What is Töpfer's views on packaging?
The safety and protection of our baby food and cosmetics always comes first.
As a manufacturer of products for babies and mothers, we are particularly sensitive to all issues that affect our products.
From July 2022, natural cosmetics will have a new outer packaging!
Between the suitability of the materials, advantages and disadvantages of a packaging solution, we always weigh in terms of quality and safety. At Töpfer Babycare and Mamacare, the outer packaging (cardboard packaging) of the tubes will be omitted in the future and the tubes will consist of the highest possible recycled content (56% without closure).
The focus is on sustainability and innovative packaging solutions.
For us and for our customers. As a manufacturer of organic food and natural cosmetics, the protection and preservation of our world is particularly close to our hearts. We are looking for better solutions, and various criteria are important:
- The safety of our products and therefore our small customers.
- The lasting quality of our products
- Handling & user-friendliness of the packaging
- Possibility of recyclability
- The absence of harmful substances in the packaging and ensuring that no harmful substances are released into the environment / the products
Safety first.
Our baby food is tested in several laboratories on a regular basis to ensure that it meets the highest quality standards.
Every batch that leaves our facility has already undergone more than 600 tests! As a result, we can ensure that your baby is fed only the best foods.
Therefore, our biggest concern is that the packaging can safeguard infant food and care products hygienically and effectively.
Particularly in the case of new, alternative packaging concepts, approval for the raw materials used for the packaging must be available. The highest priority is always to ensure that the packaging (for contact with food) is harmless.
Baby food packaging: Hygiene is the top priority
This is especially true for babies, because the little ones and their tummies are very sensitive and can react very quickly to germs or strange ingredients. Therefore, there are very strict rules when it comes to this. We have the legal and moral responsibility to use only food-safe packaging for our products.
In the case of milk foods and porridges, the plastic bags provide permanent, reliable and hygienic protection against external influences.
Therefore, we have also decided to divide the food into two smaller packaging units per folding box, so that you have unopened and sealed products at home for the sensitive tummy of your baby as long as possible and the long storage of open baby food can be avoided.
PS: Our outer packaging is made from recycled paper and printed with environmentally friendly inks.
Our share of waste paper in relation to the total cardboard is approx. 80%. We only use so-called "low-migration paints", which means that they are free of e.g. mineral oil components. Our folding boxes are 100% recyclable.
Natural cosmetics - protection of product and baby
If our mamacare and babycare products are in your bathroom, then it is possibly within your child's grasp.
As a result, we avoid using glass containers for safety reasons, as glass is easily broken.
Plastic packaging is currently the safest option but we're looking at ways to reduce the amount of packaging we use while also increasing the amount of recycled plastics we use.
Replacing conventional plastics with more sustainable materials, such as bioplastics, is just as important to us as the developments in the areas of recyclate and plastic recycling.
Questions about our packaging
- What types of packaging do we use?
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We use a variety of plastic packaging and recycled paper folding boxes.
In general, we only use packaging when there is no other option that matches our quality standards. - Bioplastics are already on the market. Why haven't we implemented this yet?
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As a member of the Association of Organic Food Manufacturers (AöL, www.aoel.org), we are very interested in the developments. In the area of compostable or biodegradable plastic solutions in particular, we carefully examine the options with our suppliers and discuss alternative packaging solutions.
The high quality, safety and hygiene requirements for our packaging must also be met by bioplastics. They must not have any effect on our products. Long-term storage tests are a basic requirement for this and they must be GMO-free * and recyclable. In addition, the basic products for the production of bioplastics must not result in deforestation and environmental damage.
* no genetically modified organisms (GMO)
- Why are the creams packaged in additional packaging, such as folding boxes?
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We are currently revising our packaging concept for natural cosmetics and, in this context, examining the need for folding boxes. The folding box is required for the legally required declaration information, especially for the small tubes.
- Why isn't glass the better option?
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Because glass can break, it is not suitable for baby products. Our baby food and cosmetics also do not arrive in stores on their own.
Transport is, of course, a factor in our considerations. Glass, on the other hand, is considerably heavier.
Sustainability in and on paper from die Umweltdruckerei
We think this is timely and that's why you get our printed guides and flyers on recycled paper from die UmweltDruckerei. But is recycled paper really so much better than paper made from virgin fiber? Yes, because in comparison the UmweltDruckerei needs about two thirds less wood for the production of recycled paper. This is clear and logical, since it is recycled paper that does not have to grow first. And since many production steps are eliminated, less than half the water and energy is used in the manufacturing process. CO2 emissions are also cut by around 15%.
And how do they do it?
The UmweltDruckerei uses only 100% recycled paper in the production of its print products and even uses vegan organic inks based on vegetable oil. Wow, organic and vegan... sounds like potter.
And the electricity needed for production, where does it come from? From renewable energies, of course. Production and shipping are climate neutral. This means that the UmweltDruckerei offsets CO2 emissions that cannot be avoided during production by investing in climate protection projects.