The beauty industry has a dirty little secret — its packaging. It’s time we talked about it.
Your favorite products, the ones promising to care for your skin and hair, come wrapped in the very materials that are choking our planet and accumulating in our bodies. Plastic.
We’re sold products wrapped in plastic, marketed as luxurious, but that packaging? It’s garbage—literally. Once the product’s used up, more often than not, it’s destined for a landfill, maybe an incinerator, or even worse, floating in our oceans. And for what? The convenience of a plastic tube? The illusion of something “sleek” or “modern”?
I’m done with it. We should all be done with it.
The reality is that 95% of beauty packaging still relies on plastic , and the industry doesn’t seem to care. They’re stuck in this outdated cycle of waste, selling us the same story with a prettier bow on top. Mixed materials, black plastic—it’s designed for disposability, not sustainability. And what’s worse? Most of it isn’t even recyclable. Those mascaras, lipsticks, and tiny compacts? They’re too small, too complex, or just too invisible to most recycling systems.
Here’s where I stand: beauty doesn’t need to be part of this waste problem. It can be part of the solution. It’s time to rethink what packaging should be. That means materials with integrity, ones that last, that are recyclable, that actually hold value beyond a single use. We’ve been so obsessed with convenience, we forgot that packaging should have a second life.
Tin. Aluminium
These are materials that endure, materials that can be recycled over and over again without degrading. Why aren’t more brands using them? Because they’re too busy chasing trends and cutting costs, ignoring the fact that the planet is paying the price for their cheap decisions.
And it doesn’t have to be complicated. Simplicity is key. We need mono-material packaging that’s easy to recycle, that doesn’t confuse consumers or burden recycling centers. No layers, no unnecessary pieces, just straightforward, functional design that makes sense. This isn’t some radical idea—it’s common sense.
The beauty industry loves to talk about innovation, but where’s the innovation in sticking with the same plastic packaging we’ve been using for decades? True innovation is about pushing boundaries, and demanding better. We don’t have time to wait for the big brands to catch up. The revolution has to start now.
It’s about real responsibility, about rethinking the way we create and consume. Beauty can be beautiful, inside and out, if we choose materials that respect the earth as much as they do the product. The question is, who’s ready to make that choice?
