Why Paper’s not a Sustainable Packaging Solution for the Beauty Industry

The beauty industry’s efforts to curb plastic packaging are important but brands need to tread with caution when it comes to adopting paper as an alternative. It’s time for other options beyond paper or plastic and luckily, they are ready to be scaled.

Sustainability advocates across the beauty industry are justifiably rallying against plastics, citing all the environmental and social drawbacks. It can take thousands of years for plastic to decompose, leaving legacies of pollution that choke marine wildlife, damage soil, contaminate groundwater, and pose human health risks.

In a scramble to avoid the impacts of plastic, many brands are swapping plastic out for paper under the mistaken belief that forest-derived materials are the more ‘sustainable’ choice. After all, trees can just be replanted, right? 

'Just’ replanting trees carries negative effects.

While trees can be replanted, climate-critical ancient and endangered forests — which continue to be cut down for throw-away paper packaging — are irreplaceable. These forests are much more than trees; they provide critical benefits like carbon absorption, and provide livelihoods and cultural values for countless Indigenous and other forest-based communities. These unique ecosystems have taken tens of thousands of years to evolve and house species found nowhere else on Earth. 

Phasing out single-use plastic, along with the growth of e-commerce, has led to a 65% increase in paper packaging production over the last two decades. Paper accounts for an increasing proportion of the global packaging market, at the cost of the planet’s forests, climate, and biodiversity.

The demand for paper packaging drives the annual cutting down of an estimated 3.1 billion trees, many from the most climate and biodiversity-rich ecosystems on the planet. 

Fortunately, new technological innovations in the packaging supply chain mean that beauty brands don’t have to choose between two unsustainable options — conventionally-produced single-use paper or single-use plastic. It is not an “either, or” situation. There is a “door number three” – one that unlocks low-carbon alternatives that are ready to take their place on store shelves.

 There’s another, sustainable option.

For their packaging, brands can use next-generation materials made from inputs that would otherwise be burned or go to waste, such as agricultural residues or non-edible food waste. Amazingly, such next-generation materials are documented to emit four tonnes less CO2 per tonne of product, use 88-100% less land, and have five times less impact on biodiversity. These circular alternatives help preserve our planet’s diverse ecosystems while also helping the beauty industry meet its green goals sooner. 

Brands can also improve the design of their packaging to “right-size” and lightweight it, adopt reusable, refillable containers, and seek recycled packaging to reduce their packaging footprint as well as their overall plastic use.

It is in all of our interests to keep forests standing in the face of a changing climate and declines in nature, but companies are also finding significant business benefits in adopting next-gen alternatives. Along with recycled packaging, they carry lower Scope 3 emissions, help brands substantively reduce supply chain risk and volatility, and future-proof their packaging. 

These next-gen benefits come as brands set ambitious goals. Over 400 brands — including Lush, LVMH, Beauty Kitchen, and LOLI — are already working with Canopy to end the use of ancient and endangered forests in their packaging and scaling innovative sustainable packaging to reduce their carbon footprint, eliminate plastic, and save forests. 

The beauty industry must move beyond the false choice of paper or plastic and embrace solutions that enhance brands, deliver sustainability goals, mitigate supply volatility, and align product appeal with consumer values. 

By embracing recycled and next-generation packaging instead of forest-based paper and plastic, the beauty sector can lead the way to a sustainable and vibrant future. Such a shift will show an increasing eco-conscious consumer base that being beautiful doesn’t have to cost the earth.

Not paper. Not plastic. Better.