LVMH Beauty is the latest company to join PEFerence. The consortium, spearheaded by Avantium, is paving the way for the use of bio-based material PEF in luxury cosmetics packaging.
Netherlands-based renewable chemistry company Avantium’s PEFerence consortium aims to industrialize PEF (polyethylene furanoate) for use as a sustainable packaging material. Its newest member is LVMH Beauty, the first luxury cosmetics company to become a member of the consortium joining the likes of Carlsberg, Henkel and Lego.
“LVMH Beauty is always looking for sustainable materials with superior performance for our luxury products as part of our sustainability strategy,” Claude Martinez, Executive President and Managing Director, Beauty Division of LVMH Group, said in a statement. “The environmental and performance features of PEF are unique and very promising to meet our sustainable packaging goals, which is why LVMH Beauty decided to join the PEFerence consortium. Together, with the other PEFerence consortium partners, we aim to shape this next-generation, fully circular and sustainable packaging material”.
The PEFerence consortium aims to replace a “significant share” of fossil-based polyesters with PEF, a plant-based, “highly recyclable” plastic. Similar to PET, but with superior barrier properties, the material is said to open up a wide range of possibilities in packaging, such as lightweighting and increasing product shelf life.
The EU-backed PEFerence consortium, which unites industrial companies and brand owners, is aiming to build “the world’s first commercial FDCA plant” in 2023 – FDCA being the main building block of PEF. The plant will have capacity of 5,000 tons per year.
PEF is not the only sustainable packaging material LVMH Beauty is investigating. Last summer, Parfums Christian Dior adopted Eastman’s Cristal Renew co-polyester for its Dior Addict Lip Maximizer pack, with Eastman and LVMH set to collaborate on packaging across the luxury group’s brand portfolio. In 2021, Luxe Packaging Insight spoke to LVMH Group Environmental Deputy Director Alexandre Capelli about the group’s LIFE 360 strategy, which is targeting zero plastic from virgin fossil feedstock by 2026.
