An incredible new two-part pump and refill system from the International Institute for Active Aging could significantly reduce plastic waste from beauty products, Glamor Magazine reports.

Plastic is one of the biggest problems in the beauty industry. Most beauty products come in specialized plastic containers that are difficult to empty completely, difficult to reuse, almost impossible to recycle, and extremely likely to end up in a landfill or pollute the ocean.

Some companies offer plastic-free packaging optionsand others have recycling programs, but according to Greenpeace, only about 5% of plastic products are recycled in the United States. This is far from enough to protect our environment from the impact of this material.

But the IIAA’s new invention could change all that.

The system is designed to replace pump bottles used in many beauty and skin care products. Currently, this packaging is often made of multiple materials put together in a way that makes it impossible to recycle, and its single-use design means you throw it away. move the entire pump device away each time you finish a bottle.

“The bottom line: if you want to create something more sustainable, the first thing to do is use fewer materials,” Joseph Alpert, one of the project’s design consultants, said Charm.

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The IIAA design consists of two parts: an outer bottle with a pump and separate refills in flexible, compostable packaging.

“You have a dispenser that you keep for life, and then a refill,” Alpert said, according to Charm. “And it’s in recharging that all the innovation is found.”

According to Alpert, the refills are “made from a material called ‘paper foam,’ which is made from potato starch and paper waste in Holland.”

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“So it’s not like the coffee cups that you get, where they’ll still behave like plastic unless they end up in one of the industrial composting facilities,” he added. “90% of the weight of this product is now compostable at homethen you send the rest for recycling. And this plastic weight saving has a significant environmental impact. »

The soft bag design also makes it easier to open the package and get the last piece of product, saving you money and meaning you’ll ultimately need less packaging at all. total.

Best of all, the IIAA has made this new design free – so hopefully we’ll see it on shelves soon.

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