Health and beauty brands map sustainable packaging at Respack

At Respack, a panel discussion titled, Sustainable Packaging Initiatives in Health, Beauty, Personal Care, brought together research and development, procurement, and sustainability directors from India’s leading fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG) and healthcare enterprises. Panellists detailed how structural pressures from the Plastic Waste Management (PWM) rules, shifting generational buying habits, and localised supply chain disruptions are changing raw material pipelines, mechanical designs, and consumer-facing brand communications.

The session was chaired by Kanwal Tikoo of Kanvas Consulting. The panellists include: Chinmaya Dandekar of Godrej Consumer Products, J Sridhar of PurePlay, Subhrajit Bhowmik of Cipla Health, Sanjib Sharma of Mosaic Wellness, Manas Bhunia of Emami, and Subhra Sankha Nandi of Wipro Enterprises.

Paradigm shift
Session chairman Kanwal Tikoo framed the dialogue by highlighting a shift in design philosophy: moving away from mitigating environmental damage toward engineered solutions that create a regenerative impact. 

Tikoo emphasised that packaging has historically stood for consumer trust, product safety, and visual brand identity. However, under current market dynamics, it serves as an indicator of an enterprise’s environmental commitment. 

Impact measurement and material innovation
Chinmaya Dandekar explained that early investments in post-consumer recycled (PCR) resins provided a critical buffer for forward-thinking brands during recent supply chain crises when virgin polymers faced severe availability constraints.

He advocated for material innovations that push beyond obvious substitutions, spotlighting Godrej’s success with concentrated product formulations. By removing water content to compact product volumes, the company reduced functional container footprints from 250-ml – 500-ml down to 10-gram concentrated sizes. Dandekar detailed how this approach lowered logistical overheads, shrank packaging material demand, decreased carbon emissions during transit, and expanded product penetration in price-sensitive regional markets.

Harnessing GenZ influence
Citing global demographic data, Manas Bhunia pointed out that by 2030, GenZ will represent the wealthiest consumer demographic globally, possessing a projected spending capacity of 12-trillion dollars. With 75% of adults aged 19 to 25 focused on environmental health, and data showing a reciprocal influence convincing older GenX parents to pay premiums for eco-friendly goods, early-adopting brands are building deep customer retention.

For emerging or budget-constrained brands, Bhunia recommended focusing on source reduction and minimalistic label designs rather than trying to overhaul entire product portfolios at once. He noted that executing material reduction on a single flexible product line creates an impactful brand story that builds equity to fund broader portfolio transitions later.

Balancing rigid overhauls against price volatility
Subhra Sankha Nandi explained that material selection must be strictly aligned with an enterprise’s unique product mix and shifting regulatory baselines. With Wipro’s product lineup skewed toward rigid containers (accounting for roughly 70% of its total volume across floor cleaners, glass cleaners, and detergents), the company prioritises mechanical PCR integration over flexible laminate modifications to meet annual compliance targets.

Nandi observed that while the PCR supply chain has matured over the last two years, creating a reliable sourcing ecosystem, the current market remains unpredictable. He warned that while post-consumer resin costs have cooled compared to the inflation seen during international conflicts, price volatility remains a structural risk as industries compete for limited volumes of high-purity recycled polymers.

Overcoming visual barriers with functional communication
J Sridhar addressed the gap between consumer sentiment and actual retail purchases. While research shows that roughly 77% of consumers express a theoretical willingness to support eco-friendly packaging, that figure drops to 60% among premium consumer brackets, and ultimately, about 9% actually pay a premium at the point of sale. 

Sridhar noted that consumer acceptance of visual imperfections is category-dependent; while PCR-induced yellowing or odour masking works seamlessly in dark-coloured rigid containers for home care and laundry detergents, it faces resistance in premium personal care and food applications due to underlying hygiene and spoilage concerns.

To overcome this aesthetic barrier, Sridhar urged brands to re-engineer their visual narratives and leverage multi-layer co-extrusion technology to sandwich lower-purity PCR securely between clean virgin outer layers. Furthermore, he emphasised that refill communication must shift away from abstract environmental metrics toward tangible consumer benefits — such as showcasing how an 85% lighter flexible refill pack is inherently spill-proof, easier to store in home pantries, and more functional than its rigid counterpart.

Navigating pharmaceutical benchmarks
Subhrajit Bhowmik detailed the structural barriers that slow down sustainable material adoption in pharmaceutical lines. Given strict legal frameworks and the nature of direct product-contact layers, the industry cannot simply substitute untested recycled polymers into high-sensitivity pharmaceutical packaging.

Despite these regulatory boundaries, Bhowmik revealed that healthcare companies are exploring alternative material pathways to replace problematic materials like polyvinyl chloride (PVC), which remains difficult to recycle. 

Bhowmik highlighted that Cipla Health is actively developing multi-layer designs that incorporate lower-cost recycled flakes shielded between functional, compliant contact barriers. He noted that while implementing technologies like induction sealing and non-PVC alternatives demands upfront capital, matching clinical performance with circular chemistry remains an active operational objective.

Pre-competitive alliances to resolve waste disputes
Sanjib Sharma focused on the role of value-chain collaboration, stating that brand owners cannot hit ambitious sustainability metrics in isolation. The industry requires long-term commitments from packaging fabricators, chemical recyclers, and technology providers to ensure a consistent and transparent supply of high-grade recycled inputs.

Sharma shared a 2014 case study from his tenure at Marico, where major FMCG competitors united under the Indian Nutrient High-Tech Association to solve the recycling challenge of multi-layer plastic (MLP) laminates. This cross-industry task force commercialised a pyrolysis process that extracted up to 60% industrial oil from flexible laminate waste and pioneered the use of shredded MLP in asphalt road construction and cement-kiln co-processing. 

Sharma noted that this collaborative technical brief directly informed the Ministry of Environment’s modern, workable regulatory guidelines, demonstrating that pre-competitive industry alignment can successfully avert outright material bans.