Packaging Progress

Our natural and organic cosmetics are NATRUE-certified and we use many precious and delicate ingredients, such as essential oils and plant oils. Our products are 100% microplastic-free, and they are 100% liquid plastic free. So our packaging has to offer a lot more protection than that of conventional beauty products made with synthetic preservatives and polymers.

Depending on what the product needs, balanced with consumer needs, we use different packaging solutions made of glass, aluminium or plastics. Each material has specific advantages and disadvantages.

Behind the scenes, our team is constantly rethinking our packaging to make it even more sustainable with less waste, and using more recycled materials. We work hard to ensure our packaging is as light and as eco-friendly as possible, selecting the most appropriate materials for individual products so that the quality formulations are protected.

“At Weleda we are constantly examining more sustainable packaging alternatives for our range. We balance the need to provide optimal protection for our high-quality products whilst protecting the planet as best we can”, explained Jayn Sterland, Managing Director, Weleda UK.

• Over 40% of Weleda packaging is currently made from recycled materials. The target is to steadily increase this year on year as new technologies and new packaging designs become available. Weleda is on track to achieve the sustainability goal set in 2018, that by 2022 a minimum of 65% of the weight of all primary packaging must come from recycled plastic sources or bioplastics.
• Weleda’s recyclable glass bottles are made from 85% recycled glass (the highest % possible) – 70% post consumer waste and 15% post-industrial recyclate. Lower temperatures can be used to melt broken/recycled glass than to melt sand and other raw materials to manufacture virgin glass.

• Following our recent switch to a recycled glass jar for Skin Food Body Butter, Weleda has increased the overall amount of recycled materials the company uses by 5%.
• It is possible to recycle green glass indefinitely, whereas other materials (including colourless glass) are not always endlessly recyclable. Using colourless glass would require 30% more energy than green glass.
• All Weleda’s transport packaging and sturdy brown boxes are made from 100% recycled board. Weleda has recently optimised transport packaging to exclude plastic packing tape. Our deliveries from Weleda Germany are now arriving at our Derbyshire warehouse without any outer plastic shrink-wrapping on the pallet, in a move to eradicate single use plastic from transportation packaging.
• Weleda’s recyclable product cartons are printed using mineral-oil-free colour inks on 100% FSC certified card.
• All four Weleda roll-on deodorants are repackaged in fully recyclable HDPE bottles made from 70% post-consumer recyclate (PCR) that has been carefully sourced from British food packaging such as milk bottles. This means manufacturing less virgin plastic, so reducing the burden on the planet.

• The Weleda Baby recyclable plastic PET bottles recently changed from 50% recycled material to 100% r-PET recycled plastic. Weleda uses 58 tons of plastic per year for the baby bottles, and this upgrade to r-PET will save an estimated 250 tons of CO₂ emissions.
• Weleda is continually trying to reduce the amount of aluminium used in packaging because it is now known that the ecological disadvantages of aluminium are objectively greater, mainly due to the severe ecological destruction caused by mining and the very high energy consumption for aluminium production. Because recycling affects the properties of aluminium, recycled aluminium cannot currently be used to produce thin, flexible objects such as cosmetic tubes (although Weleda hopes to have developed this by 2023).
• Weleda’s ‘soft touch’ plastic tubes are made from 50% PCR (post-consumer waste). Currently some regions in the UK do not offer kerbside collection for the mixed plastics used in Weleda’s plastic tubes, even if they are technically recyclable, because sorting machinery and recycling facilities vary from county to county. So to avoid any of Weleda’s recyclable plastic going to landfill, Weleda has teamed up with ENVA, so that customers can return their empties to us (free of charge) rather than putting them out with rubbish. Every package returned to us will plant a tree with our charity partner, TreeSisters!

Our vision is modern, functional, sustainable packaging that customers love and which also simplifies our processes. We are just as committed today as we were in 1921 to making our products as sustainable as we possibly can, both inside and out.

Read our annual sustainability report to view our progress