Sustainable Procurement & CSR News - Cosmetics Industry

THE WHAT? L’Oréal-owned Garnier has produced a video campaign encouraging people to adopt more sustainable lifestyles. The 2022 One Green Step campaign is aimed at removing barriers to turning good intentions into action.

THE DETAILS Indeed, some 83 percent of people surveyed by the brand want to adopt more sustainable habits this year, up from 81 percent last year, but just 5 percent believe that they already live sustainably and only 30 percent are ready to act now for the planet.

For each share of the video, Garnier will pay for the collection and recycling of five plastic bottles, in partnership with the NGO Plastics For Change. The brand has also launched two no-rinse innovations with a greatly reduced environmental impact.

THE WHY? The One Green Step forms part of Garnier’s sustainability commitments, which in turn echoes the commitments made by the L’Oréal Groupe as part of its sustainability program for 2030.

The French-based global producer of high-end and premium glass bottles for the perfumes and cosmetics aims to reduce its CO2 emissions by 40% by 2034 and to be able to net zero-carbon glass by 2050. The electrification of the group’s glass melting furnaces is a key step of this strategy. Verescence will start the works at the Mers-les-Bains historic production site in France.

Consumer interest in ethical beauty continues to soar in Europe, fuelled by heightened concerns around climate change and the ongoing global pandemic, and so industry must sharpen action and communication on environmental impact, says a GlobalData analyst.
Two in five (41%) European consumers find third-party, verified certifications an influential factor when purchasing goods, including beauty and personal care products, according to GlobalData’s Q3 2021 consumer survey. And just over half (54%) of consumers in this region find carbon footprints claims quite or extremely important.

Whether it is about supporting the premiumization of cosmetic products while improving their environmental performance, or working from new, more sustainable materials, designing refillable and/or fully recyclable products, manufacturers and suppliers of packaging beauty are multiplying initiatives to meet the expectations of their customers and end consumers.

Alongside environmental issues, suppliers also offer new dispensing solutions to match with the development of innovative galenics (powders, solid products, etc.), as well as new solutions to address the challenges of a rising e-commerce market. Another big trend, is the development of connected solutions.

6 cosmetics and personal care companies as well as professional associations have joined forces to form the EcoBeautyScore Consortium, aiming to develop an industry-wide environmental impact assessment and scoring system for cosmetics products.

With small and large companies and associations from 4 continents, the EcoBeautyScore Consortium is truly global and inclusive. It remains open for other companies and associations to join.

The purpose of the EcoBeautyScore Consortium: enable consumers to make sustainable choices through an environmental impact assessment and scoring system

Maria Portillo, a business management alumna, is the founder of Sōmi, a sustainable personal care brand with a mission to reduce the use of single-use plastics and prevent plastic from entering oceans and landfills. 

Launched in October 2021, Sōmi offers a collection of shampoos, conditioners and body wash bars that are composed of sustainably-produced, biodegradable and plant-based ingredients. The concentrated bars are made without the use of water or palm oil, are handmade, vegan and cruelty-free. 

In an effort to reduce water pollution as a beauty brand, Portillo explained that Sōmi formulates its own ingredients and product line. During their research, Portillo said her team looked for ingredients that were liquid-free and would allow for the elimination of plastic-based packaging. 

The Estée Lauder Companies has invested in British skincare and fragrance brand Haeckels. The firm has not disclosed the level of investment it has made for the minority stake.

Founded in Margate, Kent in 2012 by Dom Bridges, Haeckels has gained a cult following for its products, which use natural ingredients and are inspired by the coast.

The brand uses renewable resources such as seaweed and have compostable packaging. It has a store in Margate and two immersive spa treatment spaces named Haeckels Houses in Margate and London.

Estée Lauder has a strong track record of identifying and nurturing high-potential brands such as Dr. Jart+ and The Ordinary. It plans to harness Haeckels’ sustainability expertise across its wider business.

More sustainable packaging is on the cosmetics industry agenda, and there are a number of options on the market today.
What qualifies as sustainable varies from market to market, company to company and consumer to consumer, but one of the main goals is to decrease or remove virgin plastic in a beauty brand's packaging.

