Sustainable Procurement News

An Australian retailer has launched what it believes to be the nation’s first refillable beauty outlet, with the firm stating that the refillable revolution traditionally dominated by food and household supplies is set to become more common for cosmetics.

Botanic gardens attract more than 500 million visitors a year, putting these organizations in a strong position to educate and influence a large section of society on the effects of climate change. As institutions that aim to connect guests with the beauty of nature, it aligns with botanic gardens' values to be proponents of environmental sustainability. Staff of botanic gardens also have the technical knowledge and skills that can be used to address the issue of climate change, making them an excellent resource for guests to learn information and tools that will empower them to make real change. 

Within the beauty industry, French personal care company L’Oréal has singled itself out as a relentless purveyor for eco-conscious solutions — both in packaging and product development — and as a result, the brand has decided to give access to its sustainable procurement program to 20% of its strategic suppliers. This move ensures that the cosmetic company is doing its part and taking collective action in the quest to battle climate change.

Yesterday, the beauty maker announced its minority stake investment in Carbios, a green chemistry company working to solve environmental sustainability problems in manufacturing. The funds will help the company move its PET recycling technologies closer to industrial scale.

Croda, an ingredients supplier active in the beauty and personal care industry, has won a Low Carbon Award at the Chemical Industry Awards. Terry Thistlethwaite , Vice President Sustainability at Croda said: “Our carbon reduction journey sees us continuing to invest in sustainable and innovative product design, which includes a focus on our manufacturing operations, and working with our supply chain to develop ingredients that deliver more benefit, with less environmental impact.”​

A key ingredient in everything from beauty products to detergents and even ice cream, palm oil is an important commodity that generates billions of dollars in revenue each year. However, unsustainable palm oil production practices are the root cause of considerable environmental and social risks. Efforts to address issues such as deforestation and human rights violations are on the rise as a result of increasing pressure from consumers and investors, as well as a growing awareness of the threat inaction poses to future business, yet a sustainable palm oil industry is still a long way off.

To measure these impacts, improve each one of our products and share these components with our consumers in a transparent manner, our teams have been developing since 2014 a tool which will make it possible to evaluate the environmental and social performance of its products and which will incorporate social criteria for the first time, in addition to environmental indicators.

L'Oréal has significant goals when it comes to corporate sustainability, such as zero deforestation and a 60 percent reduction in CO2 emissions by 2020. But the cosmetic giant believes it can also play a key role in influencing consumers to be more environmentally responsible.

Sustainable packaging is on track to becoming the norm in both industries, leaving the thing that sets brands apart as the way they communicate the message.

There were some positive signs of progress on climate change amid the early COVID chaos, with fashion and beauty industry leaders pledging to cut down on collections and develop a more streamlined process from production to store delivery in order to meet current demands.

Brands are clearly conscious of the impact of their products and supply chains; but what they often forget is their packaging, usually one of the most important things to get right when it comes to sustainability. Ultimately, your products are only as sustainable as your packaging.

Last month, French cosmetics powerhouse L'Occitane became the latest to join the movement for sustainable procurement by signing the Responsible Beauty Initiative, which counts among its signatories household names like Coty, L’Oréal and Louis Vuitton.

Signing the pledge was the company’s way of highlighting the business imperative of a sustainable supply chain and procurement function.

Earlier this week, the L’Oréal group unveiled a Europe-wide solidarity program aimed at supporting the medical, food distribution, beauty and non-profit industries. The French beauty giant is ramping up its production of hand sanitizer in order to bolster supplies for health authorities across France and Europe.

In a bid to protect small and medium-sized beauty businesses such as salons and perfume shops from folding under the economic impact of the crisis, L’Oréal has said it will freeze payments due from its distribution networks until business picks up, and increase the frequency of payments to its suppliers where needed.

Retail major Spar has launched an organic bioplastic toothbrush in Austria under its private label Beauty Kiss.
Launched at the end of July and sold under the retailer’s own brand Beauty Kiss, the organic toothbrush is made from 90% bio-based plastics and manufactured in a resource-saving manner, Spar Austria said. The packaging is also made from vegetable-based, renewable materials.

According to a new report, one in every 800 people in the United States is working under forced labor conditions. The findings are part of the Global Slavery Index 2018, the world’s most comprehensive research on modern slavery, launched Thursday by the Walk Free Foundation. The Index revealed that today, more than 400,000 people are working as modern slaves in the United States. Assessing the prevalence, measurement of vulnerability and assessment of government response to the issue, the Index revealed modern slaves to be primarily working in domestic work, agriculture and farm work, travelling sales crews, restaurant or food services, and health and beauty services.

“Digital is disrupting the beauty industry in a big way. Buying behavior has changed dramatically and consumers want new products faster than before,” observes Arya Gupta, Coty’s Procurement Director of Global Chemicals & Innovation. With its worldwide manufacturing operations and R&D capabilities, the business is undergoing a significant transformational journey, guaranteeing exceptional and innovative product offerings in the Beauty space which are fully designed with consumers in mind.

Garnier has also brought in a strict sustainable sourcing policy: “It’s vital for us that raw materials should be sourced in an ethical, responsible and planet-friendly way. That’s why we carefully select suppliers whose methods comply with our specifications.” A great illustration is Garnier’s Burkina Faso subsidiary, which supplies the brand with shea butter. Not only does the outfit provide a livelihood for 300 local women but it also sources ingredients as sustainably as possible, using highly efficient cookstoves to prepare the shea nuts. To prevent energy insecurity and deforestation, over 5,000 improved-efficiency cookstoves were distributed to replace traditional stoves. This has saved over 10,000 tonnes of firewood – the equivalent of 10,000 tonnes of CO2 emissions.

In an effort to accelerating improvement on ethical social and environmental performance throughout the beauty supply chain, Clarins, Coty, Groupe Rocher, L’Oréal and EcoVadis have launched the Responsible Beauty Initiative (RBI). The initiative brings together the global beauty industry in a collaborative effort to strengthen sustainable practices, improve environmental footprint and social impacts and maximize shared value across its collective supply chain.

More than a decade after cosmetics suppliers were alerted to its existence, child labour remains prevalent in mica mining in the two states of Jharkand and Bihar, responsible for around 25% of the world’s production. Up to 20,000 children are estimated to work in the mines, around 90% of which are illegal, according to a recent report by NGOs Terre des Hommes and SOMO.