How the rising demand for sustainable packaging is revolutionizing tubes

21-Jun-2018 - Last updated on 21-Jun-2018 at 09:25 GMT

In this guest article, Rachel Morgan from the Adelphi Group talks us through how demand for sustainable beauty is impacting packaging.

Joanna Cosgrove, Contributing Editor of Beauty Packaging Magazine wrote last month that “one of the biggest trends in beauty [is] personal care tubes”, and enthuses that the global tube market is “forecasted to reach $11.43 billion by 2022”.

Evan McVittie, innovation and marketing manager of Unique Distinctions Inc. agrees, stating that more and more cosmetics clients are “capitalizing on the economic dependability of tubes”.

Cosgrove is keen to note that “like every other facet of the packaging industry, the tube segment continues to do whatever it can to shrink its environmental footprint”.

She lists the primary goal as “sustainability, which is being achieved through the use of Post-Consumer Recycled (PCR) plastic materials” or recyclable “Poly Propylene” in the tubes themselves, and re-useable stainless steel equipment in the manufacturing process.

Similarly, ‘Sustainability in Design’ was the hot topic in this month’s edition of Packaging News Magazine, with industry leaders citing both the responsibility of designers to respond to sustainability issues, and the responsibility of companies to integrate sustainability ideas into their processes.

Matt Oakley of Taxi Studio wrote for the magazine that consumers are “demanding an environmentally conscious attitude from brands”, with Nick Vaus of Free the Birds agreeing that “sustainability is becoming intrinsic to consumers’ purchasing decisions”.

Responding to demand

The Adelphi Group of Companies is one packaging player responding to this rising demand.

The company offers a range of tube fillers and sealers covers everything from hand-held tube folding and crimping pliers, to the Vesta 1C (for small batch production), and upwards to the GM E250Matic, an automatic tube filling and sealing machine capable of processing metal, polyethylene and laminate tubes.

The Adelphi catalogue is set to be exhibited at the Process and Packaging Machinery (PPMA) 2018 show.

“We are distancing ourselves and our products from the outdated ‘throw it away and start again’ mentality which no longer fits with our social and environmental responsibilities,” says the company. “All our products are designed and created with longevity in mind.”