Our Packaging Responsibility
At Weleda, we believe beauty should care for both people and planet. Packaging plays a vital role in protecting our products, but it must also protect nature. That’s why we design products with sustainability in mind, aiming for a regenerative value chain where nothing goes to waste.
The Materials We Use
Glass
Most glass is endlessly recyclable without losing quality and offers excellent protection for natural formulas. Its only drawback is weight, which increases its transport footprint. We use recycled glass with a high percentage recycled glass for our green bottles and jars.
Aluminium
Aluminium is protective, airtight, and recyclable. Our iconic Skin Food, is now packaged in recycled aluminium tubes (made from post-consumer and post-industrial aluminium). This kerbside-recyclable innovation brings back the beloved aluminium tube -just greener than ever.
Plastics
We use lightweight, durable plastics where needed. Increasingly, these contain recycled content, such as bottles with 97% recycled PET (rPET) for our Baby Care range, roll-on deodorants or our Body Wash bottles for example. This reduces resource use and emissions while ensuring safety for sensitive formulas.
Recyclability & Circularity
We’re proud of our progress:
- 65% recycled content in natural cosmetics primary packaging (by weight)
- Nearly 100% recyclable cartons and transport packaging, made from FSC-certified or recycled paper
- Caps and closures are recyclable in kerbside bins where facilities exist and items are accepted, or via our Weleda Recycling Program with TerraCycle for hard-to-recycle parts
Beyond Packaging
Sustainability is embedded across our operations:
- 96% of electricity comes from renewable sources
- 97% of waste is reused, recycled, or composted
- >80% of raw materials are organic or biodynamic
- >95% of our skincare products are NATRUE certified natural
Weleda is committed to Net Zero CO₂ by 2040 for Scope 1 & 2 emissions, and by 2050 for Scope 3.
Helping You Recycle
Most Weleda packaging can go straight into household recycling bins. For items not accepted kerbside, we are offering recycling with TerraCycle to ensure they are collected, processed, and given a new life - transformed into items such as benches and playground equipment.
Our Ongoing Commitment
Currently there’s no perfect packaging solution, but we’re determined to improve continuously - investing in new materials, increasing recyclability, and reducing our footprint. Because caring for skin and planet must go hand in hand.
Sustainable packaging across the value chain with APCO
This framework defines the collective responsibility shared by governments and businesses across Australia in managing the environmental impact of packaging.
Weleda Australia is a member of the Australian Packaging Covenant Organisation (APCO). This is a co-regulatory not-for-profit organisation leading the development of a circular economy for packaging in Australia. APCO's vision is a packaging value chain that collaborates to keep packaging materials out of landfill and retains the maximum value of the materials, energy and labour within the local economy.
