Joanna Cosgrove, Contributing Editor06.04.21
Nearly every corner of the consumer product goods (CPG) industry has been influenced by the ongoing demand for improved sustainability, from the way ingredients and materials are sourced, processed, disposed of and recycled. For tubes, the breadth of material choices contributes to making a more sustainable footprint easier to achieve for tube producers and beauty brands alike.
“Brands are considering all their options: PCR, bio-based materials, ocean-bound plastics, refillables, light-weighting, substrate conversion and single-substrate packaging for improved recyclability,” explains Vali Braselton, marketing manager, Consumer Products North America, Berry Global.
Ida Sigvardsson, marketing specialist, Norden Machinery AB, says the “green-tube” trends are being driven both by policy and brand strategy. The increased use of mono-materials contributes to higher recycling rates. There is also an emphasis on lowering the impact of virgin materials (like green PE, cardboard materials and other green tubes), utilizing non-fossil-based Polyethylene tube materials (such as sugar cane).
Light-weighting, or producing tubes with thinner walls, is another option but it can be tricky to achieve and must be executed with precision. “This is something we are part in testing and evaluating–bearing in mind that the packaging is there to protect the product until it reaches the consumer, both from outside force, but also from contamination in contact with air,”
Sigvardsson says. “No beauty brand will compromise on quality and good looks.”
Braselton points to the public commitments of many large CPG companies promising to deliver more sustainable packaging by 2025–which is right around the proverbial corner. Since it can take a few years to develop, test and manufacture a new design or material, she encourages brands to get that process started so they are ready.
Plastic Tube Trends
Plastics have been heavily scrutinized for ways to improve eco-friendliness. And in the case of tubes, less is definitely proving to be more.
Hoffmann Neopac introduced its Lightweight Tube as the latest addition to its EcoDesign series of eco-friendly tubes that align with packaging industry desires to minimize carbon footprint and waste.
“Brand owners in various sectors—particularly health and beauty but also pharma—are increasingly looking to reduce or replace the use of virgin plastic packaging materials to enhance their products’ sustainability profiles,” comments Cornelia Schmid, the company’s marketing manager. “The use of such lighter-weight packaging reduces both shipping costs and extended producer responsibility (EPR) fees.”
Neopac’s Lightweight Tube is available in plastic tube diameters ranging from 30-50mm, and in four substrate varieties: Polyethelene and Recycled tubes, each with or without EVOH barrier.
“Materials reduction is most prominent in the tubes’ wall thickness, which has been reduced from 0.5mm to 0.35mm without sacrificing exemplary haptics,” she says. “Low profile closures are already in the pipeline to achieve maximum weight reduction in plastic tubes.”
One of the biggest tube developments for Viva this year has been its work to increase the amount of PCR included in its tubes. “We have been able to achieve up to 93% PCR in the tube and 100% PCR in the cap for a combined total of 95% PCR,” says Melanie Gaudun, business development manager.
Viva was recently awarded the 2020 Ted Klein Tube of the Year for its work on the Moon Activated Charcoal Whitening Anticavity Toothpaste tube. The soft touch finish tube is an injection-molded, color-matched, black D38.5 polypropylene (PP) tube and features a polypropylene in-mold label with EVOH barrier, printed black with white accents and a cold foil feature area.
The new Aura tube from JSN uses 10% less plastic than traditional tubes and according to the company’s Sean Kavanaugh, sales executive, it also enables limitless options for decorating. “We can do almost any number of colors, metallic looks and the tube can be decorated through the shoulder giving a complete look to the package,” he says.
Sonrei selected JSN’s Aura tube for just those reasons when it sought a tube solution for the launch of its five new sunscreen products. Sonrei’s tubes are decorated through the shoulder in multiple colors and are cold stamped for a high-end look. There’s even a multicolored, light-sensitive fluorescent cap on the brand’s product for kids.
In addition to using less plastic than standard tubes, the Sonrei tubes are also multilayer with EVOH protection properties that meet the newly implemented European EVOH regulations that JSN believes will eventually be adopted by the U.S. as well.
