Premium Beauty News - Since 2011, you have been animating a cross-sectorial and multi-company working group on plastic packaging for cosmetics, what is the purpose of this group?
Dominique Appert - The group was created after a day of exchanges between professionals in plastic packaging and cosmetics, during which participants realized the importance of strengthening ties to better understand the constraints of each sector. The group is articulated around 15 companies: industrial members (Eastman, Elian-A.Schulman, Laboratoires Expanscience, LVMH, Promens, PRP Création, Strand Cosmetics Europe) and support members from the academic and scientific community (CED [1], Allizé-Plasturgie, Centre Technique de la Conservation des Produits Agricoles - CTCPA, Itech, Lagep-université Lyon1, toxicologue). The group has the particularity of bringing together stakeholders from across the whole value chain.
Premium Beauty News - What actions have been taken since the creation of this working group?
Dominique Appert - We have spent some time getting to know one another and creating a climate of mutual trust, which is a prerequisite when you are going to exchange data which is confidential to each company. The group took a particular interest into risk factors to health, related to the migration of substances from the packaging to the cosmetic formula. A total of 225 factors were analysed using the Failure mode, effects and criticality analysis (FMECA). This year, to strengthen the cooperation between stakeholders in the value chain, a two-day training for the two sectors (cosmetics and packaging) will be organized next Fall, it will be based on the work and reflections originating from the working group in the past 4 years.
Premium Beauty News - Since the new cosmetic regulation came into force in July 2013, the content/container interactions are among the information to provide. Yet no standardized protocol is proposed and the tests required are left to the discretion of companies. What are the answers of the working group on this issue?
Dominique Appert - The cosmetic regulations prescribes, for what is not known, to refer to the food regulations. But this is satisfactory to no one because the cosmetic product is not a food product either in terms of exposure, or in terms of uses or risks. For manufacturers, it is very difficult today to use new ingredients, which are a real obstacle to innovation. This therefore keeps them from using new bio-sourced or recycled raw materials, in spite of their strong interest.
This year, the working group is launching a major research project to set up standardized and simple test protocols to validate the compliance of cosmetic packaging and guarantee the safety of cosmetics. The project, broken down into seven working stages will be carried out by a main service provider, the Centre Technique de la Conservation des Produits Agricoles (CTCPA); in collaboration with group members for a budget of 300,000 euros. It is supported by the CED and Allizé-Plasturgie.
We want to provide, in the next two years, a positive list of authorized substances in the formulation of a plastic material used for a cosmetic packaging, issue a best practice guide and have a test protocol for packagings that could stand as a normative reference.
Premium Beauty News - Is the working group open to other participants?
Dominique Appert - The group is indeed seeking to offer seats to new industrial members to strengthen our work across all applications (skincare, hygiene, perfume, make-up). Knowledge sharing is one of the means chosen to maintain the cosmetic sector at its level of competitiveness. Raw material suppliers (plastics, dyes, additives, ingredients), cosmetic formulators, packaging suppliers, brands and intermediaries are all welcome.
