INNOVATION & TECHNOLOGY -
In season 4 of the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE)’s Better Buildings Challenge SWAP web series, energy management teams from General Motors (GM) and L’Oréal USA visit each other’s facilities in search of opportunities to reduce their energy use and save money.
MARKETING & COMMUNICATIONS -
People can now see, in detail, what goes into choosing each of the ingredients that are used in SC Johnson products.
PRESS RELEASE -
BASF shifts its Personal Care portfolio and will offer palm-based specialties for the cosmetics industry exclusively as certified sustainable. The move was announced at its 3rd Palm Dialog event during the in-cosmetics global exhibition. “This is an important milestone for the cosmetics industry’s progress towards sustainable palm – and some of our customers have already made the step,” said Xavier Susterac, Senior Vice President BASF Personal Care Europe. The decision to offer palm-based specialties only as certified in line with the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO) ‘Mass Balance’ standard is the latest move in BASF’s initiative ‘Time for Change’.
PRESS RELEASE -
BASF has reviewed its complete personal care portfolio according to the ISO standard criteria and calculating rules, providing manufacturers of cosmetic products guidance and information on the degree of natural origin of the ingredients. The ISO 16128 standard of the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) comprises guidelines on definitions for natural and organic cosmetic ingredients and offers a framework to determine the natural content of ingredients as well as formulations. It is an addition to existing standards, e.g. COSMOS (COSMetic Organic Standard) or NATRUE. A harmonized definition for natural and organic cosmetic ingredients increases transparency for manufacturers and consumers alike.
PRESS RELEASE -
L'Oreal and Hong Chi Association were honoured today with the Certificate of Merit for the Outstanding Partnership Project Award 2017/18 by the Hong Kong Council of Social Service (HKCSS) for their Beauty for a Better Life (BFBL) programme. The award was presented to the organisations at a ceremony held during the Caring Company Partnership Expo 2018.
CIRCULAR ECONOMY -
Despite the rise of recyclable packaging for beauty and personal care products, only half of US consumers responsibly dispose of these products. To boost bathroom recycling, beauty brand Garnier has teamed up with TerraCycle and DoSomething.org to launch the second year of Rinse, Recycle, Repeat, a national recycling campaign and college campus competition that aims to educate young people on how to responsibly recycle their beauty and personal care products.
INNOVATION & TECHNOLOGY -
Guided by its Sharing Beauty with All global sustainability program, beauty giant L’Oréal has revealed plans to achieve carbon neutrality by 2019 for all 21 of its US manufacturing and distribution facilities.
PRESS RELEASE -
Unilever is going beyond labelling requirements by disclosing fragrance ingredients online in Europe, starting with France and the UK.
The move builds on the commitment Unilever made last year, to build trust in its brands by providing in-depth product and ingredient information for its home care and personal care products.
COLLABORATION & CO-CREATION -
Coinciding with New York Fashion Week, Unilever and global thrift retailer Savers announced a new partnership to draw attention to the issue of clothing waste. As they say, timing is everything.
The two organizations collaborated for the latest iteration of Savers’ I Give a Sh!rt campaign, an awareness movement that aims to shed light on the 10.5 million tons of clothing that are discarded every year.
ORGANIZATIONAL GOVERNANCE -
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.
INNOVATION & TECHNOLOGY -
Just one month after the launch of its new natural personal care product line ApotheCARE Essentials, Unilever has rolled out yet another responsible beauty brand: Love Beauty and Planet. And it’s kind of a big deal — unlike ApotheCARE Essentials, which has a limited distribution, LBP is being launched on a large scale.
MATERIALS & PACKAGING -
Thermoplastics resin producer Braskem has been keeping busy, entering into a series of new partnerships to make bio-based packaging the mainstream choice for the personal care and consumer goods industries.
MATERIALS & PACKAGING -
Packaging remains a considerable challenge for businesses looking to reduce their impacts, but innovators such as food-service supplier Eco-Products and Finnish startup Sulapac are helping to accelerate the transition to lower-impact models through cross-industry partnerships and sustainable packaging solutions.
SUPPLY CHAIN -
In an effort to accelerate 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).
INNOVATION & TECHNOLOGY -
After recently receiving straight A’s on CDP’s A-List for its approach to climate change, water and deforestation, consumer goods giant Unilever is making moves to expand its portfolio of natural care hair and skincare offerings. The new line of products will target the growing number of consumers seeking more natural, responsible personal care products.
COLLABORATION & CO-CREATION -
In an unprecedented move, Clarins Fragrance Group is blazing new transparency trails, with brands MUGLER and AZZARO committing to produce perfume alcohol in a way that meets rigorous environmental and social requirements under a groundbreaking “made in France” program.
The key aim of the “responsible alcohol” project is to promote biodiversity in agricultural practices. Other benefits of the program include local production, which will create a short circuit between harvest and transformation sites.
FINANCE & INVESTMENT -
Earlier this week, French beauty giant L’Oréal announced that it has concluded the sale of The Body Shop to Brazilian sustainable personal care group Natura Cosmeticos.
CONSUMER BEHAVIOR CHANGE -
News Deeply, in partnership with Sustainable Brands, has produced a series of profiles looking at how brands are tackling some of the world’s biggest challenges. The goal is to examine trends and gather insights from a new wave of corporate citizenship – in an era when the private sector is increasingly expected to play a positive role in improving our lives and societies. This is the 12th article in the series.
MATERIALS & PACKAGING -
As consumer demand for product transparency grows, it is becoming increasingly important for companies to disclose information about the ingredients that go into to their products. Following this call to action, Procter & Gamble (P&G) has unveiled plans to list all fragrance ingredients down to 0.01 percent for its entire product portfolio in the US and Canada by the end of 2019.
CIRCULAR ECONOMY -
What do diapers and railway ties have in common? They’re two of the latest products to receive the circular treatment, helping businesses reimagine waste streams as resources and driving the economy towards a more sustainable, circular model.