At the heart of our packaging design lies three principles: 1) plastic-free material, 2) user-friendly reverse thread design, and 3) sustainable finish & decoration.
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1) PLASTIC-FREE MATERIAL
Clement Packaging’s home compostable, plant-based packaging material is perfect for this use case. Our patent-pending material is a blend of bamboo powder, home compostable plant-based resins, and mineral oxide additives. This material serves as a 1:1 replacement for fossil-fuel plastics.
From a functional standpoint, our material is perfect since it withstands water and moisture without the need for a plastic barrier. Lil Luv Dog needed a package that could withstand bathroom moisture, humid environments, and on-the-go use. In this case glass was too heavy and fragile, and aluminum would dent too easily when tossed around with pets. We were able to fulfill their needs for a shelf-stable package while allowing the brand to stay plastic-free.
From a sustainability standpoint, we’re proud to create a material that’s both sustainably sourced and sustainably disposed of.
Upstream we source renewable plant-based materials including bamboo and bioresins made with fermentation (polyhydroxyalkanoates). Unlike some sugarcane or corn based packaging, our raw materials do not detract from the food stream. Our bamboo is “upcycled” meaning it comes from pre-consumer waste streams–excess bamboo that would’ve otherwise been incinerated. Bamboo also absorbs ~ 3.73 m^3 of CO2 per day (Zhou et al). Besides the carbon footprint wins from bamboo, we also source everything locally and produce in-house to minimize shipping footprint. We source all our raws from the same province as our factory (Zhejiang, China), allowing us to avoid the carbon-intensive processes of collecting and recycling PCR plastic.
Downstream sustainability and end of life is just as important. Many “sustainable” materials today do trade fossil fuels fo a more renewable source (e.g. sugarcane-based PET), but still beget harmful microplastics and persist in the environment. Oxo-biodegradable plastics and additives have the same problematic end of life. Thus, we’ve decided to invent a material that’s completely biodegradable, home compostable, and crucially non-toxic after breakdown. We’ve gone the extra mile to obtain 3rd party certification for home compostability, ready biodegradability, non eco-toxicity, and non earthworm toxicity. This powder shaker will break down quickly and safely after use, which is especially important since the closure would’ve been too small to recycle had it been made of plastic.
In summary, this packaging material is truly sustainable from sourcing to end of life without compromising the function needed for a pet product.
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2) USER FRIENDLY DESIGN
Speaking of function, this elegant design was 1.5 years in the making as a collaboration between Clement Packaging engineers and the Lil Luv Dog team.
The vision was to dispense the perfect amount of dry shampoo powder, while making sure the formula stayed dry and contained between uses.
We designed a two-stage locking lid which rotates to reveal a shaker hole, but snaps shut upon closing. This is achieved by the outer lid sliding along a rail-like groove on the inner lid, making sure the lid only turns the requisite 45 degrees to open and shut. The inner lid was then threaded to fit the chassis like a classis screw-top lid.
However, once we designed this smooth two-stage lid we realized a problem: users would twist the entire top off when attempting to open the packaging for the first time–especially pet parents in a rush. Users would instinctively twist everything counterclockwise, causing both lids to come off and powder to spill everywhere. We iterated repeatedly until we landed on our current design: two lids that open in opposite directions. The inner lid is designed with a reverse thread, meaning that it gets screwed on tighter and tighter to the chassis when twisted clockwise. The outer still lid opens in the conventional clockwise direction (lefty loosey), so when users twist the top cap open to reveal the shaker hole they don’t accidentally open the whole thing. This user-friendly design improved function without adding cost or extra steps to the filling process.
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3) FINISH & DECORATION
Finally, we needed a way to decorate this beautiful component without sacrificing compostability.
Typical soft touch oversprays can compromise recyclability/compostability, not to mention adds a layer of petroleum-based plastic. We wanted that elevated feel without adding any type of coating, so we sanded our molds to achieve an in-mold matte finish. This was also a custom finish and added to the elegance of the end product.
Direct printing composition was just as important. Lil Luv Dog opted for a beautiful silkscreen artwork, so we sourced a plant-based ink that would not affect overall compostability.
Thus the decoration and finish only augments our plant-based material instead of detracting from compostability or safety.