Never underestimate plastic’s chameleon-like ability to transition from budget-friendly to luxe with a few thoughtful design tweaks.
Global Packaging worked with Nécessaire, an LA-based brand, to create a bespoke luxury tube for the brand’s body lotion. The tube, which Global Packaging produced in close partnership with its distributor, CasePak Inc., is made of PE and consists of 30% post-consumer resin. The simple, clean tube has a high-end glossy finish with one color silk screen printing but what makes it especially luxe is its custom head and custom weighted screw-on cap.
“The relationship between function, material and graphics was a key part of this development,” says Sunny Sontakke, Global Packaging’s vice president of marketing. “Both the profile of the tube and the custom heavy weighted screw-on cap were made to Nécessaire’s strict luxury brand look, feel and function.”
Yonwoo International/PKG Group also works to accommodate brands with specific eco needs. “To address the sustainability trend being driven by the consumer preference for eco-responsibility, Yonwoo/PKG can provide PCR for our PE tubes as well as PCR for our PP tube closures, airless pumps and over caps,” says Tara Karsten, the company’s sales director.
“In addition, Yonwoo/PKG can offer 100% recyclable, mono-material tube packages which are made entirely of PP.”
To address the direct-to-skin application trend being driven by the consumer preference for safety and health and well-being, Yonwoo/PKG offers a wide range of new and innovative applicators for tubes to help reduce the need to use fingers to apply product.
Adventures in Metal
Tubes made of aluminum offer a unique, apothecary panache as well as inherent barrier protection that prevents the degradation of formulas by shielding them from light and air.
Steven Macphail, vice president sales and marketing at Montebello Packaging, says his company has seen a push from brands interested in making the move from plastic to aluminum, which he says bodes well in terms of environmental impact due to the recyclability of aluminum materials.
“The new shift away from plastic is a driver to our new growth,” he says. “Aluminum tubes provide a higher barrier protection than a PE plastic tube [and] the value of aluminum makes it important at the recycling centers—thus a financial incentive to recycle this material.”
Montebello’s new range of metal tube closures is a colorful option for brands in search of a full metal tube ensemble.
For brands in search of the best of both worlds—plastic with metal barrier protection—Neopac’s Polyfoil MMB (Mono-Material Barrier), is said to provide high-performance product production while being fully compatible with existing HDPE recycling processes. Ideal for toothpastes, cosmetics and pharma products, the tube’s body and shoulder are manufactured in hygienic and pure HDPE with a reduced wall thickness.
“Polyfoil MMB tubes can reduce tube body weight up to 50%, and are Europe’s first incorporating HDPE caps to receive full technology approval from RecyClass,” Schmid says. “They are also the first tubes approved by RecyClass utilizing a thin film metallization option protected within the tube body structure for excellent chemical decoration stability [which] provides improved water vapor transmission rate (WVTR) barrier and enhanced metallization optics similar to aluminum barrier tubes, which are not considered recyclable with HDPE recycling streams.”
Eco+ Tube Alternatives
Interest in tubes made of materials other than traditional plastic or aluminum has surged.
Earlier this year, Berry Global launched its first bio-resin tube made from 100% sugarcane. It was subsequently chosen by Raw Elements USA for its seven SKU line of personal care products spanning a daily moisturizer, hand sanitizer and face + body certified natural sunscreen, each topped with Berry’s 25% PCR flip-top closures.
“Converting sugarcane into ethylene creates a tube that has the same chemical makeup of fossil fuel-based PE,” explains Berry’s Braselton, noting that the tubes offer a range of environmental benefits including a significant reduction of greenhouse gas emissions, water use and fossil fuel consumption. “It maintains excellent clarity, squeezability and feel, and can be decorated just like virgin material.”
Yoav Grinberg, CEO of LAGEENTUBES, says tubes made from renewable sources such as sugarcane are starting to comprise a big part of his company’s offerings to customers.
