Subscription boxes find green ways to offer choice
18 Jan 2022 --- The beauty-to-your-door concept has grown in awareness and usage in recent years. Consumers are opting for hand-selected beauty and personal care (BPC) products, building on the personalized, do-it-yourself beauty and at-home spa trends we have seen gathering pace. Equally, for BPC brands, it provides a recurring income and opportunity to build a loyal community of beauty followers in the ever-competitive beauty landscape.
In 2022, the focus for subscription boxes will turn to how brands can make them sustainable. Drawing on the importance of creating beauty options that are environmentally conscious, Lifestyle Packaging’s Rich Quelch, Global Head of Marketing, explains the options: “From the type of packaging materials making up the box itself and the individual products, whether the products are vegan, chemical-free or sustainably sourced, the size of the products contained within, the size of the box, how it is transported and how it is delivered (i.e., does it fit in a letterbox), there are many considerations a brand must take when it comes to limiting the environmental impact.”
Click to EnlargeRecycling is no longer enough; size and lifecycle are among the major considerations.In today’s BPC industry, a product’s entire process, from sourcing to delivery, is vital. “The whole lifecycle of a beauty subscription box needs to be looked at, from product selection, sizing and materials, the supply chain, how the customer uses it and discards it,” Quelch explains.
Improving wastage and a product's overall footprint is now a key consideration when creating sustainable subscription box solutions. Increasingly, consumers want to access and support responsible products that seek to reflect the needs of the user and the wider world. Quelch highlights: “Each stage of the lifecycle can have a huge effect on the amount of wastage produced, energy consumed and carbon emitted.”
One thing beauty boxes have in common is that they often include small samples or travel-sized products for customers to test out. However, from an environmental perspective, this may be damaging in terms of the waste it creates. “If you are unable to select the products you would like to receive in your curated beauty box, it is likely you won’t use all the product despite your best intentions,” says Quelch. As a result, many small, often plastic, items are simply discarded without being enjoyed.
“While sample packaging can be recycled on the whole, there is a growing concern over the sachet waste economy,” outlines Quelch. Due to their small size and mixed materials, sachets are traditionally non-recyclable and end their life in the natural environment or landfills, harming marine and land ecosystems. “Another major consideration is the size, shape and weight of each box, as well as the materials used to protect the products during transit,” Quelch adds.
Key sustainability questions
There are certain things you must question about the sustainability of your selected subscription box:
- Does the size of the box match the space needed by the product contained within it?
- Does the outer packaging add unnecessary weight?
- Can the box fit through the letterbox?
- Is the box’s shape and size the most efficient it can be for transportation and delivery?
- Can the customer recycle the empty packaging through conventional at-home waste disposal, in-store schemes or home collections?
“Over recent years, there has been positive action in this space to help reduce the impact of the beauty subscription box market on the environment, with some key brands blazing the trail,” says Quelch.
Companies have adopted innovations including offering one-off or less frequent box deliveries, allowing customers to choose the kind of products they want in their boxes to minimize duplication and waste, and providing vegan and plastic-free product options.
BPC brands have also turned their attention to their packaging and the materials they use.
For example, UK subscription service Birchbox recently collaborated with US-based Stasher, which makes a reusable silicone alternative to single-use plastic bags, to replace its typical cardboard box.
Click to EnlargeStasher’s silicon bags are endlessly usable. Source: StasherIn March 2021, BFA Industries, which owns both Ipsy and BoxyCharm, pledged to eliminate 100% virgin plastic waste and reverse the effects of plastic pollution across its entire portfolio by 2030.
“Use of PCR materials is also increasing, using less ink and raw materials to produce the outer packaging,” says Quelch. FabFitFun has switched to a 100% PCR paper box and has begun using leftover boxes from past seasons to eliminate unused boxes and hence, wastage. The beauty and lifestyle subscription box brand has also moved to using less ink on its boxes and offering more box size variations. In summer 2021, the brand also introduced crinkle paper made from partially recycled materials.
“Packaging technologies for sample products are moving on too, helping to solve the sachet waste economy,” emphasizes Quelch. For example, Origin Group has launched its patented SnappD, a 100% recyclable and brandable single-use packaging sachet for beauty and cosmetics samples, helping brands to continue to offer the try-before-you-buy experience with minimal impact on the environment.
“These initiatives from mainstream beauty brands, retailers and packaging partners are supporting the introduction of sustainable alternative products to a wider audience while also showcasing the viability of planet-prioritizing packaging,” Quelch asserts.
Zero-waste subscription boxes that promote plastic-free and all-natural options will be a core area brands choose to center their collections on as they try to meet consumer calls for greener beauty regimens while succeeding in the subscription model space. Expect to see a new segment within the BPC subscription box scene emerge in 2022, as eco-consciousness drives industry innovations and product launches.
By Natasha Spencer-Jolliffe, BPC Insights Senior Journalist
