In recent years,the global cosmetics industry has been developing rapidly and the scale if the cosmetics packaging market has also continued to grow.According to a report released by Market sand Markets,the global cosmetics packaging market is expected to reach $60.9 billion (approximately RMB 425.94 billion)in 2025.Cosmetic packaging as the last process of the modern cosmetics industry,not only must protect the hygiene and safety of the contents,but also must not pollute the cosmetics due to its own reasons and increase the unsafe factors of the contents.

1.Common packaging materials for cosmetics and their safety

Cosmetic packaging materials are very diverse,the more common ones are:glass,metal,plastic,paper flexible packaging,etc.Among them,the market share of plastic packaging exceeds 70%

1.1 Glass packaging

Glass packaging is transparent and beautiful,not easy to penetrate and has good chemical stability .It has always been favored by the high-end cosmetics market and is also the first choice for vacuum cosmetic packaging.Moreover,glass products are convenient for recycling and reproduction,which can save resources while reducing environmental pollution.However,glass materials have problems such as heavy weight,fragility,low temperature sensitivity and high cost.From a safety point of view,the main component of glass is silicon dioxide,which is an inert material and as a direct contact materials,it is not easy to affect the safety of cosmetics.But sometimes in order to change the color or refraction of glass,manufactures will add some metal elements,which increases the risk of material migration.

1.2 Metal packaging

Metal packaging has excellent gas barrier properties,moisture resistance,light shading and fragrance retention properties and is mainly used in lipsticks,hand creams,compact powders and other products.However,its chemical stability is poor.As a direct contact material,it needs to be isolated and protected by an inner coating,otherwise it will easily affect the quality of cosmetics.In recent years,there are fewer and fewer pure metal packages and the common packaging is a combination of metal and plastic.

1.3 Plastic packaging

Plastic is currently the most widely used materials in cosmetic packaging.but its safety is also difficult to guarantee.Plastic packaging has small specific gravity,easy coloring,drop resistance,strong plasticity,low price and is suitable for mass production.Moreover its printing performance is also very good and it can directly print labels and logos on the surface.

Plastic containers for cosmetics are generally composed of resin materials and related additives.commonly used resin materials are polyethylene (PE),polypropylene(PP),polyethylene terephthalate (PET),polyvinyl chloride(PVT),wait.In order to improve some properties of plastic packaging materials,a certain amount of additives will be added,such as plasticizers,stabilizers,antioxidants,etc.These additives can better play a role in improving the chemical properties of the packaging,but they may also migrate out during the storage of the product,Recycling of plastics is also very common.In order to improve its performance when it is used again more additives will be added and the safety risk will increase.In addition,monomers may remain during the synthesis of plastic resins and there is a risk of precipitation when exposed to light or high temperature.If the materials is used in cosmetic packaging,it is likely to migrate into cosmetics,thereby endangering the health of consumer

2.Safety supervision of cosmetic contact materials

The safety of cosmetics is an issue of widespread concern around the world and different countries and regions have different laws and regulations to ensure their safety.However,although some countries and regions have certain considerations for the safety of cosmetic packaging,they have basically not clearly proposed how to evaluate the safety of cosmetic packaging.It can be seen that the lack of safety standards for cosmetics packaging materials is a global common problem.