials, maximize packaging recyclability, and utilize the use of recycled plastic and renewable raw materials in all areas possible. In recent years, the company has taken big leaps in packaging development by introducing lightweight jars, refills, as well as recycled and biobased materials in beauty product packaging.
“At Lumene we constantly invest in novelty technologies to improve sustainability of our packaging. This new 97 % biobased jar is one option to reduce the use of fossil-based plastic. By 2025, our target is to have 80 % of our plastic packaging made of recycled plastic or renewable raw materials. We continue to do research and develop of various new packaging material options”, says Essi Arola, Head of R&D, Packaging and Sustainability at Lumene. NatureWorks’ Ingeo biopolymer has a 62% smaller carbon footprint than polypropylene from its manufacturing alone, offering a low carbon alternative to petrochemical based materials. Making Ingeo begins when plants capture and sequester CO2, transforming it into longchain sugar molecules. NatureWorks then ferments those sugars to make lactic acid, which becomes the building block of a wide array of high-performance materials under the Ingeo brand.
The new bio-attributed jar is made of side streams of Finnish forest industry. Tall oil, a side stream material of pulp manufacturing, is used to produce biobased feedstock, which is the raw material for plastic production. When fossil-based plastic is replaced by bioplastic, the carbon dioxide emissions of the pack are reduced significantly.
