Unboxed

There are over two million #unboxing posts on Instagram. If half of them are of beauty products-a reasonable estimation-that would make one million pieces of content that focus on everything but the efficacy of the skincare, haircare or makeup product at hand. Think sensorial, ASMR splices of cardboard boxes being sliced open, crackling packing pellets, sharp tears of paper stuffing, and little pops of bubble wrap that, when listened to with earphones, can really get one tingling. It’s a nest of excessive, often un-recyclable components, and that’s not even all (or the worst) of it. The actual products nestled within are housed in yet another box, jar, bottle or palette that’s either entirely or partially made of single-use, potentially landfill-clogging materials.

There’s no denying that the global beauty industry, which generates over $600 billion in sales a year and accounts for millions of jobs, has a packaging problem. But it is trying to fix it.

SHIPPING COSTS

According to data from the Zero Waste