LAGEENTUBES worked with clean beauty company Lavido to create fully recyclable, sugarcane tubes for its 100ml/ 3.38 oz. Multi-Masking DUO product. The tubes are produced from PE resin, using virgin PE derived from sugarcane. The tubes dovetail with the ethos of Lavido products, with are clinically proven, vegan, gluten-free and cruelty-free.
“Every formula created by Lavido is thoughtfully made without the use of known ingredient villains, including mineral oil, petroleum, silicones, propylene glycol, synthetic dyes, phenoxyethanol, synthetic alcohol, parabens, PEGs, and SLS,” Ido Magal the founder says. “In addition to being a bio-material, sugarcane offers a very low carbon footprint emission as it metabolizes more CO2 to grow than most plants and trees do.”
Similarly, Plastube worked to provide unique tubes for Montreal-based BKIND, an Indie brand that is rooted in the “consciousness of everything surrounding them” combined with a passion for natural skincare. BKIND chose multiple sizes of Plastube’s ivory-colored tubes made of 50% Ocean Bound resin, which is sourced from polyethylene plastic recovered directly on the banks of oceans.
“A 50% Ocean Bound resin tube was an obvious choice for BKIND. By choosing a recycled resin for their tubes BKIND is perfectly aligned with their values and mission,” says Plastube’s Stéphane Beauchemin, vice president of sales and marketing.
The BKIND tubes are digitally decorated and feature a gold, hot stamped foil, capped with black octagon closures. The tube sidewalls also highlight a customized visual cue that incorporates the inks used in silkscreen and the foil used in hot stamp, which are color matched to the brand’s artwork.
“At Plastube, every tube is customized and developed in partnership with the client to meet their product needs,” Beauchemin comments, adding that that each brand partner’s tube creation process is completely unique. The customer can choose between four different types of tubes (Mono, Coex, Illumifoil and Laminate), seven different types of decoration (offset, silkscreen, digital, label, hot stamp, letterpress for laminate and flexo for laminate), and finally a variety of caps (stand up, flip top, center dispensing, octagon, overshell, pump, lube or dispensing tip).
Yuan Harng has experienced steady growth in beauty and personal care tubes and looks forward to what lies ahead for the industry, given tubes’ short production lead-times, cost effectiveness, flexible availability and improved use of sustainable materials. The company’s Jane Lin, vice president of sales, anticipates growth in the beauty and personal care tube segment, with green products and sustainable packaging leading the way for years to come.
Japan is considered by many to be the world leader in innovative packaging, and for good reason, according to Richard Esterbrook, director of sales, The Penthouse Group.
“We can often look at what’s new in the Japan market to see examples of what technologies will soon become popular in our own markets,” he says, pointing to an example germane to tubes: visible product safety cues. “Product safety has always been a key concern for cosmetics companies and their consumers (perhaps now more than ever due to the pandemic).”
The Penthouse Group is the sales and customer service representative for Yoshino in North America and Esterbrook says Yoshino recently produced a tube for Shiseido that features a foil purity seal meant to be punctured in a unique way.
“Once the cap is removed, the consumer then removes the small collar part around the tube neck,” he explains. “This allows the inside of the cap to puncture the purity seal embedded in the tube neck once the cap is torqued on again. There is also a metal shoulder piece inside the tube shoulder, providing barrier protection up to the orifice for especially sensitive formulas.”
Additional tube innovations from Japan include advances in decorating closure engineering. Newer closures, he says, are molded from a special elastomer material that yields a completely unique texture that’s ideal for product differentiation.
Another technique revolves around a new neck molding process that allows for a wide variety of shapes for tubes, including square. “For those companies that are tired of selling the same round and oval tubes over and over again, an innovative shape like a triangle, rectangle, or square could serve to reenergize interest in the brand,” Esterbrook says.
Albéa Greenleaf, a patented all-plastic laminate tube for oral care, personal care and OTC pharma brands, has successfully passed the tests of the U.S.-based Association of Plastic Recyclers (APR). These tests ensure that packaging such as Greenleaf are compatible with HDPE bottle recycling streams and ready to join an existing recycling process. Greenleaf offers a lower environmental impact than standard aluminum-based structures. According to Albéa, the mechanical properties of its strong structure and upcoming PE cap could even withstand the removal of secondary packaging.