But, when moving away from virgin plastic packaging, brands have to consider material performance, ease of decoration, transportation costs and logistics, as well as the social and environmental impacts that other materials may have.

Packaging suppliers and sustainability consultants advise companies to do a holistic analysis of how they need packaging to perform, how the benefits and drawbacks of a given supply chain fit into their sustainability goals and what else can be done to improve packaging sustainability, like changing product format or reducing the amount of packaging used.

THE WHAT? Shiseido has revised its Group Procurement Policy in order to promote sustainable and responsible procurement together with its suppliers.

THE DETAILS The new policy outlines requirements for the J-beauty giant’s suppliers in relation to the environment and human rights, clearly states that it will evaluate suppliers from the perspective of sustainability as well as introducing a strict, objective risk identification and correction process through third-party audits. Shiseido will start announcing the new policy to its suppliers sequentially.

THE WHY? The move is part of the J-beauty giant’s corporate mission and long-term strategy, which places sustainability at the core of its business management.

With the introduction of EcoFusion Top, Albéa is once again tackling the reduction of the weight of tubes. By replacing the head and cap by a single component directly attached to the tube’s body, the group achieved a weight reduction of 55% compared to a standard solution.
For this first on the beauty market, Albéa has designed a single open-and-close system thus reducing the tube’s components to only two.

The two-in-one solution allows more than 80% weight reduction of the head+cap components, meaning 55% weight reduction for the whole EcoFusion Top tube compared to standard tubes [1].

If it changes the traditional aesthetics of tubes, this solution offers substantial environmental benefits.

Ahead of schedule, Coty has started manufacturing fragrances using ethanol made from recycled carbon. The beauty giant aims to integrate sustainable ethanol into the majority of its fragrance portfolio by 2023 through its partnership with LanzaTech.

The packaging manufacturer has collaborated with Dermalogica to be the first to use fully recyclable mono-material pump Future. Dermalogica has integrated this innovative solution for their cleansing range - Special Cleansing Gel, UltraCalming Cleanser, and Clearing Skin Wash.

THE WHAT? Shiseido has made an equity investment in R Plus Japan in a bid to recycle used plastics to help achieve a sustainable world.

THE DETAILS As part of the initiative and to address environmental issues, Shiseido has unveiled three strategic actions: Reducing Our Environmental Footprint, Developing Sustainable Products, and Promoting Sustainable and Responsible Procurement.

Mumbai (Maharashtra) [India], February 1 (ANI/NewsVoir): Mass beauty brand Garnier, recently released the results of its second annual One Green Step Report, revealing geographical and generational differences in the environmental feelings of over 29,000 people in India and eight other countries.
The survey saw 2,115 participants from India and highlighted the scale of the continuing shift towards sustainable intentions in 2022. While 91% respondents in India want to be more sustainable in 2022, not many know how. 93% respondents worry about climate change and its impact on the future of the planet.

Garnier has been trying to green up its image for some time. In 2020, it released its Sustainability Progress Report, detailing its commitment to reducing plastic, using more recycled materials, and focusing on ingredients of “natural origin.” In 2021, it earned cruelty-free certification, and in the same year, it launched its first waterless shampoo bars. Now, the brand is promoting a new “sustainable” product innovation: No Rinse Conditioner.

According to the brand, its No Rinse Conditioner saves 100 liters of water per tube, and its carbon footprint is 92 percent smaller than its traditional wash-out options. (Garnier notes that 63 percent of a wash-out conditioner’s carbon footprint comes from water use.) It’s also packaged in a light-weight cardboard-integrated tube rather than a plastic bottle.

Limiting plastic and water use is definitely progress for a brand under one of beauty’s worst plastic pollution offenders. Its parent company L’Oréal used 140,000 tonnes of plastic in 2018.

In recent years, mica has become controversial because child labor may be used in its mining process. Although some beauty companies are working towards sourcing the ingredient ethically, finding alternatives isn’t so easy for those looking to avoid it altogether.