Environmental implications of reusable cosmetic packaging formats and management systems in the North-American context: E-commerce parent and refill system versus in-store refill depot system

In response to the challenges single-use packaging waste pose to the cosmetics industry, many brands have begun exploring reusable and refillable systems to reduce material consumption and environmental impact. This study applies life cycle assessment (LCA) in accordance with ISO 14040-14,044 to evaluate an airless pump jar packaging format currently in commercial circulation, implemented through three distribution systems: a single-use model distributed through e-commerce, a parent and refill pod system distributed through e-commerce, and a refill depot system where consumers travel to a store location to restock. The functional unit represents the packaging required to deliver 10,000 mL of facial moisturizer to consumers within the Canadian market. Life-cycle inventories combined primary industry data with ecoinvent 3.8, USLCI, and Industry 2.0 databases, while environmental impacts were modelled using TRACI 2.1 across ten midpoint categories. Results show that the parent and refill pod configuration generated 70–90% lower impacts than the single-use model in eight of ten categories, primarily due to reduced material production. The refill-depot scenario exhibited the highest transport-related burdens, where round-trip distances beyond two kilometres offset material savings. End-of-life modelling revealed that disposal and transportation remain dominant hotspots. Overall, reuse systems substantially outperform single-use packaging when parent components endure multiple cycles and refill access minimizes consumer travel, highlighting the importance of aligning design for reuse with logistics optimization to advance circular cosmetic packaging strategies in North America. • Refill pod system yields lowest environmental impacts. • In-store refill burden driven by consumer travel emissions. • Single-use shows highest impacts across most categories. • Material production dominates impacts for single-use and refill pod systems.