“Brands are considering all their options: PCR, bio-based materials, ocean-bound plastics, refillables, light-weighting, substrate conversion and single-substrate packaging for improved recyclability,” explains Vali Braselton, marketing manager, Consumer Products North America, Berry Global.
Ida Sigvardsson, marketing specialist, Norden Machinery AB, says the “green-tube” trends are being driven both by policy and brand strategy. The increased use of mono-materials contributes to higher recycling rates. There is also an emphasis on lowering the impact of virgin materials (like green PE, cardboard materials and other green tubes), utilizing non-fossil-based Polyethylene tube materials (such as sugar cane).
Light-weighting, or producing tubes with thinner walls, is another option but it can be tricky to achieve and must be executed with precision. “This is something we are part in testing and evaluating–bearing in mind that the packaging is there to protect the product until it reaches the consumer, both from outside force, but also from contamination in contact with air,”
Sigvardsson says. “No beauty brand will compromise on quality and good looks.”
Braselton points to the public commitments of many large CPG companies promising to deliver more sustainable packaging by 2025–which is right around the proverbial corner. Since it can take a few years to develop, test and manufacture a new design or material, she encourages brands to get that process started so they are ready.
Plastic Tube Trends
Plastics have been heavily scrutinized for ways to improve eco-friendliness. And in the case of tubes, less is definitely proving to be more.
Hoffmann Neopac introduced its Lightweight Tube as the latest addition to its EcoDesign series of eco-friendly tubes that align with packaging industry desires to minimize carbon footprint and waste.
“Brand owners in various sectors—particularly health and beauty but also pharma—are increasingly looking to reduce or replace the use of virgin plastic packaging materials to enhance their products’ sustainability profiles,” comments Cornelia Schmid, the company’s marketing manager. “The use of such lighter-weight packaging reduces both shipping costs and extended producer responsibility (EPR) fees.”
Neopac’s Lightweight Tube is available in plastic tube diameters ranging from 30-50mm, and in four substrate varieties: Polyethelene and Recycled tubes, each with or without EVOH barrier.
“Materials reduction is most prominent in the tubes’ wall thickness, which has been reduced from 0.5mm to 0.35mm without sacrificing exemplary haptics,” she says. “Low profile closures are already in the pipeline to achieve maximum weight reduction in plastic tubes.”
One of the biggest tube developments for Viva this year has been its work to increase the amount of PCR included in its tubes. “We have been able to achieve up to 93% PCR in the tube and 100% PCR in the cap for a combined total of 95% PCR,” says Melanie Gaudun, business development manager.
Viva was recently awarded the 2020 Ted Klein Tube of the Year for its work on the Moon Activated Charcoal Whitening Anticavity Toothpaste tube. The soft touch finish tube is an injection-molded, color-matched, black D38.5 polypropylene (PP) tube and features a polypropylene in-mold label with EVOH barrier, printed black with white accents and a cold foil feature area.
The new Aura tube from JSN uses 10% less plastic than traditional tubes and according to the company’s Sean Kavanaugh, sales executive, it also enables limitless options for decorating. “We can do almost any number of colors, metallic looks and the tube can be decorated through the shoulder giving a complete look to the package,” he says.
Sonrei selected JSN’s Aura tube for just those reasons when it sought a tube solution for the launch of its five new sunscreen products. Sonrei’s tubes are decorated through the shoulder in multiple colors and are cold stamped for a high-end look. There’s even a multicolored, light-sensitive fluorescent cap on the brand’s product for kids.
In addition to using less plastic than standard tubes, the Sonrei tubes are also multilayer with EVOH protection properties that meet the newly implemented European EVOH regulations that JSN believes will eventually be adopted by the U.S. as well.
Never underestimate plastic’s chameleon-like ability to transition from budget-friendly to luxe with a few thoughtful design tweaks.
