Responsible Packaging & the Beauty Industry

It’s no surprise that many of us pondered what measures we might employ to be even prettier.

What elixir with what compounds with what packages... there’s no question mark here because for a very very long time, no one was asking.

Well, we’re more empowered now. And we asked.

Turns out, we realized we could do some things way better, and we got to wondering...

How did we even get here?
More importantly – where do we go from here?

Back in 1862 when British chemist Alexander Parkes invented the first plastic, it’s unlikely that he predicted how it would become the world’s core material for products and packaging.

Old Alex probably couldn't have foreseen the massive global impact his invention would inflict.

Plastic use is now part-and-parcel of most technology and infrastructure: computers, cell phones, transportation, healthcare, and food delivery systems. The list goes on, and of course we all benefit from the use of plastics..

But there are two sides to this coin.

Plastics have also brought colossal environmental problems that include long-term footprints, mass quantities of refuse, and irresponsible disposal.

But if all of a sudden we pulled the plug on plastics... wow. Imagine the complications. Transportation systems would fall into disrepair, lifesaving medicines would be more difficult to preserve and transport, and the yawning mouth of technology would snap shut before imploding into itself.

At Mara Jade, we believe:

• It’s not realistic to pull the rug from under harmful plastics without having better alternatives to sub in. Creative inventions helped us into this complicated web. Creativity can help us out.
• Many consumers are using conscionable choices as a lead for purchasing decisions. This is the marketplace trend we require for a revitalizing push towards smarter practices.
• Pre-consumer recycling is an innovative way to utilize existing excess plastics and reduce demand for new-creation-plastics, all while solving a waste issue.

So what can we do?

I wish I could say that finding responsible options was as smooth as spreading soft butter onto a hot biscuit.

But no – this search was more like using a switchblade to shave frozen butter onto a crumbling cracker.

We spent 80+ hours in research to scour North America for options we could get behind.

How mind boggling is it that plastics ordered from China – bottles that have to travel all the way across the Pacific – are more readily available and significantly cheaper than bottles from our own continent? Not to mention, supply chains are broken everywhere – and packaging is no exception.

Baffled as we were, we wanted to keep our dollars in North America. We were determined to make choices that would reflect the quality and vision of our locally-developed products.

And that’s what we did.

What we demanded for our product development were some seriously tight packaging. Reconceptualized, outside-the-box, efficient packaging.

We quickly realized that we’d need more than a 1980s WWF Avalanche Splash to pin down tight designs.

We needed innovation.

You know how those cozy scrappy-quilts are made from fabric remnants? That got us to thinking about the idea of recycling prior to product delivery.

And that got us to pre-consumer recycling.

Pre-consumer recycling is a brilliant, lesser-known strategy that ensures perfectly good existing plastics are used, rather than discarded, before ever meeting a practical purpose.

In manufacturing, there is often a surplus of packages or products that were acquired for a specific reason but ended up unused.

This creates a problem for the businesses who own the surplus: it’s impractical to have non-viable packaging taking up space in a warehouse.

So what do you think happens to that unused plastic? Yup, it gets tossed, just like those thick shampoo bottles. (I hear you – surely discarding the surplus is wasteful and costly, right? Right. Yet it happens.)

Fortunately, Mara Jade discovered a company that buys surplus and redistributes it to businesses who can use it.

It’s a process referred to as – you guessed it – pre-consumer recycling.

“Voila” – we had ourselves a green solution!

We were super jazzed to find out we could source the pretty white bottles that we love made from pre-used, lightweight plastics. This means that they had lived a life, been ground down, and finally melted and remolded.

Basically, we found Mara Jade's packaging in their next life.

BOOST & QUENCH

Our shampoo and conditioner bottles use pre-consumer recycled plastics that were shipped from Utah. This nailed efficiency because lightweight plastics use less material to create minimalistic molds.

We decided to avoid glass bottles in the shower, in order to provide your wee little piggies a safe environment (showers and potentially broken glass are a no-go).

BOOST and QUENCH bottles are easily repurposed or recyclable at all community facilities. Or better yet, refill them with Mara Jade!

PLUMP

Our styling serum, PLUMP, is packaged in glass bottles. Glass is infinitely recyclable, sustainable, reusable, and refillable. (And breakage is less likely, and less dangerous, once you’ve exited the shower.)

Glass is recycled in a closed loop, over and over again. Thanks to glass recycling, significant amounts of raw materials are saved and natural resources are preserved. These were also shipped from Utah.

PUMP

Our dry volume powder, PUMP, is contained in 100% eco-friendly cardboard tubes. Shipped from Oregon, these tight packages serve up a sweet product in low carbon-footprint, biodegradable, easily recyclable vessels.

Turns out, boysenberries are just one of Oregon’s quintessential exports!

Worldwide, this industry is giant. We’re talking, nearly fifty billion giant. Fortunately, beauty products are emerging that you can truly feel good about using. About time, right?

We’re grateful for the chapter we’re currently in, where bootstrapping, problem-solving characters are able to make a difference, and actually succeed in an ever-conscious marketplace.

We get to change the outcome of the story. Mara Jade is adding to this evolution by offering our botanical products in tight, responsible packages.

Truth: we all want to look and feel our best.
With Mara Jade, we believe you can.