Zotos International Launches Eco-Smart Packaging

Beauty industry manufacturer Zotos International is taking steps to reduce its carbon footprint. In an effort to implement the largest private industrial sustainability program in the nation, Zotos will launch new packaging created from a hybrid bioplastic resin during the first quarter of 2011. The new material will be a composite of post-consumer recycled polyethelene and thermoplastic starch derived from plants.  As a result, the company will reduce its packaging-related greenhouse gas emissions by more than 75 percent.  The first brand to incorporate the new packaging will be the JOICO line.

According to the manufacturer of the bio-resin, Teknor Apex Company, Zotos is one of the first manufacturers in the beauty industry to use this new and innovative material. This bio-resin significantly reduces the carbon footprint of the packaging by eliminating virgin, petroleum-based plastic and incorporating renewable plant content.  In addition, the new bottles can continue to be recycled, unlike other bioplastics which contaminate recycling streams.

“We are very excited to be working with the Zotos team to help meet their sustainable packaging needs,” says Elizabeth M. Ponte of Teknor Apex Company. “The efforts by Zotos are a beauty industry first—packaging that combines recycled polyethylene with bioplastics—100 percent free of virgin petroleum-based plastic.”

According to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), in 2008, the United States generated approximately 13 million tons of plastics in the municipal solid waste (MSW) stream. The total amount of plastics in MSW—about 30 million tons—represented 12.0 percent of total MSW generation.  The amount of plastics generation in MSW has increased from less than one percent in 1960 to 12 percent in 2008 with only 6.8 percent of plastics being recycled.

“Zotos is at the forefront of material production,” says Anthony Perdigao, Zotos Chief Sustainability Officer. “Zotos is committed to taking responsibility of our production process to decrease the environmental ramifications of the use of non-biodegrable plastic.  In 2011, we will be launching a number of initiatives to set us apart from other beauty brands.”