Global Packaging worked with Nécessaire, an LA-based brand, to create a bespoke luxury tube for the brand’s body lotion. The tube, which Global Packaging produced in close partnership with its distributor, CasePak Inc., is made of PE and consists of 30% post-consumer resin. The simple, clean tube has a high-end glossy finish with one color silk screen printing but what makes it especially luxe is its custom head and custom weighted screw-on cap.
“The relationship between function, material and graphics was a key part of this development,” says Sunny Sontakke, Global Packaging’s vice president of marketing. “Both the profile of the tube and the custom heavy weighted screw-on cap were made to Nécessaire’s strict luxury brand look, feel and function.”
Yonwoo International/PKG Group also works to accommodate brands with specific eco needs. “To address the sustainability trend being driven by the consumer preference for eco-responsibility, Yonwoo/PKG can provide PCR for our PE tubes as well as PCR for our PP tube closures, airless pumps and over caps,” says Tara Karsten, the company’s sales director.
“In addition, Yonwoo/PKG can offer 100% recyclable, mono-material tube packages which are made entirely of PP.”
To address the direct-to-skin application trend being driven by the consumer preference for safety and health and well-being, Yonwoo/PKG offers a wide range of new and innovative applicators for tubes to help reduce the need to use fingers to apply product.
Adventures in Metal
Tubes made of aluminum offer a unique, apothecary panache as well as inherent barrier protection that prevents the degradation of formulas by shielding them from light and air.
Steven Macphail, vice president sales and marketing at Montebello Packaging, says his company has seen a push from brands interested in making the move from plastic to aluminum, which he says bodes well in terms of environmental impact due to the recyclability of aluminum materials.
“The new shift away from plastic is a driver to our new growth,” he says. “Aluminum tubes provide a higher barrier protection than a PE plastic tube [and] the value of aluminum makes it important at the recycling centers—thus a financial incentive to recycle this material.”
Montebello’s new range of metal tube closures is a colorful option for brands in search of a full metal tube ensemble.
For brands in search of the best of both worlds—plastic with metal barrier protection—Neopac’s Polyfoil MMB (Mono-Material Barrier), is said to provide high-performance product production while being fully compatible with existing HDPE recycling processes. Ideal for toothpastes, cosmetics and pharma products, the tube’s body and shoulder are manufactured in hygienic and pure HDPE with a reduced wall thickness.
“Polyfoil MMB tubes can reduce tube body weight up to 50%, and are Europe’s first incorporating HDPE caps to receive full technology approval from RecyClass,” Schmid says. “They are also the first tubes approved by RecyClass utilizing a thin film metallization option protected within the tube body structure for excellent chemical decoration stability [which] provides improved water vapor transmission rate (WVTR) barrier and enhanced metallization optics similar to aluminum barrier tubes, which are not considered recyclable with HDPE recycling streams.”
Eco+ Tube Alternatives
Interest in tubes made of materials other than traditional plastic or aluminum has surged.
Earlier this year, Berry Global launched its first bio-resin tube made from 100% sugarcane. It was subsequently chosen by Raw Elements USA for its seven SKU line of personal care products spanning a daily moisturizer, hand sanitizer and face + body certified natural sunscreen, each topped with Berry’s 25% PCR flip-top closures.
“Converting sugarcane into ethylene creates a tube that has the same chemical makeup of fossil fuel-based PE,” explains Berry’s Braselton, noting that the tubes offer a range of environmental benefits including a significant reduction of greenhouse gas emissions, water use and fossil fuel consumption. “It maintains excellent clarity, squeezability and feel, and can be decorated just like virgin material.”
Yoav Grinberg, CEO of LAGEENTUBES, says tubes made from renewable sources such as sugarcane are starting to comprise a big part of his company’s offerings to customers.
LAGEENTUBES worked with clean beauty company Lavido to create fully recyclable, sugarcane tubes for its 100ml/ 3.38 oz. Multi-Masking DUO product. The tubes are produced from PE resin, using virgin PE derived from sugarcane. The tubes dovetail with the ethos of Lavido products, with are clinically proven, vegan, gluten-free and cruelty-free.
