What Lip Balm Is Made Without Plastic Packaging?

Plastic-free lip balm sounds pretty simple, right? Just put it in paper. It's not until you’ve actually tried using one that it kicks you in the teeth. 

Ahhh, paper, it’s such a sweet little idea: no plastic, less waste, better materials, save the planet, rah rah! In real life, much of the early compostable lip balm packaging was held together by optimism, one Our Father, three Hail Marys, and one Glory Be. (Sorry for the catholic joke; I had to) The cap falls off in your pocket and traps cat hair and crumbs. The oil creeps through the liner, softening the tube. Your pocket becomes a stability sample instead of a useable balm.

I know because I used to hate compostable paper sticks when I was formulating. I even used paper sticks to get my brand off the ground. It’s not like I’m against sustainability, but I’ve become deeply unconvinced by packaging that performs like a napkin in New Orleans humidity. Lip balm is a molten, oily, temperature-sensitive formula. It needs packaging that can do its job without turning into mush.

Why I Was Skeptical About Plastic-Free Packaging 

When I first started looking for plastic-free packaging for lip balm, I assumed there had to be a better option. So I asked for one.

The answer I got was basically: no, we don’t do that. Over, over, and over. The issue wasn’t that everyone hated the idea of paper sticks. It was that the practical side of it was a mess and a half. It made production inefficient, it had poor stability results, and a LOT of scrap material. In other words, it's the sort of thing that sounds eco-conscious until you’re standing on the production floor watching raw materials get wasted because the packaging can’t keep up.

A lot of sustainable packaging looks great in a presentation, but few options hold up when you heat oil in a cardboard tube. It’s a mess. Even if you have “the good sticks”.

What Compostable Lip Balm Sticks Work Then?.

What changed my mind was not some airy sustainability sermon. It was working with a packaging partner that had bothered to solve the problem…with their bioengineering degrees.

Clement Packaging is a family-owned manufacturer that had already moved away from traditional plastic manufacturing. They developed a home-compostable stick made from upcycled bamboo and plant-derived materials. They chose not to harvest virgin material (or deplete animal food sources); they use bamboo offcuts from the construction industry that would otherwise be burned. AND it looks and feels like a regular lip balm stick, which is, frankly, fits in your pocket better.

The real thigh-slapper is that the whole industry loves to say “plastic-free,” as if they want a bronze statue erected in their honor. If the paper package leaks, fails, or creates more waste in production, then congratulations, you have a new problem on your hands. Not a solution. Not to mention when the smoke-and-mirrors marketing comes into effect. 

This biorenewable bamboo resin is made through fermentation and breaks down back into the earth, offers better thermal stability, and doesnt leach plastic into your product. Oh, and all the ingredients used to make the stick are upcycled and made from fully renewable, non-fossil materials. Whoot whoot

What To Look For In Compostable Packaging

If you’re shopping for compostable lip balm, ignore the halo effect and pay attention to performance.

Look for packaging that is:

• Truly compostable, not wearing earth-toned clothes. Here are the certifications you want to look out for. 

• Some paper sticks are lined with a waxy material on the inside. That material may have melted in your formula.

• Designed for oily formulas? Cardboard will degrade in your pocket before you use it, no matter how good the stick is.

• Is there a clear understanding of how you should dispose of it? Ie: Will it rot in a landfill?

• Backed by material engineering, and 95% Biobased?

And if you’re a brand owner, the same rule applies. I'll wag my finger at you too. Do not choose packaging because it sounds clever in a brand deck. Does it survive reality? A plastic-free lip balm that leaks all over a tote bag sucks.

Why Compostable Sticks Are Something to Love

People love to act like plastic-free packaging is just a feel-good aesthetic choice. Shut up. 

Packaging is one of the most pivotal decisions a band can make because it affects waste, sourcing, usability, and what happens after the product is gone. A compostable lip balm tube can be a better choice when it’s well-made, because it avoids fossil-based plastic and offers a more responsible end-of-life path.

Good compostable packaging is designed to hold up its end of the bargain and break down later, under the right conditions.

What You Need To Know About Plastic Free Lip Balm

I used to hate compostable paper tubes because they were messy, inefficient, and frankly insulting to anyone who has ever had to carry lip balm in a pocket.

What changed my mind was finding a material (from the right family) that did the job no one else would.

So what do you need to know about plastic-free lip balm? That the best option isn’t just compostable, renewable, or plastic-free in theory. It’s the one that survives daily use, protects the formula and your pocket.

Stay rare, prickly pear

-m
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Monique Montoya is a cosmetic formulator and the founder of the•alambique, a bee venom skincare brand based in Taos, New Mexico. With over a decade of professional formulation experience for major cosmetic brands, Monique specializes in herbalism, beekeeping, botanical ingredients, and ethical sourcing. She developed the•alambique's bee venom serum using ethically harvested venom from Argentina's Iberá Reserve and New Zealand, because she couldn't find a formula that worked for her perimenopausal skin.