By the end of the year, L’Occitane en Provence will replace all the aluminium tubes in its range with Blue Tube Evo tubes, made from 95% post-consumer aluminium waste from the Tubex Aluminium Tubes brand.
Tubex Aluminium Tubes is a subsidiary of the Austrian-German industrial group CAG, which owns, among others, the Stölzle Glass Group. For 70 years they have specialised in the development and manufacture of aluminium tubes for the cosmetic, food and pharmaceutical industries. “We have adopted an eco-responsible approach in 2018. The aluminium tube industry hasn’t changed much in recent years: we wanted to offer groundbreaking innovation,” says Thierry Bitout, CEO of Tubex.
The company launched the Blue Tube in 2018, a tube made entirely from recycled aluminum derived from industrial waste, containing 95% post-consumer waste (PCR for Post-Consumer Recycled) and 5% PIR (Post-Industrial Recycled). This technology reduces CO2 emissions and the carbon footprint of cars.
70% and 60%, respectively, compared to a standard aluminium tube on the market.
“We wanted to make it even better by producing tubes from tubes. Blue Tube Evo comes from 95% of used aluminium tubes, cans and aerosols thrown away by consumers. The notion of circularity is essential. We have designed our alloy to be able to source very different types of waste and to receive large quantities with unlimited access,” adds Thierry Bitout.
In order to further improve the environmental profile of its products and the strategy based on three key parameters – Reduce, Recycle and React – the French brand wants to dispense with all unnecessary packaging and start using recyclable and/or recycled alternative materials. Although already based on a material that can be recycled over and over again, all of the brand’s iconic aluminium tubes will undergo a complete transformation in 2021.
“We have already incorporated recycled PET into our bottles, but we didn’t want to leave aluminium out. We found Tubex’s technology really attractive because it is based on 95% post-consumer recycled aluminium. For us, the cleanliness of what comes out of our containers is also important,” says Corinne Fugier-Garrel, Packaging Concept Development and Innovation Manager at L’Occitane en Provence.
“That’s exactly what our customers want: a product that is circular and has a low environmental footprint. L’Occitane has always addressed these issues, so it was the ideal solution,” adds Thierry Bitout.
