No Rabbits Were Harmed In The Making Of This Article: Cruelty Free Packaging Solutions

What does cruelty-free mean to you? As a business, as a brand, as an individual? PETA defines it as: a product and its ingredients weren’t tested on animals. 

As the table below shows, cruelty-free products have seen an intense increase in popularity over the past decade. Pressure from groups and consumers have resulted in higher awareness among the general public which then has a knock-on effect on the brands who sell to the general high street.

Whenever a new product is made it has to be proven safe for human use by the company to regulators who will then be able to certify it as safe therefore allowing the company to release it into the market. These guidelines often still include outdated tests on animals – however there is a growing amount of alternatives that don’t use animals for testing. 

Not using animals for testing your products (and there are at the moment around 50 alternatives) means that you can tap into a whole market of consumers who want cruelty-free products. Due to the increasing demand for this it is best to go into cruelty-free testing before you are forced to, it also means that consumers will have a better view of your company. 

Here are some statistics about animal testing:

• The US performs over 1 million animal tests per year
• Only 20% of countries have cosmetics animal testing bans in place
• Animal testing in Australia has increased by 148%
• More than 90% of compounds tested on animals fail to be accepted by regulation standards and therefore never make it onto the market
• The US spends around $20 billion of  taxpayer dollars each year on animal testing
• 84,100 animals died in the UK in 2019 as a result of animal testing
• Almost 700,000 animals died across the EU in 2017 as a result of animal testing
• 79% of consumers have said they would switch brands if they found out the products they were buying had been tested on animals

The last statistic is the one which you should probably be focusing on if you are still using animal testing or your formulation production is carried out in a country where animal testing is required to make a product pass regulation standards – then you might want to rethink. Due to an increase in knowledge and scrutiny by consumers thanks to the advent of social media, smartphones and Google; it is harder for companies to get away with practices that aren’t endorsed by their customers and target audience. With the largest percentage of economic power now being in the control of Gen Z, it is their buying choices, ethical beliefs and lifestyle choices which dictate what companies are producing and selling.

If you would like to discuss cruelty free options, vegan alternatives and clean beauty choices please contact us. We offer a range of certified choices in both our packaging and formulation solutions – so you know that no rabbits were harmed in the making of this article…or your packaging.