Reducing waste with slimmer labels for personal care

By Deanna Utroske

- Last updated on GMT

Related tags Greenhouse gas

Reducing waste with slimmer labels for personal care
A new partnership between labeling company Avery Dennison, WS Packaging Group, and OGX hair care aims to limit the energy and materials that go into product labels as well as the amount of subsequent waste.

In short, the coalition is creating thinner labels for OGX hair care. The decision to do so came only after Vogue International, the parent company of OGX, took a careful look at the potential benefits of the label change. 

Built for results
Vogue opted to appraise the likely results of switching to thinner labels by using a life cycle-based environmental performance assessment tool created by Avery—the company’s Greenprint methodology. The labeling company has been using this tool with clients for five year.

“The life-cycle evaluation helped guide the packaging team at Vogue and WS Packaging Group, Inc. their key converting partner, in their decision to transition the labels for its leading products to Avery Dennison’s Global MDO film,” ​affirms a press release about the partnership.

Up and down the supply chain
Like many brands looking to deal in more sustainable personal care products, the Vogue International brand prefers to work with strategic partners that have comparable business goals.

“We encourage our suppliers and business associates to also make an effort toward practices that are not only commercially sound, but have a positive impact for future generations,”​ says Jamie Kontz, marketing and product development manager for Vogue.

There is indeed a shared mentality among the players involved in this project. “Collaborating across the supply chain drives value for brands,”​ notes Wayne Richter, chief supply chain officer for WS. “By combining our converting and packaging expertise with high-performance films like Global MDO, we’re able to deliver sustainable benefits and shelf impact for leading brands like Vogue.”

Stats and facts
According to the companies involved, OGX will lessen the harm it does to the environment by between 26% and 34% in these categories: fossil material, water use, energy use, greenhouse gas emissions, and waste.

For comparative effect, “that’s the equivalent of saving 65 barrels of oil, the drinking water for 131 US citizens, the annual energy used in 15 US homes, taking 9 cars off the road for a year, and eliminating the annual waste of 5 US households, respectively.”

Environmental matters
In Canada, the company has come under scrutiny for a separate issue relevant to  the environment.

Not long ago, Vogue International found itself accused in a class action suit claiming the company’s advertising and marketing of Organix skin and hair care products was deceptive.

The settlement in that case, called for Vogue to ensure that Organix products are 70% organic. The company highlighted the fact that no official judgment came down in the matter: “Vogue denies it did anything wrong. The Court did not decide which side was right. Instead, the parties have decided to settle,”​ stated defense counsel Borden Ladner Gervais. (Read more from Cosmetics Design​.)

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