CMC achieves 3rd place in the Biopolymer Innovation Award 2025

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On June 16, 2025, our colleagues Dr. Benjamin Wenzel and Dr. Maria Arkhipova from the development team attended the “BIOPOLYMER – Processing & Molding” congress in Halle (Saale) – and came back with very pleasing news:
Our biodegradable peeling pad was awarded 3rd place at the Biopolymer Innovation Award 2025. CMC’s development competed against other well-known companies.

The Biopolymer Innovation Award was announced for the sixth time in 2025, with a large number of developments being submitted.

The exfoliating pad from CMC Consumer Medical Care impressed the decision-makers with its combination of pure cotton fibers with a fully biodegradable exfoliating material that is based on over 50% renewable, plant-based raw materials and is firmly anchored to the fiber surface in an innovative process. In contrast to conventional exfoliating pads, which use fine polyester grains as exfoliating material, this effectively prevents microplastic particles from being released into the environment. In this way, the product contributes to the reduction of microplastics in the environment and is an example of how CMC’s products can also play a part in offering forward-looking solutions to the problems of our time.

In addition to exciting specialist presentations and innovative developments, this international event focused above all on personal exchange – a real highlight for all participants.
The program was rounded off by an excursion to the Fraunhofer PAZ in Schkopau with exciting insights into current research.
We are delighted to receive this award and would like to thank the organizers for an all-round successful event.

Further information:

Biopolymer Award: Biopolymer Award

 

Plastic free cotton swabs

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Images of plastic waste in our oceans have prompted us to rethink the hygiene classic cotton swab, long a typical plastic product.

Not only were the plastic shafts replaced by sustainable paper shafts. We go one step further and have also changed the entire packaging concept to recyclable paper packaging. Thus, a product that was previously made of almost 100% plastic has undergone a turnaround to a plastic-free and biodegradable hygiene product based on renewable raw materials. In this way, a contribution to a better future can be made early in the morning during daily hygiene.

We have invested extensively in the plastic-free future of our cotton swabs and realigned our manufacturing in Turkey. All product components of our cotton swabs can be implemented according to current sustainability needs.

The paper used in our FSC®-certified paper stocks comes from either responsible sources or 100% recycled material. The raw material for the absorbent cotton heads is based exclusively on regenerative resources and consists of 100% cotton, which is moreover available as organic cotton from certified cultivation. This means that the cotton swabs are biodegradable due to their product structure and even meet the requirements for home and garden composting*.

In terms of product packaging, we rely on recyclable, FSC®-certified paper packaging in the spirit of the circular economy, for which only printing inks without mineral oils are used. With a focus on resource efficiency, the size of the folding carton packaging has been continuously optimized and the use of materials reduced to the bare minimum.

The cotton swab production is carried out with highly efficient production equipment of the latest generation. Thanks to fully integrated, highly automated production and packaging lines, paper shafts and cotton wadding become cotton swabs and packaged end products in record time. In doing so, we always keep an eye on our operational environmental goals through an independent environmental management system certified in accordance with ISO 14001.

*according to DIN EN 13432:2000-12 and NF T51-800:2015

“Design for Recycling” – Recycling-friendly packaging design

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In Europe, too, a not inconsiderable proportion of packaging waste unfortunately still ends up in landfills instead of being recycled.

Therefore, it is our concern to promote circular economy and to contribute to a functioning recycling cycle with our packaging design. The basis for this is the so-called “Design for Recycling”, the recycling-friendly design of a packaging. In the course of product development, all components of a packaging are consistently designed for recyclability.

The jars of our impregnated cosmetic pads are an illustrative example of sustainable packaging development. On the one hand, they fulfill all the classic packaging functions by protecting the product, making it optimally available and providing important product information. On the other hand, the crucibles are deliberately designed to be ultra-light and thin-walled, in line with the principle of efficient use of natural resources. They also contain a proportion of recycled plastic and are themselves made from only one type of plastic, for maximum recyclability. This means that the plastic used can remain in a closed cycle for a long time, which massively reduces the burden on the environment.

Unbleached cotton pads

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Why stop at going back to the original when it comes to absorbent cotton products?

Naturalness is all the rage, which is why we have created a sustainability-oriented alternative to bright white bleached hygiene products with our natural cotton pads. No chemical bleaching process is used in the preparation of the raw cotton to produce the natural pads, which saves energy and resources. And this is done entirely without affecting the proven properties of the pads. These are preserved by omitting the purely optical processing step, as is the natural coloring of the cotton fibers. After all, it doesn’t always have to be bright white when naturalness benefits the environment.