Voya

Invigorating Seaweed Soap in seaweed packaging / Source: Voya

AfricaAsiaBeautyCelluloseEuropeGlassNorth AmericaOceaniaPackagingPaperSeaweedSouth America

4 MINUTE READ

Nadine Smith

WHAT WE SAY:

Luxury skincare brands often harness the power of nature, either through their formulation, brand narrative or both. Voya has gone one step further, connecting every aspect of its premium products to the Irish seaweed farming on which the brand is founded.

By-products from seaweed processing are being reintegrated with the paper pulp of the carton board for its packaging, helping to ensure nothing goes to waste. While an obvious win for brand storytelling, does this substitution have a strong environmental benefit if not committed to wholeheartedly? Something Voya is yet to do.

KEY FACTS:

Premium skincare brand Voya is grounded in the benefits of Seaweed, an ingredient it sources using only sustainable and conservative harvesting practices off the coast of Ireland.
To reduce the amount of seaweed by-product that goes to waste after formulation, Voya is using it to create unique secondary packaging for some of its product line. Seaweed is dried and ground down to a powder, after which it’s mixed with FSC-certified wood pulp to create cardboard. This cardboard is dyed with vegetable inks and de-bossed with metallic foil. It is recyclable in the Paper waste stream.
Voya also uses 100% biodegradable corn starch packing chips to protect products in transit. The chips dissolve in water.

Forget Me Knot shampoo and conditioner gift set in plastic and seaweed packaging / Source: Voya

Lazy Days detoxifying seaweed bath in secondary seaweed packaging / Source: Voya

DIVE DEEPER:

The use of virgin wood pulp and other Cellulose sources is placing increasing pressure on forests and agricultural crops to supply the expanding demand for cardboard packaging. According to Statista, paper and cardboard accounted for more than 33% of global packaging material demand in 2019, while the global paperboard packaging market is expected to reach a value of USD 250 billion by 2026. Finding alternative, by-product feedstocks, such as seaweed waste can go some way to relieve this systemic pressure.
While Voya is using its seaweed paper throughout its product line, its primary packaging still relies heavily on plastic. The brand recently replaced its Glass bottle and pump with plastic squeeze tubes. Given the issues with recycling plastic tubes (many cannot be processed by kerbside recycling facilities and must be collected through specialist recycling programmes such as Terracycle), this sits at odds with Voya’s sustainable ethos.
Voya’s formulas, however, are cruelty-free and PETA-certified. They are also certified organic by the Soil Association, Cosmos and the Irish Organic Association (IOA).
The brand is also a leading member of Ecopact, an initiative that ensures the use of environmentally friendly and sustainable development of seaweed resources. Voya’s harvesters use conservative harvesting practices that ensure no damage is caused to the coastline.
Voya works with the World Land Trust to offset the carbon emissions from its operations. Between 2013 and 2018, the brand offset 558 tonnes of carbon dioxide.

"Paper and cardboard accounted for more than 33% of global packaging material demand in 2019."

Statista

Key Design Considerations:

Metallic debossing and recyclability

Creating premium aesthetic, metallic embellishments can cause issues with the recycling process, depending on the foiling technique and material used. Hot foiling applications are also typically plasticised and therefore prevent the product from being 100% plastic-free. Consider alternative decorative practises, such as debossing or contour cutting to achieve a premium feel without the plastic.

Quantifying impact

Voya doesn’t give any indication as to the comparative environmental benefit of its seaweed paper compared to virgin paper and cardboard. It also uses the paper on a small range of products rather than its entire collection, with no indication if it will expand its use in the future. Consumers respond well to complete transparency and honesty. To ensure customers won’t assume an innovation such as this is purely tokenistic, a brand should carry out a third-party-verified LCA to clearly outline the positive impact it has, while discussing the challenges associated with rolling it out to an entire collection.