Nurme body lotions and hand creams now packaged in recycled plastic packaging!

At Nurme, we work every day to become even more environmentally friendly, because we love nature and care about the environment around us. Of course, also to make it as easy as possible for you as a consumer to make better choices in your everyday life and live in harmony with nature. We have previously talked a lot about our steps towards more environmentally friendly production, and some of the more observant persons may have noticed that we promised to add products packaged in packaging made from recycled plastic to the Nurme range in the future.

It is our greatest pleasure to announce that we have taken this big step today and our hand creams and body lotions are now packaged in brand-new tubes made from recycled plastic!

What exactly does this change mean?

This is a change that has a very large environmental impact in Nurme. We have transferred our products to more and more environmentally friendly packaging such as cardboard or have instead used packaging-free options for soaps, solid shampoos, and deodorants. Unfortunately, we are unable to deliver all cosmetic products to you without packaging, which is why Nurme liquid shampoos and hair conditioners, oils, and liquid soaps arrive in recyclable plastic packaging, in which we have used only mono-materials. This means that one package consists of one type of plastic, which makes plastic easier to recycle and a more environmentally friendly choice. The life cycle of packages that consist of several elements of different materials ends in incineration or landfill because the consumer cannot dismantle them into their original parts and send them for recycling.

But of course, recycled plastic packaging is an even better choice, and now our hand creams and body lotions are packaged that way too. We continue to work to create suitable recycled plastic packaging for many other products and to reduce the production of plastic from raw materials.

What is recycled plastic?

Recycled plastic has a good option and an even better option – it is made from either pre-consumer or post-consumer plastic waste. Nurme products are packaged in packaging made from post-consumer plastic waste, i.e. a slightly better choice.

If a product is made from pre-consumer recycled material, it is made from the manufacturer’s or factory’s waste. Waste comes from plastic, which for one reason or another never actually reached the consumer. Most of the time, these are plastic residue, scraps, and other pieces – stuff that finds its way to the factory floor during production and, if lucky, ends up in recycling to take on a new form, instead of the trash can.

However, packaging made of post-consumer plastic is made from waste that has already been used by the consumer and then taken to a collection point. These are, for example, water bottles, cream jars, and other packages that you have cleaned, and taken to the package collection point. Thanks to the repeated use of plastic, plastic can live several lives, and thus approximately 580 tons of new plastic remain unmade per year.

How is plastic recycled?

Recyclable plastic usually has a small symbol printed on it, and depending on the product, the symbol may have 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 or 7 stamped in the middle. It’s easy to miss, but this little number is actually quite important. Recyclable plastic is marked with an identification code to let the recycler know what plastic it is and how it should be processed.

First, the plastic is sorted according to its polymer type. After being sorted and cleaned, the plastic can either be crushed into flakes or melted down into pellets before finally being molded into new products.

How many times can plastic be recycled?

Unfortunately, plastic is not recyclable forever. Every time plastic is recycled, its polymer chain becomes shorter, which in turn means that the quality of the plastic decreases. The same piece of plastic can only be recycled about 2-3 times before its quality drops so much that it can no longer be used as a new product. After that, the plastic can still be partially recycled, but only if new raw material is added to it during recycling. This helps to improve the quality of the plastic so that the recycled product has a chance to compete with new, durable and fresh packaging in the market.

Why can’t I just send the used plastic packaging back to Nurme?

We are often asked if empty Nurme cream cups or shampoo bottles could be sent back to our production farm to be refilled. In fact, all we can do with these empty plastic packages is to take them to the package collection point ourselves. This is because plastic packaging cannot be disinfected or sterilized, it simply cannot withstand this process. However, it is extremely important for us that the product we manufacture is packaged in clean and sterile packaging to prevent germs from getting into the product. This is one very important part of the manufacturer’s responsibility. That’s why Nurme never reuses the same plastic packaging and never sells it to its customers.

Prefer recycled materials

We invite you to notice labels and abbreviations that refer to recyclable plastic and the use of already recycled material during your daily shopping trip. Whether it’s toilet paper, cotton swabs, shopping bags, or anything else. It’s actually quite simple – if products are made from recycled materials, they usually say so right on the label. You can find recycled plastic products by this symbol ♻️. If you see this symbol on the packaging, you know that the product is made from recycled materials. Look for the highest percentage of post-consumer recycled plastic, this should also be clearly stated on the packaging.

Why should you choose such products?

By recycling plastic, we give the material a chance to get a new life. We become less dependent on the primary raw material and, we take the maximum of it by keeping plastic in use for as long as possible and keeping it from being deposited in the environment. Recycling reduces the need for plastics made from raw materials, saving resources, energy, and water, and reducing the amount of carbon dioxide emissions in the process.

It is important to mention again that no packaging is really better than another unless it is taken to a packaging container for recycling. By depositing packaging waste in a landfill together with other household waste, significant damage is caused to nature, as it takes hundreds of years, and in the case of plastic packaging, even thousands of years to decompose and turn into soil. So take your cleaned waste to the collection point, because all Nurme plastic packaging is 100% recyclable, including packaging made from already recycled plastic.

Here you can find a timeline of Nurme’s steps towards more environmentally friendly production:

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