Manifesto Nutrition

The cherry flavoured supplements are packaged in keepsake tins / Source: Manifesto Nutrition

BeautyEuropeFood & BeveragePackagingPaperTin

6 MINUTE READ

Jennifer Hahn

WHAT WE SAY:

As supplement sales continue to thrive post-pandemic, the industry risks undermining itself through its reliance on single-use plastic packaging – polluting the very earth we rely on for our health and wellness. Manifesto Nutrition is hoping to change that with its holistic refill model.

The company's no-bullshit formula, recyclable "keepsake tins", and a subscription-driven refill system herald a radical new model for the supplement industry. Manifesto's bioplastic refill pouches are an imperfect solution, but the brand is dedicated to continuously improving every part of its supply chain.

KEY FACTS:

Manifesto Nutrition is a London-based company that sells beauty gummies in refillable and recyclable "keepsake tins" instead of traditional plastic pill bottles. Each tin contains one month's supply of supplements and customers can restock their tins via refill pouches, which are delivered via an ongoing subscription or a one-off order.
Beauty industry veteran Anna Marcovici founded the company in 2019 with the aim of cutting out the "dodgy" ingredients found in traditional supplement gummies. Manifesto says its edible supplements are vegan – made with fruit pectins instead of animal gelatine – free of artificial colours and flavours, and each contains "less sugar than a cherry".
Trying to cut out plastic from the brand's supply chain was a natural progression of this goal, with Marcovici stating that a holistic approach to beauty and health cannot include packaging that contains toxic forever chemicals and ends up polluting the environment at the end of its life. "I don't think you can consider wellness for yourself without considering wellness for the planet, because if the planet isn't happy, then you're not going to be happy," she told PlasticFree.
Manifesto's reusable, millennial pink packaging is made from almost indefinitely recyclable Tinplate, which itself already has some recycled content – although Marcovici is struggling to get an exact number from her supplier. "I was inspired by vintage tins," she said. "They stand the test of time and then, when you've used up the product, you can put something else inside."
Inside the tin, the gummies are packaged in a Paper sachet with a starch-based PLA coating by UK manufacturer Sirane, otherwise known as Earthfilm. This same material also forms the monthly refill pouches, which the brand introduced in February 2022. Both can be recycled in the normal paper waste stream although — as a result of their coating — they would need to be placed in an industrial composting facility to break down. However, it should be noted that many industrial composting facilities see PLA as a contaminate and don't accept it.
The company has reached a point where sales are nearly trebling every month, with around 60% of these sales coming from refills and around 40% from subscriptions. Despite the startup's tiny marketing budget, Manifesto has been covered by The Guardian, Harper's Bazaar, the Financial Times, Forbes, and more, proving that the brand's holistic refill model doesn't just pay off financially but also makes for a compelling story.
Manifesto's tins have become a distinguishing factor for the brand while simultaneously helping to create a more enjoyable, premium user experience, Marcovici says. "I feel like the tins have become a bit of a thing that we are known for," she explained. "Most people don't think 'yay I'm going to take my supplements now'. Whereas for me, I wanted the product to be a pleasure to use."

The brand's refill pouch contains 60 gummies / Source: Manifesto Nutrition

Each tin contains one month's supply of supplements / Source: Manifesto Nutrition

DIVE DEEPER:

Buoyed by customers' increasing concern for their health and wellbeing in the face of Covid-19, the supplement industry made record sales in 2020. Experts predict the pandemic will result in a "permanent lift" in sales for years to come, with 2023's earnings expected to be USD 1.4 billion higher in the US alone than predicted pre-Covid.
Despite the industry's growing momentum, little research has been done into just how much waste it produces. One of the few existing reports – compiled by supplement company Terraseed in partnership with the NIH Office of Dietary Supplements – estimates that 1.8 billion plastic supplement bottles are sold each year in the US, where less than 6% of plastic waste is recycled.
"Acting like an anti-plastic warrior for many years, it felt really wrong to put the product in a plastic bottle," says Marcovici, who grew up in post-Soviet Romania, where nothing was thrown away and plastic bags were reused "10 million times". After emigrating to the UK, Marcovici went on to work at some of the world's biggest beauty companies, acting as brand director at Estée Lauder, general manager at Nars UK and CEO of Facegym before going on to start Manifesto Nutrition.
Manifesto's decision to use tinplate for its packaging instead of more commonly used plastic substitutes like Aluminium came down to its superior performance qualities in transit, Marcovici says. "The packaging can actually dent quite easily and aluminium is really, really easy to dent," she explained. "So you also have to consider how many are going to go to waste." This is especially important as she bulk-orders the packaging from a manufacturer in Asia.
Initially, Manifesto sold the tins together with a sachet made from a eucalyptus-based bioplastic. But when the company introduced refills last year, Marcovici decided to switch to Sirane's coated paper packaging, which she claims takes two months to break down in a composter compared to six months for the eucalyptus bioplastic.
The packaging has been endorsed by the UK Recycling Association and has won two separate industry awards – the UK Packaging Award for Resource Efficient Packaging and the Green Apple Awards for Environmental Best Practice.
Sirane's bioplastic coating is heat-sealable, eliminating the need for additional adhesives. And the refill pouch features a simple tearaway opening instead of a resealable plastic strip. Even the tamper-proof seal used on the tins is made using one of Sirane's paper-based products instead of a traditional fossil fuel-based plastic version – although in this case, an adhesive is necessary.
As an e-commerce business that relies heavily on shipping, Manifesto Nutrition is also working to eliminate plastics from its logistics chain. The company uses recyclable cardboard boxes to ship its tins, while paper-padded Priory envelopes are used to post the refills. To further save on packaging and transport emissions, Manifesto also introduced two- and three-month "eco starter packs", which immediately sold out.

"I don't think you can consider wellness for yourself without considering wellness for the planet."

Anna Marcovici – Founder, Manifesto Nutrition

Key Design Considerations:

Bye bye to bioplastics

While bioplastic is better than straight-up fossil plastic, it can only ever be a transitional solution, as it generally needs to be industrially composted. As noted earlier, these facilities don't actually want bioplastics in their systems, as it contaminates the food stream. What's more, there are only a handful of industrial composting facilities in the world, meaning that even with the best intentions, a bioplastic is unlikely to make it to this preferred end-of-life. Consider alternative pouch solutions such as Glassine coated with Notpla.

Extend the lifespan

Sturdy, refillable metal packaging generally needs to be reused a number of times before its carbon footprint breaks even with that of less material-intensive single-use packaging. How can you encourage users to repurpose the tin and make suggestions for how it can be given a new life?

Tighten up your supply chains

Shipping in packaging from Asia has its own planetary impact, and the lack of transparency around the percentage of recycled content may start to be questioned. Consider localising your supply chains to have more visibility over, and impact on, the entire production process.