Kose's "4R". Waste plastic method because it is a cosmetics manufacturer

 Reducing the environmental burden of plastic containers and packaging is an urgent issue for cosmetics manufacturers. Therefore, one of Kose's plans for 2020 is to design with sustainability in mind. The goal is to incorporate at least one of the four items, such as suppression of occurrence and reuse, in all new products by 2030.

"Reduce" to reduce the amount of resin used, "Reuse" to respond by refilling, "Recycle" to use recycled resin, "Renewable" to utilize biomass resin, etc. Take the four initials "4R". The basic policy is to incorporate as many "R" s as possible into bottles and caps at the design stage of new products. Of the new products in FY2008, 17.3% adopted either R. We are aiming for 100% by 30 years.

"We will work from where we can," emphasizes Kei Arai, General Manager of Product Design Department. The results have begun to appear, and the amount of resin in the bottles of the hair care brand "Biolis" has been reduced by about 20% by reducing the wall thickness. In addition to using corrugated cardboard for the outer box of the skin care brand "Sekkisei," we have adopted an inner plug removal mechanism for ease of refilling.

Kose has been working on environmental issues for over 20 years. In 2000, he issued an environmental report and introduced the adoption of biodegradable plastics in some cosmetic containers. After continuing research and announcing the "Sustainability Plan" in 2008, which stated a design that takes 4R into consideration, we set numerical targets and started full-scale efforts.

However, "there are some issues unique to cosmetics," said Arai. Since it contains various raw materials and ingredients, if you change the container material that you come into direct contact with, you need to check the compatibility one by one and redesign. The most difficult thing is to use recycled resin.

Therefore, a new initiative is recycling, which uses scraps generated in the manufacturing process as recycled raw materials. A polypropylene runner (flow path) that supplies resin when molding the inner lid of loose powder is crushed and regenerated after molding the inner lid. From January, this was added to the material used for some cosmetic caps, and the compounding ratio of recycled resin was raised to 50%. Furthermore, we are considering the use of process scraps not only in-house but also in other industries. We are exploring the possibility of widespread use with a view to sharing technology with other companies that are responsible for molding.