The Estée Lauder Companies (NYSE: EL) today announced that it has joined the Pulpex partner consortium, becoming the consortium’s first prestige beauty company to support the development of a recyclable paper bottle made from responsibly sourced pulp.
Pulpex is a first-of-its-kind technology that creates bottles from wood pulp using FSC-certified renewable feedstocks from responsibly managed forests. The new paper bottle is designed to be widely recyclable in standard waste streams and will support The Estée Lauder Companies’ efforts to reduce the environmental impact of its packaging across the lifecycle.
As a member of the Pulpex partner consortium, The Estée Lauder Companies joins a group of leading consumer packaged goods (CPG) companies, including Diageo, Unilever, PepsiCo, GSK Consumer Healthcare and Castrol, committed to developing the innovative paper bottle packaging. The goal of the consortium is to help ensure that the Pulpex bottle is quickly scaled and widely adopted across multiple product categories. The Estée Lauder Companies is the consortium’s first prestige beauty partner, with the opportunity to scale the Pulpex paper bottling technology across its brand portfolio.
Scaling of this technology will support The Estée Lauder Companies efforts in driving progress towards its global sustainable packaging goals including the company’s latest commitment to reduce the amount of virgin petroleum plastic in its packaging to 50% or less by the end of calendar year 2030. The company has also committed to use responsibly sourced paper products whenever possible, with a goal of achieving 100% FSC-certified forest-based fiber cartons and 75-100% recyclable, refillable, reusable, recycled or recoverable packaging by 2025.
“Exploring alternative materials and more responsible concepts into our packaging design is a strategic imperative, but we know we can’t do it alone. Scaling innovation will be key to driving sustainable packaging solutions,” said Daniel Ramos, Senior Vice President, Global Packaging. “At The Estée Lauder Companies, we’ve long understood the importance of partnership across industries in helping to drive meaningful change. Collaboration plays a significant role in achieving our ambition, and as part of the Pulpex consortium, we are proud to help advance solutions not only for our brands and consumers but also for the industry at large.”
“Pulpex is fully committed to collaborating with partners across industries to create a more sustainable future,” said Scott Winston, CEO, Pulpex. “We are thrilled to partner with The Estée Lauder Companies as the first leader in beauty to join our consortium of leading companies working to create innovative packaging solutions that are better for both our consumers and the planet.”