“Every formula created by Lavido is thoughtfully made without the use of known ingredient villains, including mineral oil, petroleum, silicones, propylene glycol, synthetic dyes, phenoxyethanol, synthetic alcohol, parabens, PEGs, and SLS,” Ido Magal the founder says. “In addition to being a bio-material, sugarcane offers a very low carbon footprint emission as it metabolizes more CO2 to grow than most plants and trees do.”
Similarly, Plastube worked to provide unique tubes for Montreal-based BKIND, an Indie brand that is rooted in the “consciousness of everything surrounding them” combined with a passion for natural skincare. BKIND chose multiple sizes of Plastube’s ivory-colored tubes made of 50% Ocean Bound resin, which is sourced from polyethylene plastic recovered directly on the banks of oceans.
“A 50% Ocean Bound resin tube was an obvious choice for BKIND. By choosing a recycled resin for their tubes BKIND is perfectly aligned with their values and mission,” says Plastube’s Stéphane Beauchemin, vice president of sales and marketing.
The BKIND tubes are digitally decorated and feature a gold, hot stamped foil, capped with black octagon closures. The tube sidewalls also highlight a customized visual cue that incorporates the inks used in silkscreen and the foil used in hot stamp, which are color matched to the brand’s artwork.
“At Plastube, every tube is customized and developed in partnership with the client to meet their product needs,” Beauchemin comments, adding that that each brand partner’s tube creation process is completely unique. The customer can choose between four different types of tubes (Mono, Coex, Illumifoil and Laminate), seven different types of decoration (offset, silkscreen, digital, label, hot stamp, letterpress for laminate and flexo for laminate), and finally a variety of caps (stand up, flip top, center dispensing, octagon, overshell, pump, lube or dispensing tip).
Yuan Harng has experienced steady growth in beauty and personal care tubes and looks forward to what lies ahead for the industry, given tubes’ short production lead-times, cost effectiveness, flexible availability and improved use of sustainable materials. The company’s Jane Lin, vice president of sales, anticipates growth in the beauty and personal care tube segment, with green products and sustainable packaging leading the way for years to come.
Japan is considered by many to be the world leader in innovative packaging, and for good reason, according to Richard Esterbrook, director of sales, The Penthouse Group.
“We can often look at what’s new in the Japan market to see examples of what technologies will soon become popular in our own markets,” he says, pointing to an example germane to tubes: visible product safety cues. “Product safety has always been a key concern for cosmetics companies and their consumers (perhaps now more than ever due to the pandemic).”
The Penthouse Group is the sales and customer service representative for Yoshino in North America and Esterbrook says Yoshino recently produced a tube for Shiseido that features a foil purity seal meant to be punctured in a unique way.
“Once the cap is removed, the consumer then removes the small collar part around the tube neck,” he explains. “This allows the inside of the cap to puncture the purity seal embedded in the tube neck once the cap is torqued on again. There is also a metal shoulder piece inside the tube shoulder, providing barrier protection up to the orifice for especially sensitive formulas.”
Additional tube innovations from Japan include advances in decorating closure engineering. Newer closures, he says, are molded from a special elastomer material that yields a completely unique texture that’s ideal for product differentiation.
Another technique revolves around a new neck molding process that allows for a wide variety of shapes for tubes, including square. “For those companies that are tired of selling the same round and oval tubes over and over again, an innovative shape like a triangle, rectangle, or square could serve to reenergize interest in the brand,” Esterbrook says.
Albéa Greenleaf, a patented all-plastic laminate tube for oral care, personal care and OTC pharma brands, has successfully passed the tests of the U.S.-based Association of Plastic Recyclers (APR). These tests ensure that packaging such as Greenleaf are compatible with HDPE bottle recycling streams and ready to join an existing recycling process. Greenleaf offers a lower environmental impact than standard aluminum-based structures. According to Albéa, the mechanical properties of its strong structure and upcoming PE cap could even withstand the removal of secondary packaging.
