Business of Clean Beauty: Eco-conscious Brands Look To Reduce Packaging Waste

The Road To Clean Beauty 

asa is a clean beauty brand founded by Asha and Sukriti Jindal Khaitan

Clean beauty is synonymous with cosmetics and skincare products free from harmful chemicals. Asha Jindal Khaitan and her daughter-in-law Sukriti Jindal Khaitan, founders of asa beauty, share the ethos behind their clean beauty brand, launched in 2020. “asa came from a need for more trustworthy local brands for skincare and makeup in India. We wanted to cater to a growing conscious consumer market through a sustainable, luxury brand that offered clean beauty solutions while adhering to international aesthetics and quality standards,” Sukriti shares. asa’s products are made with performance-driven natural product formulations and customised for Indian skin tones. 

asa offers refills for all their products

But in a marketing-fuelled drive for an Instagram-worthy look, the bells and whistles of packaging play an intrinsic role in the allure for a consumer. So how do brands carve a sustainable middle path in this age of purposeful beauty? The answer is sustainable packaging. At asa, the packaging is exquisitely crafted using aluminium, an endlessly recyclable material; they also offer refills, prompting users to replenish their products without creating wastage. “We have created packaging from scratch in the cosmetic space, and this endeavour is unique to asa. All our pieces are custom-made. Additionally, our focus is on refilling and reusing. The 3-step refillable system makes it easy to adopt a conscious lifestyle without compromising the efficacy or quality of the product,” Asha adds. 

Is Incorporating Sustainable Packaging Easy?

It rarely is, as most brands expressed. “While demand is shifting towards sustainability, consumers still expect an equally good experience as what they’ve had in the past – and this represents a big challenge. Packaging is a critical part of brand experience, and identifying a sustainable yet recognisable and unique packaging design can be a challenge and an opportunity in itself,” expresses Priyanka Sachdeva, Head of Marketing at Kiehl’s India. 

Vilvah uses recyclable products like aluminium and glass in its packaging

Vilvah Store, a sustainable skincare brand, faced similar roadblocks while incorporating sustainable packaging. “When we decided to use recyclable packaging, it looked simple. But we understood the difficulty in sourcing this packaging, the additional cost we were incurring and the difficulty in recycling. The entire process has to be sustainable and not only the product packaging,” says Kruthika Kumaran, co-founder of Vilvah. The brand uses recyclable products like aluminium and glass and follows practices such as recycling wastewater and using it inside its facility while operating on solar power. 

Better Beauty is completely plastic-neutral and uses recyclable packaging for their products

Packaging supplies also make up a big chunk of plastic used in beauty industry. Think bubble wraps, plastic covers and single-use containers. Therefore, eliminating plastic was also a key focus for Better Beauty, a clean beauty brand by Anita Hassanandani. “In the initial stages of eco-friendly packaging, product leakage and lack of multiple designs were a few setbacks. With the advancement of this industry, many of these issues are not prevalent now. Leakage in shipments still occurs due to mishandling in logistics, but even that is overcome with the correct usage of paper-based packaging supplies. It’s still easier to source innovative design focussed packaging in non-sustainable materials; however, with the larger goal in clear sight, we focus on materials that look good, if not incredible, and yet are effective. We are completely plastic-neutral and use recyclable packaging for all our products,” expresses Naina Ruhail, co-founder of Better Beauty.

Sustainability and Customer Incentives

Kiehl’s India has a Recycle & Be Rewarded Program for its customers

While sustainable beauty brands are going the extra mile to lower their carbon footprint, ensuring the last-mile coverage for consumers’ interest in recycling is also a mammoth task. To this end, Kiehl’s India, which had also launched a store made with sustainable architecture in Mumbai’s Jio World Drive, has devised a program to encourage customers to begin their journey towards sustainability. “All Kiehl’s stores have a recycle box where customers can place their empty product containers as part of the Recycle & Be Rewarded Program. They are rewarded for taking this step towards a better future and earn points that can later be accumulated and redeemed for Kiehl’s products or merchandise,” Sachdeva adds. 

Vilvah also has a recycling program called #BringItToVilvah, where they help customers recycle empty jars and bottles. At Better Beauty, repeat buyers can choose whether to club orders or avoid certain packaging goodies to ensure minimal wastage. 

 

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A post shared by asa (@asabeautyindia)

Additionally, another key aspect is consumer education, towards which asa works. “We know that consumers today seek the right information about sustainability. To that end, we have built a glossary on our website, where we try to educate our users about the ingredients we use and the ones that brands should not use. People are looking to be educated, and I believe the onus is on us to ensure that the right idea is disseminated from the top of the funnel down to the bottom,” Sukriti opines.