CoverGirl cosmetics packaging redesign for environmental sustainability

Redesign Package System for CoverGirl Cosmetic Line

The CoverGirl Packages

Pollution and the threat of global warming are less and less perceived as a make believe phenomenon, as more and more people recognize the damages of man made activities onto the natural environment. These hurtful activities include everything from forgetting to turn off the light in the bathroom or driving our fuel costly car instead of taking the bus to improperly disposing of garbage. While it is necessary to educate the population on how to behave in an environment friendly manner, it is also compulsory to request that the economic agents implement more environmentally responsible strategies. One such course of action would revolve around the usage of greener systems of packaging.

CoverGirl is a highly reputable cosmetics brand, with a long line of operations and a vast expertise in the field of cosmetics. Despite its association with numerous stars, such as Cybil Shepard or Drew Barrymore and its ongoing success, the brand has also encountered some criticism, generally from not for profit non-governmental institutions, but also from customers or the media. Targets of the criticism included the questionable quality of some of their products, the fact that the stains from the cosmetics products were difficult to wash off clothes or the fact that it promoted skinny women as a role model for today's adolescents. Criticism was also received for the company's packaging system. On the one hand, the company packs its products in small containers, generally small glass jars with plastic caps, additionally packed in cart boxes. This small size packing means that the company requires the consumption of greater levels of energy, paper, plastic and glass than it would require if it packed its products in larger containers. In this order of ideas, it could be concluded that the main disadvantage of the CoverGirl cosmetics is that they are over packed, increasing as such the levels of pollution.

A second problem is composed by the fact that in the production of their packages, CoverGirl does not entirely use environmentally friendly components. Plastics play a pivotal role, but plastics are one of the most devastating threats to environmental safety. A plastic bag will for instance not decompose for 400 years. It will remain in nature (forests, waters etc.) where it will be eaten by animals, which will most probably choke on the plastics and die.

The means in which we dispose of the garbage, as previously mentioned, represents a major threat upon the health of the natural environment and this is best revealed by the landfills in Toronto, Canada. Here, the city is no longer able to sustain the needs of its population and searches for solutions outside its borders. In 2006 for instance, Toronto's mayor David Miller announced his plans to purchase a 130 hectare landfill in London. The new location would allow the dumping of garbage and would prevent it from pilling up in the Canadian city (CBC News, 2006).

A positive aspect of the landfill is however that they generate gases, generally methane. The Toronto authorities opened plants which capture this methane and transform it into energy (Freeze, 2000). Aside this, scientists have identified new means of protecting the environment, such as the production and usage of green materials. Their production schedule resembles in many aspects the production of any other traditional material, with the specification that more efforts are made to ensure that the process does not generate negative impacts upon the environment. Additionally, manufacturers make sure that the usage and disposal of the green materials will not negatively impact the environment. Issues to consider in the manufacturing of green products include the quality of the air, resource efficiency or water conservation (Ecology Action, 2009).

2. Research Proposal

2.1. Abstract

This research proposal is a combination of two elements -- the need for change at CoverGirld, pegged to the negative implications of its over packaging system and secondly, the identification of the most adequate course of action. The project is channeled onto this twofold direction and the investigative and research area is focused onto environmental and business studies.

2.4. User / Audience Benefits

Before listing the benefits for the audience and the users, it is important to state how the report will enjoy credibility. This will be achieved through the inclusion of relevant, strong and documented information. Having established this, I will now reveal the benefits of the report:

consumers will recognize the importance of a green packaging system and will demand this from the CoverGirl brand the manufacturer will be forced to implement change as a means of creating customer satisfaction as a result of the change process, fewer energy and fewer natural resources will be wasted

2.5. Historical Precedents / Antecedents

Similar situations have been met previously with numerous motivations. The most common reason has been that of lifting the product and recreating customer interest. In more recent cases however, companies such as Bayer AG (Arabe, 2002), have strived harder to modify their approach to packaging as a direct result of their desire to turn to green operations.

2.6. Sources Consulted

The list of the works assessed throughout the research of this topic is revealed in the References section at the end of the report. As a final statement however, it has to be recognized that the previous lines only make up for the proposal and the actual research will be more comprehensive and will even include more sources, as required by the development of the research operations.

References:

Arabe, K.C., Green Packaging is Growing, Thomas Net, http://news.thomasnet.com/IMT/archives/2002/10/green_packaging.html last accessed on September 22, 2009

Dyer, D., Dalzell, F., Olegario, R., Rising Tide: Lessons from 165 Years of Brand Building at Procter & Gamble, Harvard Business Press, 2004

Freeze, a.R., the Environmental Pendulum: A Quest for the Truth about Toxic Chemicals, Human Health, and Environmental Protection, University of California Press, 2000

Jedlicka, W., Packaging Sustainability: Tools, Systems and Strategies for Innovative Package Design, John Wiley and Sons, 2008

Going Green -- 10 Green Giants, CNN Money, http://money.cnn.com/galleries/2007/fortune/0703/gallery.green_giants.fortune/4.html last accessed on September 22, 2009

Green Building Materials Guide, Ecology Action, 2009, http://www.ecoact.org/Programs/Green_Building/green_Materials/index.htm last accessed on September 22, 2009

Toronto Plans to Buy London Landfill to Solve Trash Woes, CBC News, 2006, http://www.cbc.ca/canada/toronto/story/2006/09/19/trash-talk.html last accessed on September 22, 2009