Patent Application
20230053636
The present invention relates to an ecological support for cosmetic products and to a related formation process.
Plastic consumption has risen from 15 million tons in 1964 to more than 310 million tons today. Plastic waste now pollutes a large part of natural environments. Some studies estimate that there are up to 150 tons of plastic in the oceans and that if the production trend continues in the current manner, plastic could reach 34 billion tons by 2050, at least 12 tons of which would be waste scattered throughout the environments. These figures suggest how fundamental the recycling or replacement of plastic objects is, with the aim of achieving a radical decrease in the production of this material.
The possibility to replace plastic both as an ingredient and as primary and secondary packaging is a process underway in all industrial and nonindustrial areas. In cosmetics, the replacement of raw materials which generate microplastics is already a process which has been underway for some time, with first significant results.
EP 1078625 A2 describes a solid or viscous cosmetic composition enclosed inside a sheath containing solid proteins, liquid or solution polyols, solid polyols, oils, and emollients. This solution has the drawback that the liquid and/or oily part tends to partially mix with the cosmetic composition over time, thus contaminating it and modifying the properties and cosmetic effects thereof.
It is the general object of the present invention to successfully replace the current plastic supports for cosmetic products with supports made of other material which do not modify the cosmetic properties of the supported cosmetic product in any manner.
In particular, it is object of the present invention to manufacture differently and with a different material the so-called anchoring grids usually used in large volumes (about 2 million pieces per month, therefore with high consumption of plastic) for packaging cosmetic products.
It is another object to manufacture a biodegradable container for any type of cosmetic product.
In order to achieve the aforesaid objects, the present invention suggests a support for cosmetic products as defined in claim 1.
The exercise carried out was to transfer the use of non-synthetic ingredients of natural origin, already used for some time in the food industry, as alternative packaging to polystyrene or plastic from food technology to cosmetics.
Among the possible uses of the ecological support formed from the natural ingredients described above, that related to anchoring grids for cosmetic products is of particular importance.
Such grids are normally made of plastic material and have the task of anchoring themselves to the cosmetic product layer to form the support thereof for the packaging inside a suitable package or box.
It has now been seen that it is possible to replace such grids made of plastic material with corresponding supports made of a material of natural origin, also referred to as “natural grids”, by pouring an aqueous fluid mixture consisting of natural, non-synthetic ingredients according to the invention above a cosmetic product layer, in powder or fluid state, previously introduced into a mold and passing the whole in an oven at 60° C., where the aqueous mixture dries and becomes rigid, irreversibly adhering to the cosmetic product layer.
The process according to the invention is defined in claim11.
It was noted that:
The application features of the natural grid are comparable to those of plastics, with some additional advantages:
In order to form the aforesaid natural grid, the mixture used preferably includes the following formulation:
and even more preferably the formulation indicated in the following table:
The formula starts from a food wafer recipe, in which the flour has been replaced by natural mica and the protein part thereof (gluten) has been replaced by vegetal proteins (pea, lentil, bean, broad bean, etc.), now easily available in the market of ingredients for cosmetic products.
The bearing structure is ensured by, in addition to proteins, cellulose or hydrocolloids derived from cellulose (crystalline cellulose, methylcellulose, hydroxypropyl cellulose, hydroxypropyl methylcellulose, carboxymethyl cellulose). These hydrocolloids are activated in water under strong stirring until a foam is obtained.
The sugars present in the formula are the third key ingredient which allows stabilizing the foam created during the preparation of the mixture and after drying. They make the structure very rigid and capable of being perfectly anchored to the cosmetic product to be supported. These sugars can be monosaccharides, disaccharides, or polysaccharides of vegetable origin (maize, rice, tapioca, wheat, or legumes). The origin thereof can be starch which is dextrinized enzymatically.
Starch as it is or modified is used as a filling agent in combination with natural mica. Mica gives the substrate a white color and controls the absorption of water.
Citric acid, sorbic acid, benzoic acid, and hydrochloric acid are preferably used as organic acids.
Preservatives, for example caprylyl glycol, hexylene glycol, ethylhexyl glicerine, ethylparaben, methylparaben, propylparaben, phenoxyethanol, sodium benzoate, potassium sorbate and/or sodium dehydroxyacetate, are used since the formula contains a high amount of water, which is to be preserved.
Moreover, with the same concept it is possible to obtain several other types of ecological supports for cosmetic products.
In particular, it is possible to obtain a biodegradable, rigid and self-supporting container for anhydrous or gelled cosmetic products, which then need to be dried.
In this case, a cosmetic wafer is obtained comprising the following ingredients:
The vegetal proteins used are raw materials which are readily available and of relatively low cost.
Maltodextrins and sugars in general, in combination with hydroxypropyl cellulose, allow obtaining excellent rigidity and reducing fragility.
The amount of water must be such as to determine a liquid/creamy mixture which can be poured into a cooking mold.
Once the mixture has been prepared with the aforesaid ingredients, the mixture itself is poured into a mold which is suitable for defining a shell-shaped product, which is then inserted into a wafer oven with coupled walls mechanically moved by motors.
During cooking, the water evaporates almost completely, leaving a product which has about 1-2% humidity.
The hydrocolloids used, of any type, allow managing the internal porosity of the support structure after cooking. Without hydrocolloids, the structure would remain very open and more fragile.
By way of example, a process for manufacturing a natural grid support for a cosmetic product will be described in greater detail below.
For the description of the process, reference will be made to the accompanying drawings, in which:
The process includes, as a preparatory step, the creation of an aqueous fluid mixture consisting only of non-synthetic ingredients of natural origin, preferably those indicated in the previous table 1, even more preferably with the percentages indicated in table 2.
An appropriate mold is then selected, such as that indicated by reference numeral 1 as a whole in
With a suitable dosing device 3 (
A further dosing device 5 (
The mold 1 with the cosmetic product layer 4 and the overlapping fluid mixture layer 6 is then placed in an oven at 60° C., where the drying of the aqueous part of the fluid layer 6 occurs along with the formation of a solidified set 8 (
The set 8 is finally overturned and introduced into a container 9 (
| Number | Date | Country | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| 102020000001678 | Jan 2020 | IT | national |
| Filing Document | Filing Date | Country | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| PCT/EP2021/051851 | 1/27/2021 | WO |
