Page 16 - Packaging News magazine Jan-Feb 2022

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COVER STORY | www.packagingnews.com.au | January-February 2022
Sustainability ethos etched into
When Australian skin
care company Ego Pharmaceuticals conceived its new etchðos range, sustainable packaging design was at the heart of the brand concept, leading to the development of
the country’s first 50% recycled content and lightweight rHDPE bottle for skin care. Lindy Hughson spoke to the packaging team behind the project.
FAMILY owned and operated, skin care product manufacturer Ego Pharmaceuticals is an inspiring Australian success story. The com- pany was established in 1953 by husband-and-wife team Gerald and Rae Oppenheim, a chemist
and nurse respectively, who saw a need for products to restore and maintain healthy skin. In the laundry of their suburban Melbourne home, they devel- oped Ego Pine Tar Bath Solution, later called Pinetarsol, which remains one of Australia’s most widely used topical inflammation treatments today.
We could say the rest is history, were it not that the story is very much still unfolding. What started as a backyard business is today a thriving global producer of a comprehensive skin and health care range for sale in Australia and around the world. Still manufactured in Melbourne, Ego’s well-known brands include QV, Aqium, Dermaid, Egoderm, Soov, Azclear, to name but a few. The com- pany has staff in Bahrain, Kuwait, Qatar, United Arab Emirates, Egypt and Saudi Arabia, as well as subsid- iaries in Malaysia, Singapore, Hong Kong and the United Kingdom.
High quality skin care developed with integrity and backed by science are the pillars of product development at Ego, and this ethos extends to its packaging, where sustainability prin- ciples inform and guide the packaging
design choices. This has resulted in a range of products that are not only made to high quality pharmaceutical standards but are sustainable and eth- ically produced.
When the new etchðos product range was on the NPD drawing board, Ego’s packaging projects manager Simone Thomassen and packaging technologist Nicholas Rodgers sought to push the boundaries with a break- through development that would support the brand story: primary packaging incorporating post-con- sumer recycled (PCR) content, with a refill solution in the mix.
Consumer insights informed the approach. Market research undertaken by Ego revealed the target audience wanted “convenience” and “Australian made” choices that could “maintain the environment for future generations”.
“We as the packaging projects team had to address these key con- sumer insights,” Thomassen says. “Consumers are feeling guilty about
Sustainability principles guided the design choices for the new etchðos packaging.
the amount of plastic going to land- fill, and the impact of their product choices on the environment. At the same time, busy consumers want easy skin care solutions, and they also want to buy in bulk.”
Thomassen and Rodgers identified that using PCR material that could be recycled again would address the envi- ronmental concerns, while creating a 300ml display pack with a 1L refill pack would meet the convenience and bulk purchasing requirement.
“We considered the entire life cycle of both bottles. An evaluation of reus- ing a smaller bottle in the home and transporting a larger, higher volume bottle to retail stores for customers to purchase showed this to be the more environmentally friendly solution,” Thomassen says.
A BROADER SUSTAINABILITY STORY
Beyond the recycled content aspect of the design, the team had broader sus- tainability objectives.
“Both bottles will also be fully recyclable again through mechanical recycling,” Rodgers adds. “The pump can be used multiple times with the same bottle as it is refilled from the larger 1L packs, although at end-of- life pumps are disposed of in the bin.”
Rodgers says Ego opted for the 300ml bottle to be screen printed (by Bardcorp) to reduce the need for addi- tional material, and to add to the shelf appeal in store and at home.
The cap, sourced through Salient, a division of Pact Group, is made from polypropylene and can be recycled along with the bottle, as verified by the APCO online PREP reporting tool.
The larger bottle is labelled front and back with a wood-based poly- ethylene film made from paper production residue, supplied by UPM Raflatac. This renewable polyethylene film offers a sustainable alternative to fossil oil-based film and marks the first use of this material in Australia. The labels are printed at CCL’s facility in Chirnside Park, Victoria.
Another important aspect of the structural design concept was the flatness of the bottle.
“The flat design is intended to improve space utilisation on a