Since the inception of the Volition Beauty brand in 2016, we have always been laser focused on the quality of our formulas and making sure that ingredient safety was always our “north star” when deciding which ingredients to include in our formulas, as well as which ingredients to exclude. Our products all meet EU regulations, and we formulate to EWG standards (the Environmental Working Group). We are certified “Clean at Sephora”, and we are part of the Conscious Beauty collection of brands at Ulta. We have always been PETA cruelty-free certified, and since 2021 we are 100% vegan.
2022 will be the year when Volition Beauty sets new sustainability goals for our packaging. Below are some of the milestones that we have achieved to date, as well as some future packaging sustainability targets.
Since 2016
All Volition unit cartons are printed in California using vegetable ink.
Since 2018
All Volition moisturizers are packaged in glass jars, a material that is readily recyclable in almost all locations.
Since 2021
All new Volition unit cartons are printed on certified FSC cardboard. FSC refers to the Forest Stewardship Council, which signifies that the material originated from a forest that was managed carefully with trees, animals, and local community benefit at heart. All new Volition unit cartons will also no longer have the metallic foil stamp on them, which was an aesthetic treatment that reduces the ease of recyclability. Therefore, all new unit cartons are now sourced sustainably, printed with vegetable ink, and are 100% recyclable. At Volition, we are running a “zero waste” packaging transition, so instead of throwing away unit cartons printed before this sustainability change in mid-2021, we are using up all unit cartons that are not FSC and have the metallic foil stamp. We anticipate that it will take until 2023 to have used up all residual quantities of these former unit cartons.
2022 and beyond
This year marks the largest improvement to sustainable packaging since throughout the year we will be phasing out the rose gold color on all Volition packaging. The rose gold coating on the caps, lids and pumps might have looked pretty, but this extra decorative layer makes the components much harder to recycle – and sometimes necessitate these components having to go directly into landfill. We are calling the new packaging aesthetic Volition 2.0, and it comprises principally of white plastic that is infinitely more recyclable that Volition’s previous packaging. Right now, this white plastic is made from virgin material, but later in 2022 we will be introducing some packaging components for our best-sellers that contain a percentage of PCR (post-consumer recycled) plastic.
In addition to the transition away from rose gold, we are also eliminating the frosted effect on our bottles and jars. The frosted effect on glass jars is done using hydrofluoric acid, and the matte coating sprayed onto plastic components to make them appear frosted, also diminishes the recyclability of the components.
All new launches and new production runs in 2022 will also have labels made from PLA, which is a compostable bioplastic derived from plant sugars. PLA can be made from any sugar, such as corn starch, cassava, sugar cane, or sugar beet.
Zero waste intentions
It might take until 2023 for our customers to see all the above changes implemented across every product in our entire assortment. Rather than throw away packaging that we have already purchased and have on-hand, we are purposely using up our components and transitioning to the new Volition 2.0 packaging one product at a time to minimize wastage. Furthermore, in some cases part of a product’s packaging will transition to the new materials, while other parts of the same product’s packaging will retain the former design. Please bear with us because 2022 will certainly be a transitional year of significant packaging changes for Volition Beauty during which our assortment will look very “mixed”. But we hope that you appreciate our long-term goal of improved product sustainability as part of our strategic aim of existing to make the best clean beauty with you, for you.
