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Cosmetics
INCREASING RECYCLING OF COSMETICS PACKAGING
2021-10-25
According to L’Oréal, 98% of their waste materials are recyclable. Photo: L’Oréal
INCREASING RECYCLING OF COSMETICS PACKAGING
By 2030, L’Oréal product packaging will be made either from recycled or organic-based sources. One of the objectives for this push for sustainability is termed “L’Oréal for the future”. To achieve this, we need to get better at sorting and separating our recyclables, or, as the group puts it, “Schön trennen” (The Beauty of Sorting). An attention-grabbing PR campaign was launched under this name at the end of 2020 in Switzerland, together with the umbrella organization Swiss Recycling. This campaign aimed to increase consumers’ awareness on the subject of sorting waste, and to provide more knowledge and clarification simultaneously.
“As a leading company in the cosmetics industry, our responsibility is not only to provide the purest and best formulas and packaging, but also to encourage our consumers to adopt more sustainable usage patterns,” explains Sophie Berrest, Country Manager for L’Oréal Switzerland. “This campaign aims to support them in separating their beauty product packaging and thus to contribute to the circular economy, which is in line with the main objective of L’Oréal’s packaging strategy.”
BOTTLES MADE FROM CO2
The French cosmetics giant is making huge leaps in the circular economy sector and has stated that they developed the first form of cosmetics packaging made from collected and recycled carbon dioxide emissions in 2020. One new plastic bottle was created in a joint project with LanzaTech and Total.
The cosmetics packaging of the future will be made from captured CO2. Photo: L‘Oréal
In a complex process, the collected carbon is first transformed into ethanol. Ethylene is obtained from this, which is then polymerized and made into polythene. This is used to make the innovative L’Oréal bottles, which have the same level of quality and properties as those made from normal polythene, according to statements from the company.
This new process not only saves carbon but also captures carbon dioxide that has already been released and neutralises it in loops. According to the company’s current plans, the new plastic should be used for making bottles for shampoos and conditioners by 2024.
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