Common packaging materials for cosmetics and their safety
Cosmetics packaging materials are very diverse, and the more common ones are glass, metal, plastic, paper flexible packaging, etc. The market share of plastic packaging exceeds 70%.
Glass packaging
Glass packaging is transparent and beautiful, not easy to penetrate, and has good chemical stability. It has always been favored by the high-end cosmetics market and is also the preferred material for vacuum cosmetics packaging. Moreover, glass products are convenient for recycling and reproduction, reducing environmental pollution and saving resources at the same time. However, there are some problems with glass materials, such as heavy weight, ease to break, low-temperature sensitivity, and high cost.
From the perspective of safety, the main component of glass is silica, which is an inert material. As a direct contact material, it is not easy to affect the safety of cosmetics. But sometimes to change the color or refraction of glass, manufacturers will add some metal elements, which increases the risk of material migration.
Metal packaging
Metal packaging has excellent gas resistance, moisture resistance, shading, and fragrance retention. It is mainly used in lipstick, hand cream, powder, and other products. However, its chemical stability is poor. As a direct contact material, it needs internal coating isolation and protection, otherwise, it is easy to affect the quality of cosmetics. In recent years, the packaging of pure metal is becoming less and less, and the common packaging is the combination of metal and plastic.
Plastic packaging
Plastic is the most widely used material in cosmetic packaging, but its safety is also difficult to guarantee. Plastic packaging has a small proportion, easy coloring, fall resistance, strong plasticity, and low price, which is suitable for large-scale production. And its printing performance is also very good. It can print labels, logos, and so on directly on the surface.
Plastic containers for cosmetics are generally composed of resin raw materials and related additives. Common resin raw materials include polyethylene (PE), polypropylene (PP), polyethylene terephthalate (PET), polyvinyl chloride (PVT), etc. To improve some properties of plastic packaging materials, a certain amount of additives will be added, such as plasticizers, stabilizers, antioxidants, and so on. These additives can better improve the chemical properties of packaging, but they may also migrate out during the storage of cosmetics, affecting the quality and safety of products. Plastic recycling is also very common. To improve its performance, more additives will be added when it is reused, and the safety risk will increase. In addition, monomers may remain during the synthesis of plastic resin, and there will be a risk of precipitation in case of light or high temperature. If the material is used for cosmetic packaging, it is also likely to migrate to cosmetics, thus endangering the health of consumers.
