RPC Launches Biodegradable Cosmetic Packaging

RPC Cresstale, part of the RPC Group, is the first company to introduce 100% biodegradable lipsticks to the community. Because its packaging uses pure natural ingredients, it has become one of the major breakthroughs in the development of polymers.

The company said that since the successful development of a degradable small package, this is a new type of lipstick developed using the same technology. This series can be applied to various makeup products. At the same time, as this product follows the market's trend of pursuing natural and environmentally-friendly products, this product development will also be increasingly applied to various products.

In recent years, the natural cosmetics market has continued to expand, and its growth rate is much higher than the average growth rate of European industries in the past four years. It has maintained a good momentum of development in the relatively mature and saturated markets of cosmetics and care products. Between 2002 and 2005, only the UK natural cosmetics market grew by nearly 20%. In response to this trend, the packaging industry has begun to gradually become naturalized. Due to the safety and health of the product formula, consumers also prefer the same type of packaging materials.

RPC is one of the best examples of this trend. The company successfully launched its first pilot biodegradable packaging materials and is currently ready to invest in production. This packaging uses PHA, a polymeric material, which is mainly extracted from organic sugars and oils and decomposed and degraded in soil, composting, waste treatment, river water and marine environments. The substance that RPC Company produces during the degradation of this kind of packaging material is only carbon dioxide and water, and carbon dioxide and water are the main materials that form the substance. Therefore, this process means that the biological cycle of this packaging material is basically closed type. At the same time, PHA of this polymer has a smaller "production window" making it easier to produce and lower in cost. In addition, this polymer is more heat-resistant than common PLA polymeric materials. RPC said that this proves that PHA is more suitable for the cosmetics packaging market.

The lipstick was produced using RPC's patented "Revolve" mechanism using a collapsible tower. This makes lipsticks (including their decorative shells and bottoms) only need to use the same material in 4 molds instead of the traditional 5 molds and require complex procedures for different materials.

John Birkett, RPC Cresstale project manager, said, “We still need a large number of experts in moldmaking to deal with a series of unknown issues that may arise in the production of this innovative new material, but there is no doubt that the success of PHA materials. The application shows that fully degradable Cosmetic Packaging can be a reality."

Information: Characteristics of biodegradable materials

The most ideal biodegradable material should be a bioresource derived from renewable resources, ie biosynthetic methods. The biological material should be reusable by the organism and be degraded. The product is preferably carbon dioxide and water, so that the production and use of this material can be incorporated into the natural cycle. Contemporary biomaterials have developed the most rapidly in the field of biomaterial production using renewable resources as raw materials. In recent years, the world-wide shortage of petroleum supplies, coupled with the non-degradable white pollution caused by the chemical synthesis of petroleum-based raw materials, has driven the pace of sustainable development of biosynthetic materials from the renewable resources to the market. Among the many biomaterials, biosynthetic polylactide (PLA) is used as a semi-natural biomaterial, and biosynthetic polyhydroxyalkanoates (PHA) are typical biomaterials because of its good performance and simultaneous With bioengineered materials and application characteristics of biomedical materials, it has become the two most active biomaterials in recent years.

Polylactic acid is a polymer obtained by artificial chemical synthesis of lactic acid produced by biological fermentation, but it still maintains good biocompatibility and biodegradability, has similar anti-permeability to polyester, and has the same with polyphenylene. Ethylene similar gloss, light transmission and processability. Therefore, polylactic acid can be processed into various packaging materials, plastic profiles and films for agriculture and construction industries, and non-woven fabrics and polyester fibers for chemical and textile industries. In addition to being a packaging material, PLA has also become one of the research hotspots in drug packaging materials and tissue engineering materials in recent years. PLA can be made into tissue-engineered scaffold materials that are non-toxic and capable of cell attachment and growth. The scaffold can form a porous structure for cell growth and transportation and nutrition, and can also provide suitable mechanical strength and geometry for supporting and guiding cell growth. Its disadvantage is the lack of the ability to selectively interact with cells. PLA has a wide range of applications in biomedical materials and can be used for medical sutures (without suture removal), controlled-drug delivery carriers (reduced doses and doses), orthopedic internal fixation materials (avoiding secondary surgery), and tissue engineering. Brackets and so on. PLA is the earliest development of a biodegradable and biocompatible polyester.

The polyhydroxyalkanoate (PHA), a biopolymer material that has been rapidly developed in the past two decades, is an intracellular polyester that can be synthesized by many microorganisms and is a natural polymer biomaterial. Compared with biomaterials such as PLA, PGA and PLGA, PHA has a diversified structure, and the diversified properties brought about by the diversity of the constituent structures make it a clear advantage in application. Because PHA has good biocompatibility, biodegradability and thermal processing properties of plastics, it can also be used as biomedical materials and biodegradable packaging materials, and has become the most active research hotspot in the field of biomaterials. PHA also has many high-value-added properties such as non-linear optical activity, piezoelectricity, and gas phase separation. Because PHA brings together these excellent properties, in addition to medical biomaterials, it can be used in packaging materials, adhesive materials, spray materials and clothing, apparatus materials, electronic products, consumer durables, agricultural products, and automation products. A wide range of fields such as chemical media and solvents are used.

Source: Chinese Wash Cosmetics Magazine