The cosmetics industry is booming with plenty of new makeup gurus emerging on the internet every day. They review piles of makeup items or skin care items every day and the terms that are remotely close to sustainability are cruelty-free, natural and organic. On top of that, those influencers never fail to shock me with the amount of makeup they own and the amount of makeup they end of throwing away. I think it is time to start an evolution in the cosmetics industry and raise people’s awareness of sustainable beauty.
There are many innovations in the industry already, and the majority of them are seen in the formulations. Less toxin in the products for sure and a wide range of green ingredients are used in the product. Some innovations can also be seen in packaging. Nowadays, companies are under pressure to reduce their packaging impacts. Bulldog, a British company, and Surya, a Brazilian company, have been using green polyethylene plastic which is made from sugar cane (Whitehouse, 2018). However, only a handful of other sustainable practices exist in the market, and most companies don’t hire influencers to promote that.
In class, we learned about the circular economy encompassing ‘reduce, reuse, recycle’. Aside from the actual cosmetics product itself, its packaging plays a big role in the environmental impact. I think it is essential to apply the circular economy concept to the packaging. For example, people normally throw away their mascara tubes after the product inside is exhausted which creates a huge amount of waste. This problem can be solved by mascara refill where people reuse their mascara tubes over and over again thereby reducing the amount of plastic used in making mascaras. By being sustainable, companies will be able to attract green consumers who are willing to pay a premium price for a product that’s aligned with their values. Over time, green customers could build loyalty towards socially, environmentally and financially responsible companies.
Since there are many steps involved in the cosmetics supply chain, companies should implement sustainability policies in product innovation, manufacturing and souring, and strong certification standards that are consistent across the entire industry.
Reference:
- Whitehouse, L. (2018, September 04). Sustainability in beauty: Top future predictions from industry expert. Retrieved from https://www.cosmeticsdesign-europe.com/Article/2018/09/04/Sustainability-in-beauty-top-future-predictions-from-industry-expert
Teresa Ekelhart
April 3, 2019 — 12:35 am
Hello Chloe! Thank you for this interesting post. I completely agree with you that cosmetics companies have to raise awareness for sustainability. I have been looking for make-up that comes in environmentally-friendly, reusable containers but so far this has been quite difficult. One brand I came across was Elate cosmetics. Their packaging is made out of bamboo and can be refilled. I do not only like their sustainability approach, but I also think that their design is beautiful. I would love to try it but, unfortunately, they only ship within Canada so I would not be able to use it in the long term as my exchange semester already ends in a month.
RitualKhanna
April 5, 2019 — 10:27 am
Hi Chloe! Thank you for this interesting read. I just wrote a blog post on sustainable alternatives to use in every day life and make up/make up related products was part of that too. There is actually quite a bit that you have mentionned which I didn’t really consider – sustainability is not just the product and it’s packaging but should be imbedded in the entire supply chain. So thank you for that!