Eco-Friendly beauty brand Kinship is known for their cruelty-free, vegan skincare formulas.
The company was founded in 2019 by two beauty industry veterans, Alison Haljun (the former Vice President of Marketing at Benefit Cosmetics) and Christin Powell (the co-founder of Juice Beauty).
In addition to using all-natural, vegan ingredients in their products, which include the bestselling Supermello Hydrating Gel Cream and Naked Papaya Gentle Enzyme Face Cleanser, the brand has taken it upon themselves to further their clean skincare mission through packaging.
All Kinship products are packaged in containers made out of 100% recycled materials, and many of these materials are sourced from Ocean Waste Plastic.
“Our clean, cruelty-free, plant-based formulas are just the start. What they’re packaged in matters for our planet, too. It’s no secret that 95% of plastic packaging is only used once + that 5 trillion pieces have ended up in our oceans. Using post-consumer recycled materials like Ocean Waste Plastic (OWP) and minimal packaging, we’re committed to skincare for *all* well beings,” reads Kinship’s website.
Specifically, Kinship sources its Ocean Waste Plastic from five collection points, all of which are in Indonesia (three in the Java Sea, one from a river in Jakarta, and one from a beach in Bali). The brand’s reason for choosing this particular material is due to its desire to find a solution to the 8 million pounds of plastic that is dumped into the ocean. By using Ocean Waste Plastic to create their beauty product containers, Kinship has single-handedly removed over two tons of plastic waste from the ocean.
How exactly does plastic in the ocean get turned into a Kinship beauty container? The brand lays out the process on their sustainability webpage. First, the plastic is collected from the different collection points in Indonesia by local fishermen and volunteers. Next, it is separated by type and colour. Third, it is rinsed, melted, and processed into pellets. Finally, those pellets are turned into snazzy packaging like the jars that Kinship’s Supermello Hydrating Gel Cream is sold in.
Overall, Kinship’s method of creating containers out of Ocean Waste Plastic has plenty of environmental benefits. Not only are they helping clean up the oceans (and keep plastic out of the ocean in the future – more on that below), but Ocean Waste Plastic emits 75 percent fewer greenhouse gas emissions than new plastic. It also saves two times as much energy.
Currently, Kinship uses Ocean Waste Plastic only in their jars and lids. Their tubes are made out of post-consumer recycled plastic materials and their paper materials are 100% PCR paper and Forest Stewardship Council-certified. However, their goal is to use Ocean Waste Plastic in 100 percent of their packaging in the future.
Another goal of Kinship? To close the loop. As mentioned above, Kinship aims to not only remove plastic from the ocean but also ensure it doesn’t end up back there. That is why all of their packaging is 100% recyclable. However, if you discover that your local recycling program does not accept the type of recycled plastic their packaging is made from, then you can email Kinship and they will send you a shipping label for three or more empties, allowing you to recycle the empties free of charge using TerraCycle.
