Olay Definity Products

While I was in the same moisturizer aisle, I of course also noticed Olay's new line of anti-aging products for older women, Olay Definity. Olay used to be a cream for old ladies (do you remember that "I was your teacher!" Miss Fitzhenry commercial? Loved it. And the slogan "Oil of Olay, Twice a Day"?), and in the span of a few years, it was transformed into the world's number one skincare brand. Pretty amazing stuff!

However, I was taking a look at this particular line of products. The dispensers are of course, like many others, made of mixed materials, but this wasn't the worst part. The outer container was made of a thick and heavy plastic, as well as slanted on the top so it could not even be stacked! Blasphemy from a waste and retailer standpoint! There was also a lot of empty space inside. Expensive for shipping.

My assumed rationale behind this amount of packaging: I believe this is all for differentiation. P&G has used cardboard previously to protect its skincare products without any sort of negative repercussion. I could not find a resin identification code on the package and it looked to be made of two different kinds of plastic - very hard to recycle.

Alternative considerations: Return to cardboard usage, if an outer pack is needed. Use a cube shape to cause less headaches for retailers. Cubes can be differentiated too!

These are the Definity Products in round plastic cases:

Olay Definity Intense Hydrating Cream
Olay Definity Refining Lotion with UV Protection
Olay Definity Deep Penetrating Foaming Moisturizer
Olay Definity Night Restorative Sleep Cream
Olay Definity Reenrgizing Serum

Let Procter & Gamble know about their wasteful packaging - they are planning to get into more sustainable products and this will help them in their mission!

Procter & Gamble:
1 800 879 8433
Web: http://pg.custhelp.com

Olay:
1-800-285-5170
Web: http://olay.custhelp.com

L'Oreal Skin Genesis products

I was walking through the moisturizer aisle at the drug store and could not help but notice how ridiculously packaged these products were. Now of course, being in the beauty aisle, it is important that products are unique and beautiful. However, this all came at the cost of the containers being made of all sorts of mixed materials - plastic, glass, metal - impossible to recycle without taking them apart.

One of these lines were the L'Oreal Skin Genesis line of products. L'Oreal has for long as I can remember, been at the forefront of innovative skincare, product design, and aesthetics, but their packaging leaves me a bit concerned. The products had a box that was too large for the product, and the actual bottle for the moisturizers were made of many types of materials.

My assumed rationale behind this amount of packaging: For the most part, I think the gist of this package was for beauty. The box is phenomenally large compared to the bottle, which is also very wasteful - but I think it was to showcase the package.

Alternative considerations: Consider using only one material. Glass for example. Reduce the package to half the size, which a retailer can use to shelve more of your products, or other's products.

To talk to L'Oreal about this packaging:


United States:

Here

Canada:

L'Oréal Paris
1500, University Street, suite 600
Montreal, Quebec
H3A 3S7
Phone: 1-888-4-LOREAL

France:

here

Dear Body Shop: take your $@(!!* packages back.

At it's inception, the Body Shop was a hugely progressive company with impressive policies regarding fair trade and environmental issues. Over the past decade, however, it seems as though the company (now a fully-owned subsidiary of L'Oreal) has moved away from some of these founding philosophies.

At first, the store doesn't seem that much different from when it shilled those neon coloured "endangered species" shirts back in the 1990's (of which I was the proud owner of three). Many of the products still appear to be community traded. In fact, this naieve belief that the Body Shop is somehow morally "superior" to other cosmetic companies is a big reason why I shop there. If I can't help being vain, at least I feel a little bit better knowing that the ingredients for my lipstick were sourced fairly.

To that end, I suppose I expect the Body Shop to TRULY be more progressive than other companies out there. I was, therefore, rather disappointed when I recently inquired whether my empty bronzer container could be returned to the store. "No, I'm afraid we don't take the packaging back" the sales associate advised me, looking rather mystified at the empty compact I presented to her. I admit I was rather stunned. I had almost taken for granted that the store, which lists "protect our planet" as one of its core values, would have figured out recycling program for its own bloody containers. It makes me wonder: how can ANY company that truly considers itself to be "green" not have the option of returnable containers?

On the flip side of the coin - mad props to Mac Cosmetics for having a cool policy in effect: bring back six containers, and get a free lipstick in return! http://www.maccosmetics.com/customerservice/cs_services.tmpl. So it seems, returning packaging to the source can be possible.

UPDATE (06/30/08): Soon after I published this post, I got to thinking - perhaps the sales associate I spoke was just misguided. A nervous trainee, perhaps. So I called the Body Shop to make sure I had my facts straight. Turns out the information was correct; they don't accept their primary packaging back.

Give 'em a call yourself at 1.800.387.4592 to let them know your definition of "profit with principles" includes accepting responsibility for packaging waste.