The escalating climate crisis is changing many people’s purchasing patterns and this extends to the $500 billion global beauty industry, which is grappling with a range of sustainability challenges in product manufacturing, packaging and disposal.
The Global Sustainability Study 2021 from strategy and consulting firm Simon Kucher found that 60% of consumers around the world rated sustainability as an important purchasing criterion and 35% were willing to pay more for sustainable products or services.
This shift in consumer preferences has prompted many beauty brands to set environmental goals: move away from single-use and virgin plastics, offer recyclable, reusable and refillable packaging, and provide more transparency about product ingredients so customers can track how “green” their products are. purchase.
However, according to the British Beauty Council, consumers still struggle to understand the sustainability credentials of many products. This is because the industry’s clean-up efforts have been inconsistent and have had no recognizable impact in the absence of collective targets, global strategy and standardized regulation.
Ingredients and brand transparency
There is no international standard for the beauty industry on how much product ingredient information should be shared with customers – or how it should be done. Brands can set their own rules and goals, leading to confusion and ‘greenwashing’, where sustainability claims are often promoted but not substantiated.
Companies often use marketing language like “clean beauty” to make it seem like their products are natural, when in reality they are not organic, sustainable, or ethically made.
“The term ‘clean beauty’ has become quite dangerous. It’s being used to sell more products,” said British Beauty Council CEO Millie Kendall, who added that such buzzwords are losing momentum in the UK as UK customers lose their recognize shortcomings. “Customers need better marketing information and certification information.”
In a 2021 report calling on the industry to “have the courage to change their business practices,” the British Beauty Council wrote that even natural ingredients used in product manufacturing all too often give way to “overconsumption , non-regenerative agriculture”. practices, pollution, waste and neglect.”
“The only way out is transparency,” Kendall told DailyExpertNews.
Jen Lee, chief impact officer at US-based Beautycounter brand, said she still sees confusion about ingredients among consumers. (In 2013, the company launched and published “The Never List,” which currently lists more than 2,800 chemicals — including heavy metals, parabens, and formaldehyde — that it claims it never uses in its products.)
“Natural versus synthetic ingredients have been a conversation. People think natural is safer, but that’s not always the case,” explains Lee. “Natural ingredients formulated in industry can carry a toxic load. Heavy metals can exist in natural components of the earth.”
“We used to be more natural and organic,” adds Sasha Plavsic, founder of makeup brand ILIA Beauty. “What was challenging is (that) raw materials were hard to come by or came in inconsistently or products didn’t perform.”
Most makeup is made and molded at high temperatures, Plavsic explained. Purely organic materials often decompose in this heat, leading to inconsistent results and substandard product performance. “Not every synthetic is bad,” Plavsic said. “Sometimes it helps create the best-in-class formula.”
Unpack plastic
The industry’s plastic packaging poses a particular sustainability challenge: 95% is thrown away and the vast majority is not recycled, according to the British Beauty Council.
The cosmetics industry is the world’s fourth largest user of plastic packaging — after food and beverage, industrial packaging and pharmaceuticals — and plastic is about 67% of the industry’s packaging volume, according to Vantage Market Research. For example, according to the Ellen Macarthur Foundation (EMF), beauty giant L’Oreal used 144,430 tons of plastic in its packaging by 2021. Estee Lauder Companies reported that its brands produced 71,600 tons of plastic in product packaging that same year.
And only 9% of global plastic waste is recycled, according to a report from the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development. The United States recycles only 4% of its plastic waste.
Many brands are phasing out harmful plastics from their operations and using post-consumer recycled (PCR) plastic. (L’Oreal has set a goal of using 50% PCR plastic by 2025, while Estee Lauder is aiming for 25% “or more” PCR plastic – but both are a long way from reaching their goals.)
