Sustainable Design Strategy of Cosmetic Packaging in China Based on Life Cycle Assessment

Abstract

Consumptions of cosmetics present a steady growth trend from 2018 to 2021 in China. While environmental impact generated are becoming prominent issues. Numbers of research on the sustainability of cosmetics are focusing on ingredient choices and production; however, the packaging generates more impact than the ingredient extraction in some specific scenarios, and it should be paid more attention to. The role of packaging deserves deep consideration under the background of a circular economy. This research aims to: (i) figure out the impact hotspot through life cycle assessment (LCA) of representative cosmetic packaging in the Chinese market, (ii) conduct a series of sensitivity analyses to figure out to what extent these potential scenarios influence the environmental performance of the packaging, (iii) obtain the significance of these variables to the sustainable design of the packaging. Finally, a set of sustainable design strategies for cosmetic packaging are proposed for the designer from the aspect of facilitating user reuse and recycling behaviour, material selection, and others.