In September 2011, Shiseido adopted containers made from sugarcane-derived polyethylene for its SUPER MiLD hair care brand. This is the first time this material was used for cosmetics and daily basic goods in Japan.
Incineration of sugarcane-derived polyethylene involves the release of carbon dioxide (CO2), which sugarcanes absorb as they grow, so it can be said that there is no difference in the level of CO2 in the atmosphere when this material is incinerated. Because of this and other reasons, it is said that incineration of sugarcane-derived polyethylene releases over 70% less CO2 than petrol-derived polyethylene in their life cycles.
Now approximately 96% of the materials used for the Super Mild bottles (both regular and jumbo sizes) are sugarcane-derived polyethylene and approximately 34% for refill packs, and thus CO2 emissions were successfully reduced by approximately 188 tons in the first year after this change was introduced (according to Shiseido’s estimate).
There is another benefit of using sugarcane-derived polyethylene for containers – because this polyethylene is made mostly from residual liquid after refining sugar from the juice of sugarcane, so that it can prevent competition between food usage and plastic usage.