“Between 60 and 70 major global brands have made unprecedented progress” in using PCR plastic across industries, EMF’s Plastic Initiative leader Sander DeFruyt told DailyExpertNews. But DeFruyt stressed that PCR plastic needs to be used in conjunction with brands that are removing single and virgin plastics from their use cycles to really make a difference.
However, PCR plastic is not easy to find – low recycling rates around the world mean there is a limited supply. Meanwhile, demand for it is growing in all sectors, DeFruyt said. This competition increases the price, which is already higher than virgin plastic.
Hair care brand FEKKAI claims it used up to 95% PCR content in its packaging, but pricing and supply issues have been a challenge, forcing it to currently aim for containers and packs with at least 50% PCR in the package.
“PCR plastic is more expensive than standard plastic. The cost is difficult and so is sourcing,” founder Frédéric Fekkai told DailyExpertNews. “PCR is very close to our hearts, but there is a huge demand, so finding recycled plastic is difficult.”
The weight of retail
Beauty stores play a central – and underutilized – role, with control over inventory decisions and supply chains. But many differ when it comes to the standards they set for brands they sell.
“Smaller businesses are doing more, period,” says Jessi Baker, founder of the technology platform Provenance, which helps brands showcase their sustainability credentials to customers. “They move more nimbly. Some of them are born good brands – climate friendliness was part of their setup. They don’t need to restructure their entire supply chain. Their culture has already changed compared to the bigger brands that have to work hard.”
Sephora launched its “Clean + Planet Positive” initiative in 2021, which labeled products that met set criteria. (This is separate from the French retailer’s “Clean at Sephora” program, which is currently facing a consumer lawsuit alleging it carries a significant percentage of products that customers believe are harmful.) Target launched a similar program in 2022 program, with a “Target Zero” icon for both online and in-store offerings that have reusable, recyclable, compostable, or reduced plastic packaging, or contain waterless or concentrated products.
Yet many moves by brands and retailers have yet to address the waste and pollution generated in supply chains, manufacturing and shipping, all of which are huge problems facing the industry.
The missing player
The gaps in standardization in the beauty ecosystem can be filled to some extent by certifications such as the US-born B Corporation or B Corp. This accreditation, one of the most well-known in the beauty space, is issued by the non-profit B Lab, which scores a company on several criteria around ethics and sustainability. As beneficial as it is for environmentally conscious consumers, it is currently completely voluntary for brands to sign up.
Governments and multinationals enforcing regulations and establishing a baseline for brands to rely on when making sustainability claims could go a long way in driving change, many experts and business leaders believe.
Susanne Kaufmann, founder of her namesake beauty brand, says her efforts in Austria would yield better results if more countries around the world had stricter, more uniform waste disposal laws.
“I package our product in a recyclable material,” Kaufmann said. (Her products’ packaging, which is refillable and reusable, is made from 75% recycled plastic – and is 100% recyclable.) If I send this to the US, the waste is not segregated… explained, citing inconsistencies in recycling laws in the United States.
And when it comes to ingredients, the European Chemicals Agency lists 2,495 substances that are banned for use in cosmetic products marketed for sale or use in the block. But the U.S. Food and Drug Administration lists only 11, making it more challenging for American consumers to find safer, greener options. The Environmental Working Group, a not-for-profit watchdog, studied lab tests of 51 sunscreen products in 2021 and found that only 35% of the products met the EU standard, compared to 94% that met the US standard.
While the government may set minimum requirements, Mia Davis, vice president of sustainability and impact at beauty retailer Credo Beauty, says the needle will move in the private sector.
“Regulations can raise the floor a little bit. Someone who doesn’t know anything (sustainability issues) should still be able to walk into a bodega and get clean produce… But that’s never going to be what the market can do,” she said. “Market leadership is key.”
In the absence of bold regulations or global standards for sustainability practices, this “leadership” — by both brands and customers in the beauty market — is likely to have the most direct impact to address the industry’s climate shortcomings. It will take continued collective advocacy and initiative to see meaningful climate-conscious change.
